Decade 1610-1619
See also : China Chinese art Later Ming Ancient painting Oil on copper Ancient drawing Flemish art Old Flanders and Belgium Rubens Italian sculpture Spain III Ancient Spain Groups Nude Buddhism Christianity
1610 Lingbi Stone by Wu Bin
2020 SOLD for RMB 510M including premium by Poly
narrated in 2021
The gongshi is the rock of the literati. The erosion of the limestone has created strange shapes, simulating twisted columns rising to the sky. The larger ones are beloved ornaments in Chinese gardens. Lingbi, in Anshan province, is one of the three main deposits.
Mi Wanzhong, a painter and calligrapher, is a passionate collector whose artist name is Youshi, the friend of stones. Around 1610 CE he acquires an extraordinary Lingbi stone 50 cm high, simulating a forest with spectacular shrinkages and branches. He considers his artistic skills to be inadequate and calls his friend Wu Bin.
Wu Bin studies the stone for a month. His ten drawings display the specimen from all angles, with great precision of line and beautiful contrasts providing a superb texture effect. Each image is flanked by text.
Each of the ten elements measures 55 x 115 cm, for a total uninterrupted length of 11.5 m. The handscroll also includes two introductions respectively 26 x 112 cm and 48 x 143 cm and an epilogue 55 cm x 11.3 m with colophons.
Ten Views of a Lingbi Stone was sold for RMB 510M including premium by Poly on October 18, 2020, lot 3922, after nearly an hour of bidding. It is illustrated with some enlarged details in the post sale report published by The Value. Please watch the much detailed video shared by Norton Museum of Art.
The Lingbi stone which served as a model only survived the ravages of time for a few decades.
Mi Wanzhong, a painter and calligrapher, is a passionate collector whose artist name is Youshi, the friend of stones. Around 1610 CE he acquires an extraordinary Lingbi stone 50 cm high, simulating a forest with spectacular shrinkages and branches. He considers his artistic skills to be inadequate and calls his friend Wu Bin.
Wu Bin studies the stone for a month. His ten drawings display the specimen from all angles, with great precision of line and beautiful contrasts providing a superb texture effect. Each image is flanked by text.
Each of the ten elements measures 55 x 115 cm, for a total uninterrupted length of 11.5 m. The handscroll also includes two introductions respectively 26 x 112 cm and 48 x 143 cm and an epilogue 55 cm x 11.3 m with colophons.
Ten Views of a Lingbi Stone was sold for RMB 510M including premium by Poly on October 18, 2020, lot 3922, after nearly an hour of bidding. It is illustrated with some enlarged details in the post sale report published by The Value. Please watch the much detailed video shared by Norton Museum of Art.
The Lingbi stone which served as a model only survived the ravages of time for a few decades.
1610 The Massacre of the Innocents by Rubens
2002 SOLD for £ 50M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
When Rubens returned to Antwerp in November 1608, he brought with him the new Baroque trends in Italian art. He exercises his art for the very important commissions from the churches of Antwerp finally liberated from the wars of religion, and also for private clients.
Highly influenced by the art of Caravaggio at that time, Rubens shows heavily emotional scenes, with dynamic and complex compositions, violent lights, bodies twisted by hatred or despair. He uses skinned figures as models for his scary naked soldiers.
Two paintings made for private use at the beginning of this new phase entered together in 1702 in the collection of the princes of Liechtenstein. After a loss of traceability in the inventories of the Liechtenstein collection, the two artworks were later attributed to an assistant from the end of career of Rubens named Jan van den Hoecke.
Samson et Delilah is an oil on wood 185 x 205 cm originally painted for the collection of the Lord Mayor of Antwerp. The theme of the colossus neutralized by the ingenuity of women, staged at the fatal moment, may be compared with the Judith of Caravaggio. The original version was authenticated in 1929 and sold by Christie's on July 11, 1980 for £ 2.53M including premium.
The Massacre of the Innocents (De kindermoord te Bethlehem) was known by a copy kept in Brussels. The version attributed to van den Hoecke is brought for sale to Sotheby's. Comparing this 142 x 182 cm oil on wood with the Samson and Delilah, the expert of the auction house recognizes that he has in his hands the real original by Rubens.
This reattribution is convincing. The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £ 50M including premium by Sotheby's on July 10, 2002 over a lower estimate of £ 4M. Here is the link to the pre sale press release. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1610 is considered as the most likely year for the creation of this artwork. The background of the image does not show Bethlehem but the temple of Castor and Pollux, proving that Rubens was still dazzled by the beauties of Rome. It has been also considered as a reminiscence from the atrocities of the religious wars. It is undoubtedly a masterpiece by Rubens, in a near perfect condition.
Highly influenced by the art of Caravaggio at that time, Rubens shows heavily emotional scenes, with dynamic and complex compositions, violent lights, bodies twisted by hatred or despair. He uses skinned figures as models for his scary naked soldiers.
Two paintings made for private use at the beginning of this new phase entered together in 1702 in the collection of the princes of Liechtenstein. After a loss of traceability in the inventories of the Liechtenstein collection, the two artworks were later attributed to an assistant from the end of career of Rubens named Jan van den Hoecke.
Samson et Delilah is an oil on wood 185 x 205 cm originally painted for the collection of the Lord Mayor of Antwerp. The theme of the colossus neutralized by the ingenuity of women, staged at the fatal moment, may be compared with the Judith of Caravaggio. The original version was authenticated in 1929 and sold by Christie's on July 11, 1980 for £ 2.53M including premium.
The Massacre of the Innocents (De kindermoord te Bethlehem) was known by a copy kept in Brussels. The version attributed to van den Hoecke is brought for sale to Sotheby's. Comparing this 142 x 182 cm oil on wood with the Samson and Delilah, the expert of the auction house recognizes that he has in his hands the real original by Rubens.
This reattribution is convincing. The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £ 50M including premium by Sotheby's on July 10, 2002 over a lower estimate of £ 4M. Here is the link to the pre sale press release. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1610 is considered as the most likely year for the creation of this artwork. The background of the image does not show Bethlehem but the temple of Castor and Pollux, proving that Rubens was still dazzled by the beauties of Rome. It has been also considered as a reminiscence from the atrocities of the religious wars. It is undoubtedly a masterpiece by Rubens, in a near perfect condition.
_De_kindermoord_te_Bethlehem_-_Rubenshuis_Antwerpen_27-09-2018.jpg)
1610 The Weight of the Cross
2019 SOLD for $ 8.2M including premium
Informed that his mother is dying, Rubens rushes back to Antwerp at the end of 1608. The ongoing peace negotiations in The Hague, accompanied by cease-fire, bring great hope to Flanders, and the artist will not come back to Italy.
The truce of Antwerp, signed in April 1609, puts an end to warfare for twelve years but religious tensions remain. The St. Walburga's church in Antwerp commissions to Rubens for its altar a monumental triptych on the theme of the elevation of the cross, conducive to distinguish the Catholic dogma from the Protestant.
This triptych prepared in 1610 is a masterpiece of baroque art. The soldiers who raise the cross are facing a superhuman weight that proves the real presence of Christ. The diagonal composition of the central panel and the dazzling chiaroscuro are inspired by Caravaggio's style. The almost nude or armored soldiers who handle the cross are strong men for whom Rubens remembers the Laocoon and Hercules Farnese, of which he had made drawings in Rome.
The painting is positioned in height above 19 steps. He finishes in 1611 in situ this work, 4.60 x 6.40 m overall in open position, which will be later transferred to the cathedral of Antwerp.
On January 30 in New York, Sotheby's sells a large drawing 49 x 32 cm made in preparation to the Elevation of the Cross, lot 15estimated $ 2.5M. Both right corners were cut for an undetermined reason, perhaps by the artist himself.
This drawing shows a soldier raising his arm to push the cross. He is naked while he will have an armor in the painting. In accordance with the practice of the Italian Renaissance, the study of the nude makes it possible to avoid anatomical errors in the painting of attitudes.
It was prepared by the artist to compare in a single drawing two possible positions of the left leg, more or less bent. The closer position is more convincing to express the effort. Rubens draws a stronger line on this version that he will use in the final work.
The truce of Antwerp, signed in April 1609, puts an end to warfare for twelve years but religious tensions remain. The St. Walburga's church in Antwerp commissions to Rubens for its altar a monumental triptych on the theme of the elevation of the cross, conducive to distinguish the Catholic dogma from the Protestant.
This triptych prepared in 1610 is a masterpiece of baroque art. The soldiers who raise the cross are facing a superhuman weight that proves the real presence of Christ. The diagonal composition of the central panel and the dazzling chiaroscuro are inspired by Caravaggio's style. The almost nude or armored soldiers who handle the cross are strong men for whom Rubens remembers the Laocoon and Hercules Farnese, of which he had made drawings in Rome.
The painting is positioned in height above 19 steps. He finishes in 1611 in situ this work, 4.60 x 6.40 m overall in open position, which will be later transferred to the cathedral of Antwerp.
On January 30 in New York, Sotheby's sells a large drawing 49 x 32 cm made in preparation to the Elevation of the Cross, lot 15estimated $ 2.5M. Both right corners were cut for an undetermined reason, perhaps by the artist himself.
This drawing shows a soldier raising his arm to push the cross. He is naked while he will have an armor in the painting. In accordance with the practice of the Italian Renaissance, the study of the nude makes it possible to avoid anatomical errors in the painting of attitudes.
It was prepared by the artist to compare in a single drawing two possible positions of the left leg, more or less bent. The closer position is more convincing to express the effort. Rubens draws a stronger line on this version that he will use in the final work.
A signed drawing by Peter Paul #Rubens, which has been part of the Dutch royal family's collection for almost 200 years, is heading to auction this month at @Sothebys: https://t.co/IrHn2O9WmZ pic.twitter.com/b1uZbA1rud
— Barnebys.co.uk (@Barnebysuk) January 11, 2019
1612-1614 Rubens inspired by Titian
2010 SOLD 9 M£ including premium
On July 6 in London, Christie's is selling the portrait of a commander by Rubens, estimated 8 million pounds. The character is not named, and he can be considered as allegorical. He wears a heavy armor, a model that is more reminiscent of the late Renaissance in the previous century.
Represented in three quarter length, the man embodies the power of an officer who goes into battle. He pays little attention to two young pages busy adjusting his equipment. The press release with an illustration of this painting is shared by AuctionPublicity.
This oil on panel, 123 x 98 cm, made around 1612 to 1614, looks like a Titian by the quality of its composition and also the liveliness of its animation.
Rubens had visited Italy between 1600 and 1608 to study the great masters, and had fallen under the spell of the work of his Venetian predecessor. He could not ignore the room of the Caesars in the Palace in Mantua, where were gathered twelve portraits by Titian of men in armor. Another military allegory of Rubens, seeming close to this Titian series that disappeared in a fire in 1734, was sold £ 4.4 million including premium by Sotheby's on July 10, 2002.
The image is shared on Wikimedia.
Represented in three quarter length, the man embodies the power of an officer who goes into battle. He pays little attention to two young pages busy adjusting his equipment. The press release with an illustration of this painting is shared by AuctionPublicity.
This oil on panel, 123 x 98 cm, made around 1612 to 1614, looks like a Titian by the quality of its composition and also the liveliness of its animation.
Rubens had visited Italy between 1600 and 1608 to study the great masters, and had fallen under the spell of the work of his Venetian predecessor. He could not ignore the room of the Caesars in the Palace in Mantua, where were gathered twelve portraits by Titian of men in armor. Another military allegory of Rubens, seeming close to this Titian series that disappeared in a fire in 1734, was sold £ 4.4 million including premium by Sotheby's on July 10, 2002.
The image is shared on Wikimedia.
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1613 Garden of Eden by Jan Brueghel
2014 SOLD for £ 6.8M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2021
Jan Brueghel's long stay in Italy, from 1590 to 1596, is fruitful. The second son of Pieter the elder finds there the themes and techniques that would ensure his own success. From this early period, he uses the technique of oil on copper, which allows in small formats the greatest sharpness in the strokes.
One of his sponsors is the young cardinal Federico Borromeo. He is inspired by Filippo Neri, the apostle of the Counter-Reformation who advocates a joyful Christianity and sees the glory of God in the diversity of nature. Jan Brueghel's scenes of Paradise combine a wide variety of animals in an idyllic landscape with direct reference to Genesis.
Such a mystical perception of nature also inspires botanists and zoologists, who publish catalogs of species. Jan's invention around 1608 of painting bouquets with a wide variety of flowers was an epistolary suggestion from his friend the cardinal.
From 1612 to 1615, Jan takes up the theme of Paradise, with a more pleasant distribution of the elements. He saw the exotic animals of the Archduke's menagerie and compared his observations with the very innovative Rubens, with whom he was collaborating occasionally since 1598.
On July 9, 2014, Sotheby's sold at lot 19 for £ 6.8M including premium from a lower estimate of £ 2M a Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, oil on copper 24 x 37 cm painted in 1613.
The left part is animated in the foreground by the royal animals, a pair of lions and a magnificent gray horse. Domestic and exotic quadrupeds and birds are distributed throughout the rest of the image. The Fall of Man, which justifies the Biblical context, is the picking of the apple. Adam and Eve are two tiny figures in the distance, painted in great fineness at a strong point of the image between the head of the horse and the beak of an ostrich.
One of his sponsors is the young cardinal Federico Borromeo. He is inspired by Filippo Neri, the apostle of the Counter-Reformation who advocates a joyful Christianity and sees the glory of God in the diversity of nature. Jan Brueghel's scenes of Paradise combine a wide variety of animals in an idyllic landscape with direct reference to Genesis.
Such a mystical perception of nature also inspires botanists and zoologists, who publish catalogs of species. Jan's invention around 1608 of painting bouquets with a wide variety of flowers was an epistolary suggestion from his friend the cardinal.
From 1612 to 1615, Jan takes up the theme of Paradise, with a more pleasant distribution of the elements. He saw the exotic animals of the Archduke's menagerie and compared his observations with the very innovative Rubens, with whom he was collaborating occasionally since 1598.
On July 9, 2014, Sotheby's sold at lot 19 for £ 6.8M including premium from a lower estimate of £ 2M a Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, oil on copper 24 x 37 cm painted in 1613.
The left part is animated in the foreground by the royal animals, a pair of lions and a magnificent gray horse. Domestic and exotic quadrupeds and birds are distributed throughout the rest of the image. The Fall of Man, which justifies the Biblical context, is the picking of the apple. Adam and Eve are two tiny figures in the distance, painted in great fineness at a strong point of the image between the head of the horse and the beak of an ostrich.
1614 Rubens in front of Sodom
2016 SOLD for £ 45M including premium
Peter Paul Rubens was able to achieve the dream of the greatest artists : assimilating the art of his predecessors and going further. He came back from Italy in 1608 and settled in Antwerp, the city of his childhood. Peace has returned and the time is conducive to art. Aristocratic and religious commissions flow.
In Italy, Rubens had admired Titian. In the north, he sees the increasingly risqué themes by Goltzius and Wtewael. Taboos fall : Bible and mythology offer erotic stories through moral excuses.
On July 7 in London, Christie's sells as lot 12 Lot and his daughters, oil on canvas 190 x 225 cm painted by Rubens circa 1614. This painting is a rediscovery : it had not been seen since a failed attempt of sale in 1904 and 1905 and its re-inspection pushes it among the masterpieces of the artist.
Rubens offers here a three character scene of high psychological complexity. In 1608, François de Sales judged that the story of Lot was not an incest but a forgivable sin. Lot is a nice old drunkard, like Noah.
In his great compositions from this phase of his career, Rubens wisely mixes nude and clothing. Although the bare flesh is the main target of the work, such a mingled attire brings presence and actuality to his antique theme. Samson and Delilah, the Massacre of the Innocents and the Drunken Silenus are other famous examples.
The abundant flesh is processed in an impasto that allows subtle variations of light and texture and promotes the sensual effect despite the advanced age of the man. Lot and his daughters remained in excellent condition in which only an aging varnish may be slightly blamed.
The artist had carefully read the Genesis : the two women were not made pregnant in the same day and only one is naked, ready but also worrying for the act. Her sister is closer to the father, with the charming smile of a woman who is achieving her conspiracy. The attitude and indeed the splendidly haggard gaze of the man express his full intoxication that encourages the nude girl to pour the wine once again. The Silenus will reuse similar characters in 1616.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
In Italy, Rubens had admired Titian. In the north, he sees the increasingly risqué themes by Goltzius and Wtewael. Taboos fall : Bible and mythology offer erotic stories through moral excuses.
On July 7 in London, Christie's sells as lot 12 Lot and his daughters, oil on canvas 190 x 225 cm painted by Rubens circa 1614. This painting is a rediscovery : it had not been seen since a failed attempt of sale in 1904 and 1905 and its re-inspection pushes it among the masterpieces of the artist.
Rubens offers here a three character scene of high psychological complexity. In 1608, François de Sales judged that the story of Lot was not an incest but a forgivable sin. Lot is a nice old drunkard, like Noah.
In his great compositions from this phase of his career, Rubens wisely mixes nude and clothing. Although the bare flesh is the main target of the work, such a mingled attire brings presence and actuality to his antique theme. Samson and Delilah, the Massacre of the Innocents and the Drunken Silenus are other famous examples.
The abundant flesh is processed in an impasto that allows subtle variations of light and texture and promotes the sensual effect despite the advanced age of the man. Lot and his daughters remained in excellent condition in which only an aging varnish may be slightly blamed.
The artist had carefully read the Genesis : the two women were not made pregnant in the same day and only one is naked, ready but also worrying for the act. Her sister is closer to the father, with the charming smile of a woman who is achieving her conspiracy. The attitude and indeed the splendidly haggard gaze of the man express his full intoxication that encourages the nude girl to pour the wine once again. The Silenus will reuse similar characters in 1616.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1615 Eighteen Luohans by Wu Bin
2009 SOLD for RMB 170M including premium by Poly
narrated in 2021
The original followers of Buddha are named Arhats in India and Luohans in China. They have a personal name and specific attributes. Their traditional number, eighteen, is not fixed by a sacred text. They have been admitted to Nirvana.
Wu Bin, who was a very skilled landscape artist in the Wanli era, was also a caricaturist. He was a devout Buddhist while remaining secular. He loved to ridicule the Luohans, therefore assessing that they were human beings.
The MET has a 32 x 415 cm scroll with sixteen Luohans. It bears a date corresponding to 1591 CE, and is arguably one of Wu Bin's earliest works on this subject. The serious and grotesque characters are stylized, but they are all different one another.
The Cleveland Museum of Art has an undated scroll 38 x 2500 cm by Wu Bin featuring 500 Luohans with 18 assistants plus Guanyin. They exercise their powers in an endless variety of situations. They know how to tame tigers and dragons, walk on water, fly on the back of a crane.
On November 22, 2009, Poly sold a 31 x 570 cm scroll by Wu Bin for RMB 170M including premium from a lower estimate of RMB 20M, lot 5125. It is referenced and illustrated in an article published in 2020 by The Value.
A date inscribed in the work corresponds to 1615 CE. The eighteen Luohans are accompanied by grotesque animals. The Qianlong emperor, better known for his erudition than as a humorist, commented in a colophon about the quietened dragon which holds the sacred book in its claws.
Wu Bin, who was a very skilled landscape artist in the Wanli era, was also a caricaturist. He was a devout Buddhist while remaining secular. He loved to ridicule the Luohans, therefore assessing that they were human beings.
The MET has a 32 x 415 cm scroll with sixteen Luohans. It bears a date corresponding to 1591 CE, and is arguably one of Wu Bin's earliest works on this subject. The serious and grotesque characters are stylized, but they are all different one another.
The Cleveland Museum of Art has an undated scroll 38 x 2500 cm by Wu Bin featuring 500 Luohans with 18 assistants plus Guanyin. They exercise their powers in an endless variety of situations. They know how to tame tigers and dragons, walk on water, fly on the back of a crane.
On November 22, 2009, Poly sold a 31 x 570 cm scroll by Wu Bin for RMB 170M including premium from a lower estimate of RMB 20M, lot 5125. It is referenced and illustrated in an article published in 2020 by The Value.
A date inscribed in the work corresponds to 1615 CE. The eighteen Luohans are accompanied by grotesque animals. The Qianlong emperor, better known for his erudition than as a humorist, commented in a colophon about the quietened dragon which holds the sacred book in its claws.
1616 Bernini Father and Son
2021 SOLD for $ 8.9M including premium
Around the Popes, the Roman aristocrats rediscover the pleasures of gardens and halls populated with marble statues. The antique objects constitute the basis of these new stagings while bringing an obvious frustration : the theme depends on the hazard of the excavations, the statues are incomplete and require important and expensive restorations.
Pietro Bernini has been living in Rome since 1605. His main clients are the Borghese and Strozzi families. Skillful and inventive, he offers new themes in antique fashion while including the exaggerated movements and multiple angles of view of modern mannerism.
His son Gian Lorenzo is extremely talented but too young to be allowed to receive commissions on his own behalf. From 1615 he develops the baroque sculpture, adding vitality to the mannerism. Patrons will find in this new style the same expressive power as in the Laocoon.
Prince Strozzi prepares his luxurious villa, for which he asks Bernini for many contributions. A great lover of antiques, he commissions in particular two groups of four statues, both on the theme of the Four Seasons. One of them is made up of two antique marbles and two modern additions. The other is entirely the work of Bernini.
The complete series executed by Bernini has not been separated. It is kept in the Aldobrandini collection. From the other group, the two antique statues have disappeared, another has not been identified, and the fourth, Autumn, is estimated $ 8M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on January 29, lot 121, coming from the Hester Diamond collection. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The two Autumns have a comparable height, 125 cm for the Diamond marble, but also important differences. The Aldobrandini Autumn, seated, is almost life-size. The Diamond Autumn is standing. He has one hand on a trunk without being leaned back, in a remarkable mastery of balance.
The anatomical details, including the protruding muscles, and the expression of intense happiness of the Diamond satyr, resolutely baroque, prove that the younger Bernini is its principal maker. Whether or not this work came before the Aldobrandini satyr cannot be established. The date of 1616 is proposed. Undoubtedly, the styles of the two sculptors were already diverging. They stop collaborating in 1619 after Gian Lorenzo has reached his majority.
Rubens, the master of baroque painting, also dealt around the same time with the theme of the fruit-bearing satyr.
Pietro Bernini has been living in Rome since 1605. His main clients are the Borghese and Strozzi families. Skillful and inventive, he offers new themes in antique fashion while including the exaggerated movements and multiple angles of view of modern mannerism.
His son Gian Lorenzo is extremely talented but too young to be allowed to receive commissions on his own behalf. From 1615 he develops the baroque sculpture, adding vitality to the mannerism. Patrons will find in this new style the same expressive power as in the Laocoon.
Prince Strozzi prepares his luxurious villa, for which he asks Bernini for many contributions. A great lover of antiques, he commissions in particular two groups of four statues, both on the theme of the Four Seasons. One of them is made up of two antique marbles and two modern additions. The other is entirely the work of Bernini.
The complete series executed by Bernini has not been separated. It is kept in the Aldobrandini collection. From the other group, the two antique statues have disappeared, another has not been identified, and the fourth, Autumn, is estimated $ 8M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on January 29, lot 121, coming from the Hester Diamond collection. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The two Autumns have a comparable height, 125 cm for the Diamond marble, but also important differences. The Aldobrandini Autumn, seated, is almost life-size. The Diamond Autumn is standing. He has one hand on a trunk without being leaned back, in a remarkable mastery of balance.
The anatomical details, including the protruding muscles, and the expression of intense happiness of the Diamond satyr, resolutely baroque, prove that the younger Bernini is its principal maker. Whether or not this work came before the Aldobrandini satyr cannot be established. The date of 1616 is proposed. Undoubtedly, the styles of the two sculptors were already diverging. They stop collaborating in 1619 after Gian Lorenzo has reached his majority.
Rubens, the master of baroque painting, also dealt around the same time with the theme of the fruit-bearing satyr.
#AuctionUpdate: Gian Lorenzo and Pietro Bernini’s beautiful and exceedingly rare marble sculpture of Autumn achieves $8.9 million – a new auction record for the artist. pic.twitter.com/uPs4thBXKY
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) January 29, 2021
1618 A Little Praying Girl
2017 SOLD for € 9.7M including premium
An oil on canvas 58 x 44 cm attributed to Diego Velazquez, undated and unsigned, has just surfaced in Spain. Although it has been inspected by only one expert, it is already being offered at auction. It will be sold by Abalarte in Madrid on April 25, lot 41.
It is a beautiful portrait of a little girl in half-length, her hands joined for prayer, her eyes wide open in a rather sad expression. The chiaroscuro on a black background and the realism of this child's portrait without any moving intent plead for an autograph work by Velazquez.
During the X-Ray inspection several white dots forming a halo were discovered, in conformance with a traditional iconography of Mary's childhood. This painting could have been conceived as an Inmaculada before being transformed by the artist in a modello portrait.
If this is the case it is probably prior to an Inmaculada preserved at the Fundacion Focus Abengoa in Sevilla, dated around 1618 and attributed by some experts to Velazquez and by others to Alonso Cano. Velazquez and his younger colleague Cano were both students in Sevilla to Francisco Pacheco, a painter and theoretician who had met El Greco and specialized in religious art for the local ecclesiastical clientele.
The high skill of Velazquez was precocious : barely 18 years old in 1617, he was received in the corporation of the painters of Sevilla and his first masterpiece mixing genre and still life, Vieja friendo hiejos, was painted in the following year. He was remaining at that time in the entourage of Pacheco whose daughter he married in 1618.
It is a beautiful portrait of a little girl in half-length, her hands joined for prayer, her eyes wide open in a rather sad expression. The chiaroscuro on a black background and the realism of this child's portrait without any moving intent plead for an autograph work by Velazquez.
During the X-Ray inspection several white dots forming a halo were discovered, in conformance with a traditional iconography of Mary's childhood. This painting could have been conceived as an Inmaculada before being transformed by the artist in a modello portrait.
If this is the case it is probably prior to an Inmaculada preserved at the Fundacion Focus Abengoa in Sevilla, dated around 1618 and attributed by some experts to Velazquez and by others to Alonso Cano. Velazquez and his younger colleague Cano were both students in Sevilla to Francisco Pacheco, a painter and theoretician who had met El Greco and specialized in religious art for the local ecclesiastical clientele.
The high skill of Velazquez was precocious : barely 18 years old in 1617, he was received in the corporation of the painters of Sevilla and his first masterpiece mixing genre and still life, Vieja friendo hiejos, was painted in the following year. He was remaining at that time in the entourage of Pacheco whose daughter he married in 1618.
@Abalarte presenta un #Velázquez inédito que se subastará el próximo 25 de abril □https://t.co/27rtaAvXhY vía @ArtMarketAgency pic.twitter.com/voIHKJghfg
— Canalpatrimonio (@canalpatrimonio) April 3, 2017
1618-1620 Two Studies of a Head by van Dyck
2010 SOLD for $ 7.3M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2021
Born in Antwerp, Antoon van Dyck is a precocious artist. Barely ten years old, he studies painting with van Balen. As early as 1615 he opens a workshop with another teenager, Jan, the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder. In 1618 he is admitted as an independent artist to the guild of Saint-Luke.
During that decade, art in Antwerp is dominated by the very prosperous workshop of Rubens, who trains pupils and employs many assistants. Van Dyck learns there the new style, baroque art. Around 1618 Rubens considers that he is his best collaborator.
From 1618 to 1620 van Dyck is prolific. Alongside baroque religious scenes, he prepares his future by making expressive portraits.
On January 28, 2010, Sotheby's sold as lot 176 for $ 7.3M including premium a double head, oil on canvas 45 x 67 cm. This study shows in two different angles the bust of a man with a very dense black beard, with naked torso. The double portrait was certainly painted simultaneously. The one on the left expresses introspection and the one on the right violence. These studies were used by the artist in two biblical scenes and two secular scenes.
The terminus post quem of this painting could be 1618 because of its great pictorial quality. The terminus ante quem is the artist's short stay in 1620 in London, where he observes Titian's exquisite use of colors.
During that decade, art in Antwerp is dominated by the very prosperous workshop of Rubens, who trains pupils and employs many assistants. Van Dyck learns there the new style, baroque art. Around 1618 Rubens considers that he is his best collaborator.
From 1618 to 1620 van Dyck is prolific. Alongside baroque religious scenes, he prepares his future by making expressive portraits.
On January 28, 2010, Sotheby's sold as lot 176 for $ 7.3M including premium a double head, oil on canvas 45 x 67 cm. This study shows in two different angles the bust of a man with a very dense black beard, with naked torso. The double portrait was certainly painted simultaneously. The one on the left expresses introspection and the one on the right violence. These studies were used by the artist in two biblical scenes and two secular scenes.
The terminus post quem of this painting could be 1618 because of its great pictorial quality. The terminus ante quem is the artist's short stay in 1620 in London, where he observes Titian's exquisite use of colors.
