(Saint Hippolyte 1628–1679 Rome) Rest on the Flight into Egypt, lower left arms of Count Wolkenstein, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 68.5 cm, framed,

Provenance: acquired 1697 (date above the coat-of-arms); Collection of Friedrich Franz Count von Wolkenstein-Trostburg, Canon at Augsburg and Ellwangen; in 1711 inherited by Julius Ernst Count zu Spaur; Collection Prof. Naefs, Salzburg (1911); inherited by current owners.

We are grateful to Professor Giancarlo Sestieri, Rome, for his identification of this painting as an important work by Cortese. Professor Sestieri will be publishing this painting in an article about the latest findings on Cortese's oeuvre. This painting is an important new discovery for the oeuvre of this little-researched artist of the Roman Baroque. Courtois left his homeland, the Franche Comté, with his elder brother, the subsequently well-known painter of battle scenes, Jacques Courtois. At first, he and his brother followed the campaigns in Northern Italy. On arrival in Rome in 1639, he made a study of the Roman Baroque, then at its height, in the work of Giovanni Lanfranco and Andrea Sacchi. After a year he entered the workshop of Pietro da Cortona, whose classicising style, also influenced by the Bolognese School, Cortese continued to employ in his work alongside certain mannerisms. The Battle of Jericho in the Papal Quirinal Palace was the most important large commission of his early period. Many other ecclesiastical commissions, including frescoes in important churches, such as Sant’Andrea al Quirinale would follow. As is magnificently demonstrated in this sensitively composed painting, Cortese loosened the constraints of the strict classicism of his teacher in favour of a more naturalistic conception of things and effects of a more dramatic nature. The first documented owner of this painting was a member of one of the oldest aristocratic families of the Tyrol, whose roots reached back into the 12th century. The Wolkensteiner are a side branch of the lineage of the Lords of Villanders. In 1293 the family inherited the castle and the Wolkenstein court, from which the later family name was drawn. Their secondary surname makes reference to Trostburg which is near Waidbruck in Eisacktal, one of the most impressive South Tyrolean fortresses. Friedrich Franz von Wolkenstein, who was a member of the high clergy, may have acquired the painting during a visit to Rome.