Fortune-Teller with Soldiers

Artist Valentin de Boulogne (French (active Rome), 1591-1632)

Place of OriginRome, Italy

Dateabout 1620

DimensionsPainting: 58 7/8 × 93 7/8 in. (149.5 × 238.4 cm)
Frame: 72 1/2 × 107 3/4 × 5 in. (184.2 × 273.7 × 12.7 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1981.53

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 36

Label TextWithin a dark tavern, a group of drinkers seems caught up in a scene of fortune and deceit. A fortune teller reads the palm of a naïve young soldier, who seems to wait fearfully to hear his fate. On the left, a round robin of thievery takes place: the palm reader has just taken a coin from the soldier in exchange for her prophetic—and possibly dubious—services but is oblivious to the man in a red hat who lifts a finger to his mouth, asking the viewer to keep silent as he steals a rooster from her. He doesn’t notice that his pocket is being picked in turn. The soldier on the far right appeals directly to the viewer, as if soliciting our judgment on the questionable events taking place around the table.Published ReferencesNicols, J., The History of Antiquities of the County of Leicester, London, 1795, II, p. 71.

Eller, I., The History of Belvoir Castle, London, 1841, p. 256.

Waagen, G. F., Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London, 1854, III, p. 400, "Belvoir Castle, Duke of Rutland's Collection..." Michael Angelo da Caravaggio - A gypsy woman telling fortunes. In my opinion a rich and fine picture by VALENTIN."

Longhi, R., "A propos de Valentin," La revue des arts, 1958, 2, pp. 62, 63 (cites Avignon and Naples copies as after a lost original).

Brejon de Lavergnee, A., and J. P. Cuzin, in Valentin et les Caravagesques Francais, Paris, Grand Palais, 1974, p. 160, fig. 18. Not in exhibition, which was also shown at the Villa Medici, Rome (Text and illustration on p. 166 of Italian edition).

Cuzin, J. P., "Problemes du caravagisme: pour Valentin," Revue de l'art, 28, 1975, p. 58 (as fairly early, ca. 1620).

Cuzin, J. P., La diseuse de bonne adventure, (Musee du Louvre, Les dosiers du departement des peintures, 13), 1977, pp. 30-31 (puts in context of Caravaggesque fortune-teller subjects).

Nicolson, B., The International Caravaggesque Movement, London, 1979, p. 106.

"Calendar," Burlington, vol. 124, no. 946, Jan. 1982, p. 61, repr. fig. 65.

"La chroniques des arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 99, no. 1358, March 1982, p. 43, repr. no. 225.

Rosenberg, Pierre, "A Golden Century in Painting," Connaissance des Arts, no. 25, Feb. 1982, p. 74.

Russell, Francais, "Valentin's Fortune Teller," Burlington, vol. 124, no. 953, August 1982, p. 507.

Cuzin, Jean-Pierre, "French Seventeenth-Century Paintings from American Collections (review)," Burlington, vol. 124, no. 953, August 1982, p. 526.

"Calendar," Burlington, vol. 124, no. 953, August 1982, p. 536.

Sutton, Denys, "Aspects of British Collecting: Cross Currents in Taste," Apollo, vol. 116, no. 250, Dec. 1982, p. 373, 389, n. l. repr. fig. 1.

La peinture francaise du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines, Paris, Reunion des Musees Nationaux, 1982, no. 106, pp. 325 326, 373, repr. p. 50 (det.) p. 55 (col.) 325.

Schleier, Erich, "Ausstellungen: La peinture francaise du XVIIe siècle dan les collections americaines..." (review) Kunstchronik, vol. 36, no. 4, April , 1983, p. 194.

Rosenberg, Pierre, "France in the Golden Age: a postscript," Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 17, 1982, 1984, p. 35, 25, n. 11.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p.160, repr. (col.).

Franklin, David, and Sebastian Schutze, Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome, New Haven, Connecticut Yale University Press, 2011, cat. no. 16, p. 171, p. 90, 102,107, 110, 113,114 117,170 172, 298, 316.

Lemoine, Annick, and Keith Christiansen, Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016, p. 121-122, repr. (col.) pl. 15, p. 120 (in the Louvre edition of catalogue, pp. 131-133, repr. (col.) cat. 15, p. 132).

Brejon De Lavergnee, Arnauld, "Valentin de Boulogne: New York and Paris," in Burlington Magazine, August 2017, vol. CLIX, pp. 660ff, repr. fig. 70.

Exhibition HistoryParis, Galeries nationales d'exposition du Grand Palais, Paris, 1982 (Le petit Journal des grandes Expositions), p. 1, repr.

Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Chicago, The Art Institute, La peinture francaise du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines, 1982, no. 106.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections, 1982, Reference same as above.

Ottawa, ONT, National Gallery of Canada; Fort Worth (TX), Kimbell Art Museum, Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome, June 17, 2011-January 8, 2012, no. 16.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Paris, Musee du Louvre; Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio, October 4, 2016- May 15, 2017.