Circle of Antonio Allegri, called il Correggio

(Correggio circa 1489-1534)

Saint Pudentia

Footnotes

Provenance
Abbaye Royale de Montmartre, before 1792 (when the Abbey was destroyed during the Revolution)
The collection of Mademoiselle Sophie Reicher
By whom gifted to L'Abbaye de Pradines, 1821 (after it was re-established)
Private Collection, Loire where purchased by the present owner

Engraved
Pierre Elle, called Ferdinand (Paris 1617-1665), brother of the painter Louis Elle the elder called Ferdinand (1612-1689) (see fig. 1)

Literature
K. F. von Heinecken, Dictionnaire des artistes, dont nous avons des estampes, avec une notice detaillée de leurs ouvrages gravés, Leipzig, 1790, vol. 4, p. 335
M. Huber, Catalogue raisonne du cabinet d'estampes de feu Monsieur Winckler, banquier et membre du sénat a Leipzig, contenant une collection des pieces anciennes et modernes de toutes les écoles dans une suite d'artistes depuis l'origine de l'art de graver jusqu'a nos jours Leipzig 1803, Vol. II, p. 275, no. 1254
M. Huber and C.C.H. Rost, Manuel des Curieux et des Amateurs de l'art, Zurich, 1804, vol. VII, p.227
Paul Charles Landon, Vies Et Œuvres Des Peintres Les Plus Célèbres De Toutes Les Ecoles; Recueil Classique, Contenant L'Œuvre complète des Peintres du premier rang, et leurs Portraits; les principales Productions des Artistes de 2e et 3e classes; un Abrégé de la Vie des Peintres Grecs, et un choix des plus belles Peintures antiques; Reduit Et Gravé Au Trait, D'Après les Estampes de la Bibliothèque impériale et des plus riches Collections particulières; Publié Par P.C. Landon, Peintre, ancien Pensionnaire du Gouvernement à l'Ecole Française des Beaux-Arts à Rome, Membre de plusieurs Sociétés Littéraires, Éditeur des Annales du Musée, Paris 1813, p.32, Engraved, plate 23.2

A Roman virgin of the early Christian church, Saint Pudentia is here identified by the sponge that she and her sister, Saint Praxedes, are said to have used to mop up the blood of female martyrs. According to seventh-century itineraries to the graves of Roman martyrs, she and her sister were buried in adjoining graves in the catacomb of Priscilla. The engraving by Pierre Elle indicates that she is Saint Prudentia, rather than her sister who is also depicted carrying a blood-soaked sponge.

A note on the provenance
The Abbaye Royale de Montmartre was founded in 1133 by King Louis VI, and was to become one of the richest and most powerful nunneries in France. Today only the church of Saint Pierre de Montmartre (one of the oldest churches in Paris) remains, as the Abbey was destroyed in 1790 during the Revolution, with the last abbess, Marie Louise de Montmorency Laval, being guillotined in 1794. It is unclear when the present picture entered the possession of the Abbaye, although it would seem likely that the painting was already in Paris by the mid 17th century as it was engraved by the Parisian engraver Pierre Elle, called Ferdinand (Paris 1612-1689), at which point it may already have been in the possession of the Abbey. The Abbaye Royale de Montmartre had strong links to the city of Parma through one of the former Abbesses, Françoise Renée (1621-1688) daughter of the Charles Duke of Guise (1571-1640) who was a direct descendant of Ercole I D'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, to whom Correggio was court painter. It is possible to conjecture that this is the route by which the painting came into the possession of the Abbaye.