Circle by JEAN RAOUX (Montpellier, 1677-Paris, 1734). "Vestals. Oil on canvas. Re-coloured. It presents restorations. Size: 114 x 146 cm; 130 x 161 cm (frame). Image of historicist theme that represents a group of vestals as a group of beautiful and elegant young women, dressed with a mantle full of folds to avoid the rigidity. The young women stand next to the altar on which an incipient fire can be seen, the warmth of which harmonises with the gilding of the bronze figure in the background. Faithful to history, the artist recreates the interior of a temple that is open to the outside, revealing its round floor plan. From the Renaissance onwards, it was common to depict vestals, priestesses dedicated to the worship of the goddess Vesta. Aesthetically the work is close to the painting of the artist Jean Raoux who, after the usual training course, became a member of the Academy in 1717 as a historical painter. His reputation had previously been established by the acclaimed decorations executed during his three years in Italy in the palace of Giustiniani Solini in Venice, and by easel paintings, the Four Ages of Man (National Gallery), commissioned by the Grand Prior of Vendôme. Raoux devoted himself to the latter type of subject, refusing to paint portraits except in character. The list of his works is a long series of sets of the Seasons, of the Hours, of the Elements, or of those scenes of fun and gallantry in whose representation he was vastly surpassed by his young rival Watteau. After his stay in England (1720) he spent much of his life at the Temple, where he decorated several rooms. He died in Paris in 1734. His best pupils were Chevalier and Montdidier. His works were much recorded by Poilly, Moyreau, Dupuis, etc.