Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples

1720–30

Nicolas Bertin (French, 1668–1736)

Nicolas Bertin was primarily a painter of religious, mythological, and allegorical subjects. Although trained in the rigorous French academic traditions, he often emulated the broader style of Titian, Paolo Veronese, and other Venetian Renaissance masters. For his depiction of Christ washing Saint Peter’s feet just after the Last Supper (John 13:4-5), Bertin created a majestic, theatrical backdrop reminiscent of those in Veronese’s pictures. Through gesture and facial expression Bertin adeptly described a range of emotions, from surprise and puzzlement to humility.

Status: On View, Gallery 216
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Nicolas Bertin
Title: Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1720–1730
Medium: Oil on panel
Inscriptions: Signed lower left, on the edge of the platform: Bertin
Dimensions: 49.5 × 72.1 cm (19 1/2 × 28 3/8 in.); Framed: 72.4 × 94.7 × 7.7 cm (28 1/2 × 37 1/4 × 3 in.)
Credit Line: Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Reference Number: 1979.305
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/58052/manifest.json

[Antoine Nicolas] D[ézallier d’Argenville (fils)], Voyage pittoresque de Paris…, 3d ed. (Paris, 1757), pp. 149–150; reprint (Geneva, 1972), pp. 149–150; 4th ed. (Paris 1765), p. 165.
Almanach des beaux-arts (Paris, 1762), p. 188.
Catalogue historique du cabinet de peintures et sculpture françoise, de M. de Lalive… (Paris, 1764), p. 100.
Hébert, Dictionnaire pittoresque et historique, vol. 1 (Paris, 1766), p. 128; reprint (Geneva, 1972), p. 43.
Emmanuel Bénézit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs, et graveurs de tous les t emps et de tous les pays, 3d ed. (Paris, 1960), vol. 1, p. 615; 4th ed. (Paris, 1976), vol. 1, p. 697.
Thierry Lefrançois, Nicolas Bertin (1668–1736): Peintre d’historie (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1981), pp. 19–20, 68, 113–15, no. 26, p. 152, under nos. 108*–10*, p. 188, under no. 252, fig. 99.
Un Grand Collectionneur sous Louis XV: Le Cabinet de Jacques-Laure de Breteuil, bailli de l’Ordre de Malte 1723–1785, exh. cat. (Yvelines, Château de Breteuil, 1986), p. 23, under no. 101.
Colin B. Bailey, ed., Ange-Laurent de La Live de Jully: A facsimile reprint of the ‘Catalogue historique’ (1764) and the ‘Catalogue raisonné des tableaux’ (March 5, 1770) (New York, 1988), pp. xxvi, xlvi-xlvii, p. 100 (1764 catalogue facsimile), p. 36, no. 65 (1770 catalogue facsimile).
Alain Chevalier, “La Collection Boussairolles: goût et commerce à Montpellier sous le Consulat et l’Empire,” Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de l’art français, année 1994 (1995), p. 177, no. 4, ill.
Susan Wise in Susan Wise and Malcolm Warner, French and British Paintings from 1600 to 1800 in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1996), pp. 2–5, ill.
Colin B. Bailey, Jean-Baptiste Greuze: The Laundress (Los Angeles, 2000), p. 19–20, fig. 16.

Art Institute of Chicago, The Art of the Edge: European Frames, 1300–1900, no. 52.

Probably a private collection, Lyons [according to Catalogue historique… de M. de Lalive 1764]. Ange Laurent de Lalive de Jully, Paris, by 1757; sold Pierre Remy, Paris, May 7, 1770, no. 65, to Rémy, acting on behalf of the duc de Praslin, for 1,050 livres [according to annotated sale catalogue in Frick Art Reference Library, New York; see also Bailey 1988, p. xlvii]; probably César Gabriel de Choiseul, duc de Praslin (d. 1785), Paris, by descent to Louis César Renaud de Choiseul, vicomte de Choiseul (d. 1791); by descent to César Hippolyte de Choiseul, comte de Choiseul-Praslin; sold A. J. Paillet, Paris, February 18 and following, 1793, no. 152, to Clysorius for 800 livres [see annotated sale catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library, New York and Lefrançois 1981, p. 114]. Abraham Fontanel, Montpellier [Lefrançois 1981, p. 114]; sold by Fontanel, 1806, to Baron Jacques Joseph de Boussairolles (d. 1814), Château de Mogère, Montpellier for 2,000 livres [according to Lefrançois 1981, p. 114, and Chevalier 1995, pp. 169–177]; by descent to his great-granddaughter, Marie-Claire Boussairolles (d. 1905), who married Charles-Antoine Barthélemy, baron de Saizieu; by descent to Louis-Antoine-Henri Barthélemy, baron de Saizieu; by decent to Joseph, comte de Colbert-Cannet; Chevagnes [according to information sheet provided by Jean Pierre Selz at time of purchase; see also Jeannine Redon, Les Boussairolles. Chronique d’une famille Montpelliéraine sous l’ancien régime et les deux empires, Montpellier 1988, p. 77]; purchased from Colbert-Cannet with Jean Pierre Selz as agent, 1979.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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