Decade 1600-1609
See also : Ancient painting Ancient drawing Flemish art Christianity Flowers Early still life Persia Islam Textiles White diamond
Safavid - The Carpet of Senator Clark
2013 SOLD 34 M$ including premium
The extreme refinement of Persian carpets reached its peak under the Safavid dynasty.
One of them created one of the most exciting surprises in the history of auctions. Surfacing in Germany in October 2009, it was estimated € 900 by a local auctioneer. Christie's had a small intuition about the importance of the piece by providing an estimate of £ 200K. They sold it for £ 6.2 million including premium on April 15, 2010.
Now known as the carpet of the comtesse de Béhague, this Kirman in wool 339 x 153 cm was made with one of the more complex techniques identified as the 'vase' technique. This name is unrelated to the decorative pattern.
The carpet of Senator Clark will not create the same surprise as it has already been described for nearly a century as a masterpiece of Persian textile art. It was exhibited after the death of its owner in 1925 in a museum that de-accessions it now. It is estimated $ 5M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on June 5. Here is the link to the catalog.
Its red background is rare and perhaps unique in its class, the sickle-leaf pattern variant of the 'vase' technique. Its fine floral motifs and its palmettes make it a vibrant and sumptuous artwork in 267 x 196 cm size.
It is always difficult to date and locate an old carpet, if not by considerations of its technical characteristics. The Clark carpet is Safavid and probably Kirman. It is comparable to the best known pieces woven during the reign of Shah Abbas 400 years ago.
POST SALE COMMENT
There is no price limit for the most outstanding art pieces. This extraordinary carpet was sold for $ 34M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
It is also shared by Wikimedia.
One of them created one of the most exciting surprises in the history of auctions. Surfacing in Germany in October 2009, it was estimated € 900 by a local auctioneer. Christie's had a small intuition about the importance of the piece by providing an estimate of £ 200K. They sold it for £ 6.2 million including premium on April 15, 2010.
Now known as the carpet of the comtesse de Béhague, this Kirman in wool 339 x 153 cm was made with one of the more complex techniques identified as the 'vase' technique. This name is unrelated to the decorative pattern.
The carpet of Senator Clark will not create the same surprise as it has already been described for nearly a century as a masterpiece of Persian textile art. It was exhibited after the death of its owner in 1925 in a museum that de-accessions it now. It is estimated $ 5M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on June 5. Here is the link to the catalog.
Its red background is rare and perhaps unique in its class, the sickle-leaf pattern variant of the 'vase' technique. Its fine floral motifs and its palmettes make it a vibrant and sumptuous artwork in 267 x 196 cm size.
It is always difficult to date and locate an old carpet, if not by considerations of its technical characteristics. The Clark carpet is Safavid and probably Kirman. It is comparable to the best known pieces woven during the reign of Shah Abbas 400 years ago.
POST SALE COMMENT
There is no price limit for the most outstanding art pieces. This extraordinary carpet was sold for $ 34M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
It is also shared by Wikimedia.
1600 A Prayer of Saint Dominic
2013 SOLD 9.2 M£ including premium
El Greco lived at the time of the Counter-Reformation, when Catholic authorities were attempting to redefine the role of the image for encouraging piety.
Mannerism is disputed because the elongated body is uneasy to understand. El Greco does not choose between Mannerism and the Baroque which is the new apology of motion. The originality of his art is to be a strong and unique synthesis of the two trends.
On July 3 in London, Sotheby's sells an image of Saint Dominic by El Greco, estimated £ 3M. It is a rare theme, although the saint was Spanish. The founder of the Order of Preachers is a teacher whose hagiography is not miraculous.
Dominic prays with the habit of his order. His tall elongated body is moving towards a crucifix that he had positioned on a rock. His contemplation is internal as his eyes are almost closed.
The scene is located outdoor probably to glorify a hermit life then considered as deviant for a Dominican. The sky is ready for storm, contrasting with the quiet attitude of the saint.
This oil on canvas, made circa 1600 from an earlier model, is small, 75 x 58 cm, indicating that it was intended for private devotion. Coming from the Rau collection, it is sold for the benefit of UNICEF. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
The works of El Greco in such a quality are exceptional on the art market. St. Dominic was sold for £ 9.2 million including premium.
The sale also included a large Christ on the Cross by the same artist, sold for £ 3.4 million including premium.
Mannerism is disputed because the elongated body is uneasy to understand. El Greco does not choose between Mannerism and the Baroque which is the new apology of motion. The originality of his art is to be a strong and unique synthesis of the two trends.
On July 3 in London, Sotheby's sells an image of Saint Dominic by El Greco, estimated £ 3M. It is a rare theme, although the saint was Spanish. The founder of the Order of Preachers is a teacher whose hagiography is not miraculous.
Dominic prays with the habit of his order. His tall elongated body is moving towards a crucifix that he had positioned on a rock. His contemplation is internal as his eyes are almost closed.
The scene is located outdoor probably to glorify a hermit life then considered as deviant for a Dominican. The sky is ready for storm, contrasting with the quiet attitude of the saint.
This oil on canvas, made circa 1600 from an earlier model, is small, 75 x 58 cm, indicating that it was intended for private devotion. Coming from the Rau collection, it is sold for the benefit of UNICEF. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
The works of El Greco in such a quality are exceptional on the art market. St. Dominic was sold for £ 9.2 million including premium.
The sale also included a large Christ on the Cross by the same artist, sold for £ 3.4 million including premium.
1600 Franciscan Contemplation
2017 SOLD for £ 6.9M including premium
El Greco settled in Toledo in 1577. The city had no less than seven Franciscan convents and three Franciscan friaries. The life of St. Francis was a call both mystical and commercial for the artist who produced ten different compositions on that theme. In 1606 he released some engravings to encourage his clients to order replicas.
Francis is not a saint like the others. His conversion to poverty is a revolution in medieval monasticism. St. Francis and St. Dominic are independently of one another the greatest reformers of Christian life.
Francis practices a mystical prayer far away from the interpretations of the Gospels which facilitates his appreciation by El Greco. On December 7 in London, Christie's sells a scene showing Saint Francis and Brother Leo in meditation, autograph oil on canvas 110 x 65 cm estimated £ 5M, lot 14.
This work is typical of the maturity of the artist in Toledo. The expressiveness of the faces is counterbalanced by the elongated body of the saint which reinforces the impression of presence. The mystic light of the day enters the cave. The saint holds in his hands a human skull, a symbol promoted in 1548 by Ignatius of Loyola as the best incentive to contemplation.
The painting 168 x 103 cm kept at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa is considered as its original version. Made around 1600, it is comparable to the Saint Dominic in prayer of which a 75 x 58 cm autograph copy was sold for £ 9.2M including premium by Sotheby's on July 3, 2013.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's about the Saint Francis of the next sale.
Francis is not a saint like the others. His conversion to poverty is a revolution in medieval monasticism. St. Francis and St. Dominic are independently of one another the greatest reformers of Christian life.
Francis practices a mystical prayer far away from the interpretations of the Gospels which facilitates his appreciation by El Greco. On December 7 in London, Christie's sells a scene showing Saint Francis and Brother Leo in meditation, autograph oil on canvas 110 x 65 cm estimated £ 5M, lot 14.
This work is typical of the maturity of the artist in Toledo. The expressiveness of the faces is counterbalanced by the elongated body of the saint which reinforces the impression of presence. The mystic light of the day enters the cave. The saint holds in his hands a human skull, a symbol promoted in 1548 by Ignatius of Loyola as the best incentive to contemplation.
The painting 168 x 103 cm kept at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa is considered as its original version. Made around 1600, it is comparable to the Saint Dominic in prayer of which a 75 x 58 cm autograph copy was sold for £ 9.2M including premium by Sotheby's on July 3, 2013.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's about the Saint Francis of the next sale.
#AuctionUpdate A highlight of the sale, #ElGreco’s captivating painting, ‘Saint Francis and Brother Leo in Meditation’, sells for £6,871,250 https://t.co/hJXs0ok6OI pic.twitter.com/1hquAKXCnW
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) December 7, 2017
1600 Quiet Harvest in Flanders
2014 SOLD 5.2 M$ including premium
Working in Antwerp and afterwards in Brussels, Pieter Bruegel lived in troubled times. His specialty of painting proverbs and morals might at any time offend the Catholic Spain which was then the colonial power, or the Dutch Protestants beginning to engage in their very long war of independence.
Pieter Bruegel chose the theme of peasant life. Their occupations are indeed symbols more or less easy to decode of the struggle between vices and virtues.
The difficulty in deciphering his message, which is explained by the political context, allows the modern viewer to focus his admiration on the anecdote. Bruegel's characters enchant us by their picturesque features and by the exceptional reference to the lifestyle of another time.
Pieter Bruegel died prematurely in 1569. His art, however, had a sequel. His mother-in-law Mayken Verhulst transmitted his images to Pieter II and Jan, four and one years old at the father's death.
The large picture of Summer - Harvesters, 119 x 162 cm, painted by Pieter Bruegel in 1565, comes by this way into the suite of modellos used by Pieter Brueghel II (recovering the h from the original spelling of his father's name).
Pieter II copies the characters from the scene made by his father, with a translucid method of transfer. His peasants are placed in a similar landscape, but any moralizing intention has disappeared. He erased the idle fellow and the players to retain one peasant at work with his scythe and the quiet group who takes his snack. The tree no longer separates good and evil.
On January 30 in New York , Sotheby's sells one of these scenes of harvest painted by Pieter II. This oil on panel 60 x 80 cm is dated 1600, which is quite early in the career of the artist. Tirelessly repeating the same themes, Pieter II has not often dated his paintings in his later career.
This painting is estimated $ 2.5 M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting is exceptional for its date, early in the career of the younger Brueghel. It deserved $ 5.2 million including premium.
Pieter Bruegel chose the theme of peasant life. Their occupations are indeed symbols more or less easy to decode of the struggle between vices and virtues.
The difficulty in deciphering his message, which is explained by the political context, allows the modern viewer to focus his admiration on the anecdote. Bruegel's characters enchant us by their picturesque features and by the exceptional reference to the lifestyle of another time.
Pieter Bruegel died prematurely in 1569. His art, however, had a sequel. His mother-in-law Mayken Verhulst transmitted his images to Pieter II and Jan, four and one years old at the father's death.
The large picture of Summer - Harvesters, 119 x 162 cm, painted by Pieter Bruegel in 1565, comes by this way into the suite of modellos used by Pieter Brueghel II (recovering the h from the original spelling of his father's name).
Pieter II copies the characters from the scene made by his father, with a translucid method of transfer. His peasants are placed in a similar landscape, but any moralizing intention has disappeared. He erased the idle fellow and the players to retain one peasant at work with his scythe and the quiet group who takes his snack. The tree no longer separates good and evil.
On January 30 in New York , Sotheby's sells one of these scenes of harvest painted by Pieter II. This oil on panel 60 x 80 cm is dated 1600, which is quite early in the career of the artist. Tirelessly repeating the same themes, Pieter II has not often dated his paintings in his later career.
This painting is estimated $ 2.5 M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting is exceptional for its date, early in the career of the younger Brueghel. It deserved $ 5.2 million including premium.
1604-(1610) The Coronation of Marie de Médicis
2012 SOLD 9 MCHF including premium
Nicolas de Harlay, sieur de Sancy, owned two remarkable diamonds. He used them to fuel the greed of kings and queens.
His pale yellow diamond of 55 carats took his name: the Sancy. In 1604 it was bought by James I of England. It joined the Régent in the Louvre.
Henri IV and Marie are a dissimilar couple. The Bearnese peasant seeks to counteract the trends to luxury of his Florentine wife. Perhaps to comfort her after missing the Sancy, Henri buys for Marie the other prestigious gem, also in 1604. This 35-carat white diamond of pear double rose cut was later called the Beau Sancy.
Marie, married in 1600 long after the beginning of Henri's reign, had not yet been crowned, to her dismay. The king finally gave away, again. During the coronation ceremony, on May 13, 1610, the Beau Sancy adorns the crown of the queen. The next day, Henri IV is assassinated.
The Beau Sancy has always remained in royal European families. It is estimated CHF 2M, for sale by Sotheby's in Geneva on May 15.
It is illustrated in the article shared by La Tribune de Genève. Its ancient cut with bulky shapes is outdated, just like the complicated cut of the yellow Sancy based on a shield shape.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Beau Sancy was sold CHF 9M including premium, well above its estimate. Its price per carat, CHF 250K, is remarkable.
Such enthusiasm for a historical gem is not common. Hopefully its success will attract to the market other exceptional historical pieces.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
His pale yellow diamond of 55 carats took his name: the Sancy. In 1604 it was bought by James I of England. It joined the Régent in the Louvre.
Henri IV and Marie are a dissimilar couple. The Bearnese peasant seeks to counteract the trends to luxury of his Florentine wife. Perhaps to comfort her after missing the Sancy, Henri buys for Marie the other prestigious gem, also in 1604. This 35-carat white diamond of pear double rose cut was later called the Beau Sancy.
Marie, married in 1600 long after the beginning of Henri's reign, had not yet been crowned, to her dismay. The king finally gave away, again. During the coronation ceremony, on May 13, 1610, the Beau Sancy adorns the crown of the queen. The next day, Henri IV is assassinated.
The Beau Sancy has always remained in royal European families. It is estimated CHF 2M, for sale by Sotheby's in Geneva on May 15.
It is illustrated in the article shared by La Tribune de Genève. Its ancient cut with bulky shapes is outdated, just like the complicated cut of the yellow Sancy based on a shield shape.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Beau Sancy was sold CHF 9M including premium, well above its estimate. Its price per carat, CHF 250K, is remarkable.
Such enthusiasm for a historical gem is not common. Hopefully its success will attract to the market other exceptional historical pieces.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
Good and Evil on a Flemish Square
2012 SOLD 4.5 M£ including premium
Pieter Brueghel the elder is one the most popular ancient masters for the public of today. We love his celebrations, his many characters in very diverse attitudes who are busy in a medieval atmosphere. He has recorded for us the life of another time.
His themes, allegories, proverbs, parables, however, are well positioning this artist at the time when the religious crisis shook Europe, when Cranach and Titian, in their own way, were looking for the meaning of good and evil.
The Battle between Carnival and Lent, in 1559, is one of the most complex compositions of Brueghel. On the pretext of a festival on the village square, it shows people, their occupations, their games, and two processions facing each other in such a way that they irreversibly inhibit any possible progress. Carnival comes out of the inn and Lent out of the church.
Fortunately, the sons of the founder of the workshop were also excellent painters. Although being copies, the five known examples of the Battle between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Brueghel the younger are masterpieces.
Only one of these five paintings, it seems, has been dated using dendrochronology. This version of 1603, 118 x 166 cm, has been previously discussed in this group. In neglected condition, it was sold £ 2M including premium by Christie's on December 7, 2010.
On similar size and in very good condition, the only canvas of the group was sold twice by Christie's: £ 3.25 million including premium on 7 December 2006, and £ 6.9 million including premium on 6 December 2011, demonstrating the growing enthusiasm of the market.
Also in similar dimensions, the best preserved of the four panels is estimated £ 4M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 4. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
Carnival and Lent remains a favorite theme of Brueghel's fans at auction. Despite its excellent condition, this one was however sold without excitement, exactly at its lower estimate, £ 4.5 million including premium.
His themes, allegories, proverbs, parables, however, are well positioning this artist at the time when the religious crisis shook Europe, when Cranach and Titian, in their own way, were looking for the meaning of good and evil.
The Battle between Carnival and Lent, in 1559, is one of the most complex compositions of Brueghel. On the pretext of a festival on the village square, it shows people, their occupations, their games, and two processions facing each other in such a way that they irreversibly inhibit any possible progress. Carnival comes out of the inn and Lent out of the church.
Fortunately, the sons of the founder of the workshop were also excellent painters. Although being copies, the five known examples of the Battle between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Brueghel the younger are masterpieces.
Only one of these five paintings, it seems, has been dated using dendrochronology. This version of 1603, 118 x 166 cm, has been previously discussed in this group. In neglected condition, it was sold £ 2M including premium by Christie's on December 7, 2010.
On similar size and in very good condition, the only canvas of the group was sold twice by Christie's: £ 3.25 million including premium on 7 December 2006, and £ 6.9 million including premium on 6 December 2011, demonstrating the growing enthusiasm of the market.
Also in similar dimensions, the best preserved of the four panels is estimated £ 4M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 4. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
Carnival and Lent remains a favorite theme of Brueghel's fans at auction. Despite its excellent condition, this one was however sold without excitement, exactly at its lower estimate, £ 4.5 million including premium.
1607 The Stations of the Brueghels
2014 SOLD 5.5 M£ including premium
Biblical scenes are prominent in the art of Pieter Bruegel (not to be spelled Brueghel during his artistic career). They are perfectly adapted to his moralizing intent and to the expectations of his customers.
Bruegel painted the procession to Calvary in 1564. The dense and diverse crowd almost hides the relatively distant Christ carrying his cross. The religious dimension is mainly provided by the holy women in the foreground. This oil on panel is one of his largest works, 124 x 170 cm.
Pieter Brueghel the younger has not only copied the catalog of his father. His works in large format are often original compositions.
From 1599 he also treats the road to Calvary. In the 1607 version, oil on panel 122 x 170 cm, Christ is more visible and the crowd is less dense. In the distance, the city of Jerusalem looks immense.
This painting was sold for £ 5.2 million including premium by Sotheby's on July 5, 2006. It is estimated £ 5M for sale by Christie's in London on July 8.
On July 9 in London, Sotheby's sells a 1615 painting of the Crucifixion. The scene is located in a wide landscape, with a stylized Jerusalem just above the cross of Christ. The artist has chosen an anecdotal moment when the soldiers are busy raising the cross of the second thief.
This oil on panel 100 x 148 cm is estimated £ 3M.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
At Christie's, the result for the Road to Calvary, £ 5.5 million including premium, is slightly above the 2006 price.
2
At Sotheby's, the Calvary was not sold. Here are the results including premium for the other two important paintings by Pieter Brueghel II: £ 3.9 million for the bird trap and £ 1.54 million for the village feast.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's introducing three Brueghel paintings including the Calvary.
Bruegel painted the procession to Calvary in 1564. The dense and diverse crowd almost hides the relatively distant Christ carrying his cross. The religious dimension is mainly provided by the holy women in the foreground. This oil on panel is one of his largest works, 124 x 170 cm.
Pieter Brueghel the younger has not only copied the catalog of his father. His works in large format are often original compositions.
From 1599 he also treats the road to Calvary. In the 1607 version, oil on panel 122 x 170 cm, Christ is more visible and the crowd is less dense. In the distance, the city of Jerusalem looks immense.
This painting was sold for £ 5.2 million including premium by Sotheby's on July 5, 2006. It is estimated £ 5M for sale by Christie's in London on July 8.
On July 9 in London, Sotheby's sells a 1615 painting of the Crucifixion. The scene is located in a wide landscape, with a stylized Jerusalem just above the cross of Christ. The artist has chosen an anecdotal moment when the soldiers are busy raising the cross of the second thief.
This oil on panel 100 x 148 cm is estimated £ 3M.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
At Christie's, the result for the Road to Calvary, £ 5.5 million including premium, is slightly above the 2006 price.
2
At Sotheby's, the Calvary was not sold. Here are the results including premium for the other two important paintings by Pieter Brueghel II: £ 3.9 million for the bird trap and £ 1.54 million for the village feast.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's introducing three Brueghel paintings including the Calvary.
1608 Flowers in an Oil on Copper by Bosschaert
2008 SOLD 5.8 MCHF including premium
This small copper 26x18 cm, which Koller sells in Zurich on September 19 is typical of Flemish still lifes from the early seventeenth century. It depicts a bouquet of flowers in a glass, a butterfly, a shell. The composition, well centred, highlights the tulips. The painting is monogramed AB, and includes a trace of date: 160., probably 1608.
Its author, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, is so named today to distinguish him from his son Ambrosius. The latter, and the Elder's two other sons Abraham and Johannes, also painted still lifes, but the best known of the family is perhaps Balthasar van der Ast, brother-in-law and pupil of the elder Ambrosius.
On 10 July 2002, Sotheby's achieved good results on works by these painters. A bouquet in a window, oil on copper of 28 x 23 cm by Ambrosius the Elder and typical of his work, had been sold £ 2.1 million charge included. The same day, an oval oil on copper of 1624 by Balthasar has almost reached 950 K £.
With a composition very similar as the copper to be sold by Koller, another oil on copper, by Ambrosius the Elder, 30 x 20 cm, was sold £ 1.75 million by Sotheby's in London in July 2000. It was on my taste more interesting than the Koller's, because the flowers were more numerous and less dispersed. In both works, the glass is almost identical.
It derives from these figures that the estimate given by Koller, 2.5 MCHF, is ambitious, but the auction house announced that the painting is in exceptional condition, after being kept for 150 years in the same collection.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
Koller got a good result on these flowers by Bosschaert: 5 MCHF excluding charges, twice the low estimate.
This article will have a following:
A bouquet in a niche by Balthasar van der Ast, 48 x 36 cm, is the lot 16 of the sale of Zürichsee Auktionen in Erlenbach on September 24 (estimated 500 KCHF). As I said in the article above, Balthasar was the brother in law of Ambrosius Bosschaert.
2
Balthasar's painting was not sold.
Its author, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, is so named today to distinguish him from his son Ambrosius. The latter, and the Elder's two other sons Abraham and Johannes, also painted still lifes, but the best known of the family is perhaps Balthasar van der Ast, brother-in-law and pupil of the elder Ambrosius.
On 10 July 2002, Sotheby's achieved good results on works by these painters. A bouquet in a window, oil on copper of 28 x 23 cm by Ambrosius the Elder and typical of his work, had been sold £ 2.1 million charge included. The same day, an oval oil on copper of 1624 by Balthasar has almost reached 950 K £.
With a composition very similar as the copper to be sold by Koller, another oil on copper, by Ambrosius the Elder, 30 x 20 cm, was sold £ 1.75 million by Sotheby's in London in July 2000. It was on my taste more interesting than the Koller's, because the flowers were more numerous and less dispersed. In both works, the glass is almost identical.
It derives from these figures that the estimate given by Koller, 2.5 MCHF, is ambitious, but the auction house announced that the painting is in exceptional condition, after being kept for 150 years in the same collection.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
Koller got a good result on these flowers by Bosschaert: 5 MCHF excluding charges, twice the low estimate.
This article will have a following:
A bouquet in a niche by Balthasar van der Ast, 48 x 36 cm, is the lot 16 of the sale of Zürichsee Auktionen in Erlenbach on September 24 (estimated 500 KCHF). As I said in the article above, Balthasar was the brother in law of Ambrosius Bosschaert.
2
Balthasar's painting was not sold.
1608 The Blossoms of Four Months
2016 SOLD for £ 3.85M including premium
A precocious artist, Jan Brueghel found patrons in Italy. Back in Antwerp in 1596, he remains in touch with the young cardinal Federico Borromeo recently appointed Archbishop of Milan.
Tastes change. Religious wars brought a political suspicion towards religious themes. In Prague Rudolf II prefers the observation of nature to his political commitments. Hoefnagel draws and paints for that emperor some collections of flowers and animals.
In 1606 Brueghel invents the still life of flowers. The details of his letters provide some view into the process of his first trial that is already a masterpiece. It is quite possible that this new style is executed by the artist from an idea suggested by the cardinal.
This is of course not the first time that a painting shows flowers in a vase, but these artworks previously considered as minor had mainly serve as modelli to be included in more ambitious compositions. Borromeo wishes a representation of blossoms in the whole variety of their shapes and colors for brightening his living throughout the year, so enjoying nature even outside the blooming period.
Very enthusiastic for this project, Brueghel painted the flowers from late spring until late summer within an overall plan that allows him to add them at their rightful place on the panel as and when they hatch. The great variety of brilliant colors meets the expectation of the cardinal. The overcrowding of the flowers in the vase is unrealistic : it is an artistic trick to escape the didactic alignments of Hoefnagel.
The artist produced several paintings in a similar technique in the following years. He gave up soon although not before 1611 their painting by direct observation and these early works will then serve as modelli. The goal remains decorative. Other artists will add the use of flowers and small animals as symbols and the arrangements inside wreaths.
One of the first original flower paintings by Brueghel is estimated £ 3M for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 6, lot 11. This oil on oak panel is dated circa 1608 by experts.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
Tastes change. Religious wars brought a political suspicion towards religious themes. In Prague Rudolf II prefers the observation of nature to his political commitments. Hoefnagel draws and paints for that emperor some collections of flowers and animals.
In 1606 Brueghel invents the still life of flowers. The details of his letters provide some view into the process of his first trial that is already a masterpiece. It is quite possible that this new style is executed by the artist from an idea suggested by the cardinal.
This is of course not the first time that a painting shows flowers in a vase, but these artworks previously considered as minor had mainly serve as modelli to be included in more ambitious compositions. Borromeo wishes a representation of blossoms in the whole variety of their shapes and colors for brightening his living throughout the year, so enjoying nature even outside the blooming period.
Very enthusiastic for this project, Brueghel painted the flowers from late spring until late summer within an overall plan that allows him to add them at their rightful place on the panel as and when they hatch. The great variety of brilliant colors meets the expectation of the cardinal. The overcrowding of the flowers in the vase is unrealistic : it is an artistic trick to escape the didactic alignments of Hoefnagel.
The artist produced several paintings in a similar technique in the following years. He gave up soon although not before 1611 their painting by direct observation and these early works will then serve as modelli. The goal remains decorative. Other artists will add the use of flowers and small animals as symbols and the arrangements inside wreaths.
One of the first original flower paintings by Brueghel is estimated £ 3M for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 6, lot 11. This oil on oak panel is dated circa 1608 by experts.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
#AuctionUpdate Outstanding Jan Brueghel the Elder work blossoms in the sale room to record for a still-life at £3.8m pic.twitter.com/QE6mt1AwyG
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 6, 2016
1609 Rubens back from Italy
2014 SOLD 3.2 M£ including premium
Rubens left for Italy in 1600, aged 23. During the eight years of his journey, he assimilates all art trends.
He came back to Antwerp for family reasons, but political circumstances were particularly favorable for the start of his business. In April 1609, the Antwerp treaty is ending the war between Spain and the United Provinces. In July, Rubens is appointed court painter to the Archduke.
The burgomaster Nicolaas Rockox had assigned two important public commissions to Rubens, for the town hall and the cathedral, and ordered him for his private residence a scene of Samson and Delilah.
On July 10 in London, Christie's sells the only known preparation drawing for the Samson and Delilah of the mayor. This brown drawing in ink and wash, 16 x 16 cm, is estimated £ 1.5 M.
Before starting the job for the painting, Rubens was testing in the drawing the emotions of the tragic group of four characters: the giant, the wife, the barber and the maid. The analysis of this sketch invited him to increase the dramatic tension when he made the modello and the final painting on panel, in which the group is tighter and the main characters more personalized and more erotic.
The Samson by Rubens, as also his Holofernes in the same period, is strongly influenced by the too muscular male bodies by Michelangelo. The twist of the body is baroque, and the lighting of the scene with candles shows that Rubens also appreciated the modernism of Caravaggio.
POST SALE COMMENT
This drawing revealing the creative process of Rubens was sold for £ 3.2 million including premium.
He came back to Antwerp for family reasons, but political circumstances were particularly favorable for the start of his business. In April 1609, the Antwerp treaty is ending the war between Spain and the United Provinces. In July, Rubens is appointed court painter to the Archduke.
The burgomaster Nicolaas Rockox had assigned two important public commissions to Rubens, for the town hall and the cathedral, and ordered him for his private residence a scene of Samson and Delilah.
On July 10 in London, Christie's sells the only known preparation drawing for the Samson and Delilah of the mayor. This brown drawing in ink and wash, 16 x 16 cm, is estimated £ 1.5 M.
Before starting the job for the painting, Rubens was testing in the drawing the emotions of the tragic group of four characters: the giant, the wife, the barber and the maid. The analysis of this sketch invited him to increase the dramatic tension when he made the modello and the final painting on panel, in which the group is tighter and the main characters more personalized and more erotic.
The Samson by Rubens, as also his Holofernes in the same period, is strongly influenced by the too muscular male bodies by Michelangelo. The twist of the body is baroque, and the lighting of the scene with candles shows that Rubens also appreciated the modernism of Caravaggio.
POST SALE COMMENT
This drawing revealing the creative process of Rubens was sold for £ 3.2 million including premium.
