Silvio with the Wounded Dorinda
165(1)?
Painter, Dutch, died 1653
Louis Vallée took his subject from Giovanni Battista Guarini's late sixteenth-century tragicomedy Il Pastor Fido, a pastoral play that glorified arcadian life and had far-ranging effects on the art and literature of France, Flanders, and the Netherlands. Its extremely intricate plot focuses on the love between the faithful shepherd Mirtillo and the nymph Amarillis, who is betrothed to Silvio by paternal arrangement. This scene is from the play’s subplot, which concentrates on the love of the nymph Dorinda for Silvio, who cares only for the hunt and is oblivious to her feelings. After one of Silvio’s arrows accidentally wounds Dorinda, she crawls out from the bushes where she had been hiding in her animal-skin disguise and falls into the arms of her guardian, Linco. Silvio, distraught and finally realizing his own love for Dorinda, offers her the arrow so that she can exact revenge by taking his life in return. Dorinda, whose wound is only superficial, wisely rejects his emotional offer so that all ends well. The two lovers are married before sunset that very day.
Silvio with the Wounded Dorinda is an excellent example of Dutch classicism as it developed in Amsterdam around mid-century. History paintings such as this work were greatly admired and avidly collected by Amsterdam patricians. Almost nothing is known about the life of the artist Louis Vallée. Unfortunately, the first and only document that refers specifically to him is the register that records his burial in Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk on May 28, 1653.
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
Gift of Patricia Bauman and the Honorable John Landrum Bryant
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Dimensions
overall: 105.1 × 175.2 cm (41 3/8 × 69 in.)
framed: 129.54 × 200.66 × 8.89 cm (51 × 79 × 3 1/2 in.) -
Accession
2000.114.1
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
(Alex Wengraf, London), by 1983;[1] purchased 1990 by by Patricia Bauman and the Honorable John Landrum Bryant, Washington, D.C.; gift 2000 to NGA.
[1] The painting was with Wengraf when it was published in Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrand-Schüler, 6 vols., Landau,1983: 6:3731, no. 2373, image 3983, as by Jacob van Loo.
Associated Names
Bibliography
1983
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden. 6 vols. Landau, 1983: 6:3731, no. 2373, repro., as Silvio und die verwundete Dorinda by Jacob van Loo.
2008
Brink, Peter van den. "Uitmuntend schilder in het groot: De schilder en tekenaar Jacob Adriaensz Backer (1608/9-1651)." In Jacob Backer (1608/9-1651). Edited by Peter van den Brink and Jaap van der Veen. Exh. cat. Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam; Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen. Zwolle, 2008: 54-55, repro.
2010
Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "Wouter Kloek and the Attribution of Louis Vallée’s 'Silvio with the Wounded Dorinda'." The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 58, no. 2 (2010): 173-177, repro.
Inscriptions
lower right to left of arrow sheaf: Loiy[s] Vallee. / f [1]65[1?]
Wikidata ID
Q20177369