Image: Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
Two angel paintings associated with the French Baroque have returned to view following restoration, according to an announcement from the Museo di Capodimonte. The works are by Simon Vouet and Charles Mellin, artists whose careers were closely connected to Rome and to the development of French painting in the 17th century.
The museum identified Vouet’s work as ‘Angelo con dadi e tunica’, or ‘Angel with Dice and Tunic’. The announcement credits the painting to Simon Vouet, who was born in Paris in 1590 and died there in 1649.
The second restored work is Charles Mellin’s ‘Angelo con lancia’, or ‘Angel with Spear’. Mellin is listed as having been born in Nancy around 1600 and having died in Rome in 1649. The museum describes him in connection with Vouet’s workshop, indicating the artistic relationship that links the two paintings in the announcement.
The brief notice presents the restoration as an “accurate” conservation treatment that has brought the angels back into new light. It does not specify the methods used, the condition of either painting before treatment, the length of the conservation work or the precise date on which the paintings returned to view.
Vouet and Mellin both spent important parts of their careers in Italy. Vouet’s dates place him among the leading French painters of the early and mid-17th century, while Mellin’s career extended between Nancy and Rome. Their shared date of death in 1649 is recorded in the museum’s announcement, which presents Mellin’s ‘Angel with Spear’ alongside Vouet’s ‘Angel with Dice and Tunic’.
No exhibition title, opening programme or separate event dates were given. The announcement is a collection and conservation update focused on the two restored angel paintings, with the museum’s accompanying images identifying Vouet’s work in photographs one and two and Mellin’s in photographs three and four.
