28 décembre 2009
"El Greco. Domenikos Theotokopoulos 1900" @ Palais des Beaux-arts de Bruxelles
El Greco, Christ en croix - "The Crucifixion", 1610-1614. Oil on canvas. Toledo, Museo de Santa Cruz, Depósito de la Parroquia de San Nicolas de Bari, Toledo.
BRUXELLES.- Considéré comme l’un des peintres fondateurs de l’École espagnole, El Greco n’a pourtant pas toujours joui de ce statut souverain. Lorsqu’il meurt à Tolède en 1614, l’Europe se prend de passion pour le caravagisme, style naturaliste et en vogue aux antipodes de son génie maniériste. Très vite, son oeuvre passe de mode, traversant les siècles dans un relatif oubli. Jusqu’à ce qu’en 1908, l’historien de l’art Manuel Bartolomé Cossío lui consacre une monographie fondamentale. L’engouement pour El Greco est immédiat. Collectionneur d’art averti, le marquis de la Vega-Inclán érige même à Tolède en 1910 un musée à sa gloire. De sorte que la renommée du peintre s’enfle aussi vite qu’elle ne s’était éteinte. En plus de retracer le rôle essentiel joué par les acteurs de cette redécouverte spectaculaire, l’exposition livre un aperçu captivant de l’évolution artistique du peintre, à travers une sélection unique de tableaux marquants, dont l’étourdissant Le Christ dépouillé de ses vêtements ou les remarquables Les larmes de saint Pierre. Point d’orgue du parcours : l’ultime série d’Apôtres laissée par El Greco, véritable testament pictural du maître. Une série complète d’une étonnante modernité, aux formes totalement libérées, aux éclats de couleurs extraordinaires, qui après le Palais des Beaux-Arts retrouvera le «Museo de El Greco» de Tolède pour ne plus jamais en sortir...
BRUSSELS.- Regarded today as one of the founders of the Spanish School of painting, El Greco has not, however, always enjoyed that lofty status. At the time of his death in Toledo in 1614, Europe was wildly enthusiastic about the then fashionable naturalism of the Caravaggesque style, poles apart from his own brilliant Mannerism. El Greco’s work soon went out of fashion and remained relatively neglected down the centuries – until 1908, when the art historian Manuel Bartolomé Cossío devoted a key monograph to him.
The El Greco craze took off immediately. In 1910 a discerning art collector, the Marqués de la Vega-Inclán, even established a museum in his honor in Toledo. The painter’s fame, accordingly, flourished anew, as rapidly as it had been extinguished. In addition to outlining the key role played by those responsible for this spectacular rediscovery, the exhibition presents a fascinating overview of the painter’s artistic development via a unique selection of outstanding works, including the stunning "The Disrobing of Christ" and the striking "St. Peter in Tears", The highlight of the exhibition is El Greco’s final series of "Apostles", his artistic testament: a complete, astonishingly modern series, remarkable for its totally free forms and its extraordinarily bright colors. After this visit to the Center for Fine Arts the series will return to the Museo de El Greco in Toledo, which it will never leave again.
El Greco, Les larmes de saint Pierre - "San Pedro en lágrimas", (St. Peter in Tears), Ca.1587-1620. Oil on canvas. Toledo, Museo del Greco
El Greco- La sainte Famille avec Sainte Anne - The Holy Family with Saint Anne- Ca. 1585- oil on canvas- Toledo, Museo de Santa Cruz depósito de la Parroquia de San Nicóla de Bari)
El Greco, San Juan Evangelista © Toledo, Museo del Greco
El Greco - San Agustín - De heilige Augustinus / Saint Augustin / Saint Augustine - Ca. 159-1607 - Olie op doek / huile sur toile / oil on canvas Toledo, Museo de Santa Cruz, (deposito de la Parroquia de Saint Nicola de Bari)
El Greco - Saint Thomas - Ca. 1610-1614 - oil on canvas - Toledo, Museo del Greco
El Greco - Saint Jacques le Majeur - Saint James the Mayor - Ca. 1610-1614 - oil on canvas Toledo, Museo del Greco
El Greco - Le voile de Véronique - Saint Veronica holding the Veil (traduction of the National gallery ) ou Veronica’s Veil - Ca. 1580 - oil on canvas - Toledo, Museo de Santa Cruz (depsito del la JCCM)
"The Madonna of the Yarnwinder" by Leonardo da Vinci back to the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh
Gallery assistant Clare McCormack poses for photographers next to "The Madonna of the Yarnwinder" by Leonardo da Vinci during a photocall at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland. REUTERS/David Moir.
EDINBURGH.- The National Gallery of Scotland announced that the painting, "The Madonna of the Yarnwinder" by Leonardo da Vinci went on display in the Gallery. In 2003 it was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle, the Dumfriesshire home of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry. The painting was recovered in 2007. "The Madonna of the Yarnwinder" is the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in Scotland and is on loan to the Gallery from the Duke and the Trustees of the Buccleuch Heritage Trust.
In this pioneering and influential composition, an unusually large Christ Child is shown perched on a rocky outcrop beside his mother. He gazes intently at the cross-shaped form of a wooden yarnwinder, precociously aware of his future Crucifixion. The Virgin's tender, sorrowful expression and hesitant gesture reinforce the poignancy of the action.
This little panel is probably identical with one described in a letter dated 14 April 1501 from Fra Pietro da Novellara, head of the Carmelite order in Florence, to Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua and avid patron and collector of art. The letter clarifies that Leonardo was painting it for Florimond Robertet, a trusted minister and diplomat of the King of France, who had close ties to Italy. Leonardo had a notoriously poor record for bringing his works to completion, and it is unclear whether the painting was ever actually delivered to Robertet.
There has been much debate regarding the extent of Leonardo's direct involvement in the painting, but it seems likely that the overall design, and the execution of the figures and the foreground rocks, are entirely his. The background landscape, on the other hand, is not characteristic of Leonardo, and was probably added or completed by another artist, possibly quite a bit later. Technical examination has revealed landscape features and figures in the background that are no longer visible on the surface. That some of these reappear in early copies and variants of the composition supports the idea that the background may have been left unfinished by Leonardo and completed only later.
The painting was the focus of an exhibition, "Leonardo da Vinci: The Mystery of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder", organized here at the National Gallery of Scotland in 1992.
19 décembre 2009
Huit peintures du XVIème siècle @ Christie's Paris
Hans Brosamer (Fukda? Vers 1495-1554 Erfurt) Portrait d'un couple. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2009.
Daté '1516' (au centre en haut) huile sur panneau -29,2 x 41 cm.Price Realized €163,000
Provenance: Galerie de Jonckheere, Paris, en 2000
Notes: Sans doute originaire de Thuringe ou de de Saxe, Hans Brosamer fut actif à Erfurt, Fulda et Nuremberg. Selon Ludwig Meyer, ce double portrait serait l'oeuvre la plus précoce connue de lui. Exécuté à l'occasion du mariage des deux protagonistes, ce type d'oeuvre était souvent le seul portrait fait au cours de leur vie. Le lourd bijou porté par la femme -dont les cheveux sont désormais retenus sous un bonnet- constitue probablement l'élément le plus onéreux de sa dot. La chaine serait quant à elle un cadeau de son époux, dont le nom de famille commencerait par un 'A'. Sa coiffe indiquerait une origine saxonne ou thuringeoise.
Nous remercions monsieur Ludwig Meyer d'avoir suggéré cette attribution, ainsi que pour l'aide qu'il a apportée à la rédaction de cette notice.
Ecole Française, vers 1550. Portrait d'un homme barbu portant un chapeau à plume. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2009.
huile sur panneau, 22,6 x 17,5 cm. Price Realized €31,000
Ce lot a été vendu chez Sotheby's Londres le 27 février 1952 où il fut acheté par la galerie Colnaghi qui l'a revendu en août 1953 à un collectionneur anglais.
This lot was sold at Sotheby's London on February 27th 1952 where it was bought by Colnaghi gallery who sold it to a private english collector in august 1953.
Provenance: Ancienne collection de miss Madeleine Hackett.
Galerie Colnaghi, Londres.
Entourage de Lavinia Fontana (Bologne 1552-1614 Rome) Porttrait de dame. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2009.
huile sur panneau, 30,5 x 22,5 cm. Price Realized €9,375
Suiveur de Corneille de Lyon. Portrait de dame. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2009.
huile sur panneau, 21,2 x 15,9 cm. Price Realized €8,500
Ecole Française, vers 1530. Portrait de François Ier. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2009.
huile sur panneau, 35,5 x 25 cm. Price Realized €7,500
Entourage de François Clouet (Tours 1522-1572 Paris) Portrait d'un gentilhomme portant l'ordre de saint Michel. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2009.
huile sur panneau, 27,5 x 21,2 cm. Price Realized €7,250
Entourage de François Clouet (Tours 1522-1572 Paris) Portrait présumé de Catherine de Médicis. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2009.
huile sur panneau, 42,5 x 33 cm. Price Realized €6,500
Entourage d'Ambrosius Benson (Lombardie vers 1495-1550 Bruges) Portrait d'homme. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2009.
huile sur panneau, 33,5 x 24,8 cm. Price Realized €6,000
Christie"s. Miroir d'une Passion, provenant d'une collection européenne. 16 December 2009. Paris www.christies.com
18 décembre 2009
"Giorgione" @ Museo Casa Giorgione Castelfranco Veneto
Giorgione, "Le tre età dell'uomo". Olio su tela, 62 x 78 cm. Firenze, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina
CASTELFRANCO VENETO.- An ardent journey of discovery into the most enigmatic and mysterious artist of the Renaissance. An exhibition which brings together in Castelfranco Veneto, his native town, an incredible collection of the works of this great artist, who, more than any other, has aroused controversy among scholars and art historians in search of the documented facts, still lacking, giving rise to some very diverse and sometimes far-fetched interpretations of his life and works: GIORGIONE.
Torrents of words and ink have flowed in the attempt to understand and interpret the man, the poetics and the true history of Giorgione. Yet this Castelfranco master, to whom some of the most important masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance have been attributed, has evaded all attempts to construct a definite biography, a definite catalogue of his works, or a generally agreed interpretation of the significance of some of his works.
Although his life and career were very brief – he died at little more than thirty years old and his activity was limited to a period of fifteen years at the most – his work nevertheless appears meaningful and revolutionary, able to influence hundreds of artists of various periods with the lyrical power of his art, his use of colour, and that new equilibrium between man and nature, leaving an inevitable and indelible mark on the development of the history of art after his death.
So the Giorgione “phenomenon” is a genuine one.
According to the most authoritative accounts, the fifth centenary of the death of Zorzi da Castelfranco, better known as Giorgione (Castelfranco Veneto 1477/78 – Venice 1510), occurs in 2010 and Castelfranco Veneto, the birthplace of the great artist and home to one of his most important works (the famous Castelfranco Altarpiece) as well as to one of the very few frescos attributed to Giorgione (Frieze of the Liberal and Mechanical Arts), is staging a wide-ranging exhibition in collaboration with the Veneto Region, which has set up the Regional Committee for the Fifth Centenary of the Death of Giorgione. The exhibition to be held from December 12 to April 11, 2010 at the Museo Casa Giorgione (Giorgione House Museum) was recently inaugurated in the Casa Barbarella, opening the Giorgione celebrations.
The exhibition, a challenge both from the scientific and the organizational points of view, is being staged with the essential support of the Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena and the Fondazione Antonveneta, with the collaboration of the Department for Historic, Artistic and Ethnoanthropological heritage for the Provinces of Venice, Belluno, Padova and Treviso, the Province of Treviso, the Cathedral Parish of Castelfranco Veneto-Treviso Diocese and with funding from the Banca Antonveneta.
It is curated by Lionello Puppi (the Chairman of the Regional Committee for the Fifth Centenary), Antonio Paolucci (Director of the Vatican Museums) and Enrico Maria dal Pozzolo (from the University of Verona) and co-produced by the Comune di Castelfranco Veneto and Villaggio Globale International. The exhibition does not intend to provide definitive answers or solutions (despite the archive research that has been conducted and the reflectographic and diagnostic examinations that have been carried out on many of the paintings) but rather to suggest, evoke and marvel, leaving it to the extraordinary works collected in this small town in the Veneto, together with the documents and evidence, to bring this remarkable account to life.
Some of the major international museums – the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the National Gallery in London, the Galleria Borghese and the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, the National Gallery in Edinburgh, the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, the Louvre in Paris, the Ambrosiana in Milan, the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples and Castle Howard in Yorkshire – have accepted and contributed to this challenge.
The focus of this epoch-making exhibition, therefore, is on the “phenomenon” of Giorgione himself – created from the artist’s works (from "The Tempest" to "The Three Ages of Man in Palazzo Pitti", from "The Sunset to the Madonna with Child at the Hermitage"), but also from the dense network of artistic and cultural connections that compete to suggest meanings, keys to interpretation, and the role and historical weight of Giorgione’s art, or to provide hints for an evanescent biography and reinterpretation of the myth. The exhibition also offers, as never before, a careful and detailed analysis of the environment and cultural and spiritual context of the painter between the end of the fifteenth century and the first decade of the sixteenth century, suggesting a “system” existing around the brilliant artist, that Giorgione himself helped to develop.
Alongside the numerous paintings by Giorgione, on exceptional loan, the exhibition will also include important works by Giovanni Bellini, Vincenzo Catena (in whose workshop Giorgione is believed to have trained), Albrecht Dürer, Sebastiano del Piombo, Titian, Lorenzo Costa, Il Perugino, Cima da Conegliano, Palma il Vecchio, Boccaccio Boccacino, and Garofalo, as well as works by some of the biographers of Giorgione – Castiglioni, Pino, Vasari, and Dolce – and literary, musical and intellectual works by scholars from Petrarca to Bembo, all of whom may have contributed to the creation of the cultural milieu which is likely to have nourished Giorgione; then there are bronzes by Lombardo, Del Riccio and Severo da Ravenna, and engravings by Teniers and Zanetti that help remember the lost works of Giorgione and in particular the frescos from the Fondaco where he worked alongside Titian.
But foremost of all will be Giorgione’s art – “a limpid mirror of the Renaissance at its supreme heights”, according to Berenson – displayed through some core groups of works in the exhibition.
Focus is devoted to Giorgione’s earliest works in a collection that has never been so complete, on display in the room at the Casa Barbarella which houses the enigmatic Frieze of the Liberal Arts. The unsettling "Saturn in Exile" perhaps the first work by Giorgione we have, on loan from the London National Gallery, is displayed beside the two works from the Gallerie degli Uffizi which usually constitute the opening items in the catalogue of the artist’s works: "Moses at the Trial with Fire" and "The Judgment of Solomon".
These two paintings are without equal in the context of the period, showing the artist’s absolute freedom in the compositional structure and the choice of subject; alongside these is the "Madonna with Child from the Hermitage" – which may also be ascribed to this first phase in the artist’s career – in which the influence of northern European draughtsmanship is evident – and the two paintings from the Civici Musei in Padua, "Leda and the Swan" and "Pastoral Idyll," closely related to the two paintings from the Uffizi. It was reputedly during this phase that the relationship began – which was set to continue – between Giorgione and the Paduan artist Giulio Campagnola, and the exhibition displays several of Campagnola’s engravings, indicative of the more refined cultural ambience of this period, including the famous Astrologer from the Albertina Museum in Vienna, presented in order to invite comparison with the suggestions and references in the iconography of the Fregio fresco.
Zorzi had a good reputation as a portrait painter. “Giorgione painted many other beautiful portraits which are scattered throughout Italy”, wrote Vasari in 1568.
A significant number of works in the exhibition testify how Giorgione introduced a new taste in the concept of portrait painting into Venetian art in a very impelling way, thanks also to the indubitable, though never proven, contact he had with Leonardo da Vinci: this appears not only in the choice of a dark background or in the highlighting of objects with a strong symbolic and emblematic character, but also, and especially, in the psychological portrayal.
So beginning with "The Three Ages of Man" from the Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti, which is probably a music lesson, or perhaps a metaphor for universal harmony, visitors can admire several key works in the exhibition, such as the "Portray of a Warrior" from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, which can probably be identified as the work mentioned by Michiel as being by Giorgione in the home of Gianantonio Venier and depicts, in the grotesque face of the bizarre figure on the right, a Leonardesque creation.
The exhibition continues with the painting on loan from the National Gallery in Edinburgh depicting "Portrait of a Archer" – a work which can certainly be included in the debate on the parallel between painting and sculpture, but which, owing to its state of conservation, does not allow us to affirm with certainty that it is by Giorgione, and finally the Double Portrait from the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, one of Giorgione’s major portrait works and a remarkable artistic depiction with a profound sense of gestures, symbols and expressions.
Two further benchmarks in the work of this Castelfranco artist appear in the form of two key works that mark the birth of landscape painting: "The Tempest" and "The Sunset", lent respectively by the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice and the National Gallery in London in a great spirit of understanding for a commemorative exhibition of such importance.
So we have together the “definite” painting which more that any other has challenged the interpretative powers of many scholars, suggesting the strangest and most complex philosophical, psychoanalytical and alchemistic conjectures, and the work now increasingly being accredited to Giorgione which probably depicts Philoctetes on Lemnos, a topic which he would have come upon in Venice after the first edition of Sophocles’s tragedies was printed by Aldo Manuzio in 1502: in both works man and nature are on the same level, in a complementary relationship which is translated into lyricism and which, abandoning the conventional categories, is expressed wholly through colour. These paintings are evidence of Giorgione’s remarkable modernity.
Other noteworthy exhibits in this section are the drawings attributed to Campagnola and some to Giorgione himself, from the Louvre and the Uffizi, with studies of the landscape and of architecture that seem closely related to the natural protagonist of Giorgione’s two masterpieces, as well as the engravings by Dürer. Similarly, it should be emphasized – in keeping with the continual references to the cultural and artistic environment in which Giorgione’s art developed – how The Sunset is placed in dialogue with the marble slab of "Philoctetes" by Antonio Lombardo from the Hermitage, and with the Renaissance bronzes depicting monsters and serpents which are recalled in the sinuous stance of the young protagonist in Giorgione’s painting and in the perception of monstrous beings among the dense foliage and rocks.
The last section – fascinating, inevitable, and emblematic of the critical and interpretative twists and turns that have accompanied the reconstruction of this great artist’s path, shrouded in a dense cloud of uncertainties and with an absence of documentation – is presented quite explicitly this time as "The Challenges".
Challenges between the great masters of Renaissance art, who are perhaps irritated, or perhaps laughing, up there in the afterlife, to see scholars attribute the same painting first to one artist and then another – to Giorgione himself, to Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo or Perugino; challenges for the art historians, challenges for the public, challenges for those in search of definite facts and absolute truths, when the only definite fact is the excellence, the ability to leave a mark in history.
"The Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and John the Baptist", from the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, could be attributed to Sebastiano del Piombo at the beginning of his career, but many would include it among Giorgione’s works.
The beautiful "Christ Carrying the Cross", with a lunette above depicting The Eternal Father with Angels in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, an object of great devotion during the sixteenth century, has been attributed at various times to Titian or to Giorgione. The striking "Impassioned Singer" seems to recall the new concept of monumentality introduced by Giorgione in his frescoes at the Fondaco but also a new experimentalism in Giorgione’s portrait painting, with greater plasticity in the volumes of the skin thanks to the use of red, and with an almost caricature-style accentuation of gestures and expressions, yet despite this it has actually been ascribed to a disciple of Giorgione in the mid seventeenth century, post-dating both paintings by a century.
Then there is the painting from a private collection that shares a musical theme with the two preceding works, a topic that was very dear to Giorgione according to Vasari, known as the "Concert", for which a new iconographic interpretation is offered: it is assigned to the last phase in the master’s work, and appears to be of the highest artistic quality, with remarkable realistic significance, a clear expression of a tonal painting liberated from the old ideas of schematism.
Finally there are the two "Warriors": one from the National Gallery in London – once considered preparation for the saint on the left in the Castelfranco altarpiece but more recently with the dating oscillating between the early sixteenth century and a century later – and the "Warrior with Page" from Castle Howard, which very few have been lucky enough to have seen in the flesh: it is perhaps by Titian, perhaps taken from a lost work conceived by Giorgione. Perhaps.
Giorgione, "Leda e il cigno", fine XV sec. Olio su tela, 12 x 19 cm. Padova, Musei Civici agli Eremitani
17 décembre 2009
Major Royal Academy Art Show Canceled Over Seized Painting
Peter Paul Rubens, "Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens", c. 1616. Oil on canvas, mounted on panel, 37.3 x 26.9 cm. Sammlungen des Fursten von und zu Liechtenstein, Vaduz-Wien. Inv. No. GE 105
LONDON (REUTERS).- A major London exhibition of treasures from the Prince of Liechtenstein's collection has been canceled because of a dispute over the export of one of the prince's paintings.
The show was billed as one of the highlights of the 2010 season at the Royal Academy, and the prestigious gallery is now working on alternatives to fill its main galleries between September and December next year.
"After many months of planning ... we are of course very disappointed that the Prince of Liechtenstein has decided to cancel the exhibition," a spokesman for the gallery said.
"This is owing to an unrelated criminal inquiry into the export of a group of pictures bought in London by the Prince over three years ago.
"The Royal Academy has a number of projects in development and is considering alternatives for next autumn which we will present early in 2010."
The dispute centres around Spanish Renaissance painting "The Infante Don Diego" by Sanchez Coello which was purchased by the prince from a British owner via a London dealer in 2006.
In 2007 the British authorities deferred a license to export the work, unofficially valued at around two million pounds ($3.3 million), in order to allow time for an alternative buyer to raise the necessary funds to keep it in the country.
The authorities later launched an investigation into the license applications for the group of paintings that included the Coello and their valuations.
According to HM Revenue & Customs, which is handling the case, the painting has been returned to the prince's representatives but is still barred from export.
Johann Kraftner, director of the Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, told Reuters that neither the prince nor the collection were in any way involved in the investigation.
"We have not had any information," he said by telephone.
According to Kraftner, the only way the show could be staged as planned was for the prince to accept a British government indemnity to protect his loans, since commercial insurance would be too expensive for the Royal Academy to afford.
"We have been asked to accept the British state indemnity," he said. "But to accept state indemnity you have to trust the state, and if you are not informed by the state we had to say we cannot send our treasures.
"We worked up to the last moment. We felt very badly treated."
He said the exhibition, to have included works by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens among others, would have been more spectacular than a 1985/6 show of the prince's collection held in New York.
Another Royal Academy "blockbuster," "From Russia," opened in 2008 despite a row over the ownership of priceless treasures that had threatened to derail it.
Government assurances that Russia would not lose disputed paintings by the likes of Van Gogh and Cezanne helped save the exhibition. (Editing by Paul Casciato)
Peter Paul Rubens, "Mars and Rhea Silvia", c. 1616-17. Oil on canvas, 209 x 272 cm. Sammlungen des Fursten von und zu Liechtenstein, Vaduz-Wien. Inv. No. GE 122
16 décembre 2009
Antonius Leemans (La Haye 1631 -Amsterdam 1673) Trompe-l'œil aux accessoires du fauconnier
Antonius Leemans (La Haye 1631 -Amsterdam 1673) Trompe-l'œil aux accessoires du fauconnier
Toile, 96 x 71 cm -
Provenance: Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Me Libert, 4 juin 1964, n°13 (Johannes Leemans), reproduit.
Acquis dans une collection privée en 1979 par l'actuel propriétaire.
Notes: Antonius Leemans a travaillé dans plusieurs villes des Pays-Bas: né à La Haye, il s'y marie en 1654. Il est ensuite mentionné à Alkmaar en 1660, à Amsterdam et Utrecht en 1663, à Dordrecht en 1671 avant de mourir à Amsterdam en 1673. Ses œuvres datées se situent entre 1655 et 1665.
Il est difficile de distinguer ses représentations d' équipements de chasseurs de celles de Johannes Leemans ( ?, 1633 - La Haye, 1688), qui fut probablement son frère.
Les deux artistes utilisent la même gamme de couleurs dans des compositions similaires: des ocres et beiges relevés par des touches de bleu ou rouge.
Le matériel de fauconnerie est ici rangé, suspendu à son clou. Le mur fissuré nous renvoie à un tableau du Wallraf-Richartz-Museum de Cologne ( Trompe-l'œil : l' attirail du chasseur, toile, 105 x 173 cm, signé et daté : A.Leemans. F. 1662, cf. Luca Bild-Lexikon, n° 209/4, repr. p.583) .
Bibliographie en rapport : Erika Gemar-Koeltzsch : Luca Bild-Lexikon, Holländische Stillebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert, Vol. 3, pp. 581-584)
Piasa - Paris. Vente du Vendredi 18 décembre 2009. Drouot Richelieu - Salles 1 & 7. Cabinet Éric Turquin Expert. Pour tout renseignement,veuillez contacter à la maison de ventes Émilie Grandin au 01 53 34 10 10.
École flamande, vers 1600, suiveur d'Albrecht Bouts. Tête de saint Jean Baptiste
École flamande, vers 1600, suiveur d'Albrecht Bouts. Tête de saint Jean Baptiste
Panneau de chêne, une planche, non parqueté, de forme ronde. Diamètre : 29 cm (Restaurations anciennes) Sans cadre - Estimation : 6 000 / 8 000 €
Reprise avec des variantes d'une composition d'Albrecht Bouts connue par plusieurs versions (Landesmuseum à Oldenburg, Bowes Museum à Barnard Castle, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts à Bruxelles, Muzeum Narodowe à Varsovie)
Piasa - Paris. Vente du Vendredi 18 décembre 2009. Drouot Richelieu - Salles 1 & 7. Cabinet Éric Turquin Expert. Pour tout renseignement,veuillez contacter à la maison de ventes Émilie Grandin au 01 53 34 10 10.
Seguace di Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, detto Guercino, San Sebastiano
Seguace di Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, detto Guercino, San Sebastiano. photo Sotheby's
olio su tela,numeri di inventario sul retro della cornice: 10.a; 31 - 118 x 95.5 cm. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 10,625 EUR
Sotheby's. Old Master Paintings, 19th C Paintings, Furniture and Works of Art. 15 Dec 09. Milan www.sothebys.com
15 décembre 2009
Commanding a Fortune: Roedig Achieves Record-Breaking Price at Bonhams Old Masters Sale
Johannes Christianus Roedig (The Hague 1751-1802) Tulips, roses and other flowers in a classical urn overturned by a cat chasing a mouse with a statue of Flora beyond; and Peaches, grapes, pumpkins, a lemon, a pomegranate and other fruit and flowers in a wicker basket on a marble plinth, with a classical urn beyond, both signed and dated 'C Roedig/1779' (lower right, in brick and lower left, on stone) a pair, oil on panel, 73 x 57.5cm (28 3/4 x 22 5/8in). (2) Sold for £1,196,000. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
The sale of Old Masters at Bonhams New Bond Street proved the enduring popularity of these paintings raising a total of £2,840,960 with 90% of lots sold by value. The results included a record price for a Roedig painting, with Tulips, roses and other flowers in a classical urn overturned by a cat chasing a mouse with a statue of Flora beyond; and Peaches, grapes, pumpkins, a lemon, a pomegranate and other fruit and flowers in a wicker basket on a marble plinth, with a classical urn beyond – sold as a pair – achieving £1,196,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £700,000-900,000.
Elsewhere, other paintings proved popular with buyers and many lots exceeded their pre-sale estimates due to the fierce competition both within the saleroom and internationally. Theobald Michau's A winter landscape more than doubled the estimate of £50,000-80,000 to sell for £240,000, whilst François Boucher's Les caresses dangereuses also performed well reaching £228,000 against an estimate of £80,000-120,000.
Theobald Michau (Tournai 1676-1765 Antwerp) A winter landscape with figures skating on a frozen river, oil on copper, 47.6 x 63.8cm (18 3/4 x 25 1/8in). Sold for £240,000. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770) Les caresses dangeureuses, oil on canvas, 80 x 64.5cm (31 1/2 x 25 3/8in). Sold for £228,000. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
Other highlights included an early 17th century painting by the Anglo Dutch School – a Portrait of two children, full-length, both in red costume which sold for £132,000 (estimate £40,000-60,000), and a brace of paintings by Jan Wildens whose An elegant company departing for the hunt before an open landscape and A river landscape achieving £126,000 (estimate £50,000-70,000).
Anglo Dutch School, 1622 Portrait of two children, full-length, both in red costume, the boy with a whip and top, the girl holding a fan, inscribed and dated 'Natus. 22:/ Maij: 1617.' (upper left), Stilo. Angliae./ Pict/ 7o Jan/ 1622' (upper centre) and 'Nata. 7. Jan:/ 1615.' (upper right), oil on panel, 111.8 x 104.8cm (44 x 41 1/4in). Sold for £132,000. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
Jan Wildens (Antwerp 1586-1653) An elegant company departing for the hunt before an open landscape; and A river landscape with fishermen returning to shore, with shipping in the distance; a pair, oil on canvas, 116 x 154cm (45 11/16 x 60 5/8in). (2) Sold for £126,000. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
Also attracting tremendous interest was An elderly bearded man in prayer by Jacques de Rousseaux reaching four times the estimate to sell for £78,000 (estimate £10,000-15,000), whilst the biblical scene Classical ruins before an Italianate lake landscape, with Christ handing Saint Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and An architectural capriccio both by Giovanni Ghisolfisold for £74,000 (estimate £30,000-50,000).
Jacques des Rousseaux (Tourcoing circa 1600-1638 Leiden) An elderly bearded man in prayer, signed with initials and dated 'JR 1631' (lower left), oil on panel, 66.4 x 51.5cm (26 1/8 x 20 1/4in). Sold for £78,000. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
Giovanni Ghisolfi (Milan circa 1623-1683) Classical ruins before an Italianate lake landscape, with Christ handing Saint Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and An architectural capriccio with the Parable of the fish, an open landscape beyond; a pair, oil on canvas, 69 x 101cm (27 3/16 x 39 3/4in) and 70.5 x 102cm 27 3/4 x 40 3/16in). (2) Sold for £74,400. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
Earlier paintings had a similarly enduring appeal to buyers – Cornelius van der Voort's Portrait of Lady achieved £50,400 (estimate £15,000-20,000) with The interior of a picture gallery from the Studio of David Teniers the Younger reaching £40,800 (estimate £7,000-10,000). Also performing outstandingly well and way beyond expectation was A skull, lizard, coins and an hourglass in a painted stone niche by the German School (dated circa 1600) which was hotly contested to eventually sell for £50,400 – over ten times the pre-sale estimate of £2,000-3,000.
Cornelis van der Voort (Antwerp 1576-1624 Amsterdam) Portrait of a lady, three-quarter-length, in black costume with a gold embroidered bodice and a white lace headdress, holding a fan, oil on canvas, 117.8 x 87.8cm (46 3/8 x 34 9/16in). Sold for £50,400. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
Studio of David Teniers the Younger (Antwerp 1610-1690 Brussels) The interior of a picture gallery with two men examining a seal and red chalk drawing, a dog and monkey present, oil on canvas, 66.5 x 82.5cm (26 3/16 x 32 1/2in). Sold for £40,800. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
German School, circa 1600, A skull, a lizard, coins and an hourglass in a painted stone niche, oil on canvas, 28.5 x 23.2cm (11 1/4 x 9 1/8in). Sold for £50,400. Photo: Courtesy Bonhams
Andrew McKenzie, Director of Old Masters at Bonhams comments: 'We are delighted for our clients. We had anticipated considerable interest before the sale, but a number of particularly remarkable results are clear testament to the continuing strength of the Old Masters market.'
14 décembre 2009
Un Caravage volé en 1969 « brûlé par la Mafia »
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (dit Le Caravage), Nativité avec Saint François et Saint Laurent (1609). Œuvre perdue, anciennement Église de San Lorenzo à Palerme. Photo D.R.
ROME (ITALIE) [14.12.09] – Un tableau du Caravage, volé dans une église à Palerme en 1969, aurait été détruit dans un incendie après son vol par la Mafia. L’information a été donnée par un « repenti » lors d’un procès à Rome.
« Nativité avec Saint François et Saint Laurent » , un tableau du Caravage datant de 1609, aurait brûlé dans l’incendie d’une ferme alors qu’il était entre les mains d’un clan de la Cosa Nostra, dans les années 1980. Le Times rapporte cette information.
Volé en octobre 1969 dans l’église San Lorenzo de Palerme, le tableau figure toujours parmi les œuvres d’art recherchées par Interpol.
Au fil des années, les spéculations ont couru sur son destin : certains pensaient qu’il avait été détruit dans le tremblement de terre qui a frappé Naples en 1980, d’autres évoquaient un collectionneur italien en Afrique du Sud.
Son sort pourrait être beaucoup plus trivial : selon les informations d’un « repenti » , interrogé au cours d’un procès de mafieux qui se tient à Rome, le tableau, une fois volé et faute d’acheteur, aurait été laissé à l’abandon dans une ferme, et finalement brûlé dans un incendie.
C'est ce que prétend Gaspare Spatuzzo, tueur à gages pour le compte du clan Graviano, une des familles les plus importantes de la mafia. Filippo Graviano, le chef de famille, lui aurait avoué le sort fait à la toile en 1999.
La justice savait déjà que l’œuvre avait été volée par la mafia : en 1996, un autre homme de main du clan avait avoué avoir pris part au vol, pour le compte d’un acheteur resté mystérieux. Mais les voleurs, en détachant la toile de son cadre, avaient abîmé le tableau, et l’acheteur avait alors refusé de payer pour un tableau endommagé.
La toile est estimée à 20 millions d’euros. Copyright artclair.com