Decade 1640-1649
See also : Ancient painting Ancient sculpture Self portrait II Old Dutch masters Flemish art British Royals Christianity Furniture Books Books 1501-1700 Religious texts Colonial America Japan and Korea
1640 Psalms for a New World
2013 SOLD 14.2 M$ including premium
The Puritans fleeing the England of the Stuarts built in Massachusetts Bay the communities that could meet their religious and social ideals. One of the villages, named Cambridge in 1638, specifically had a cultural vocation. Harvard College was founded there in 1636.
The singing of the psalms is a strong element of their liturgy, linking together the first parishioners of that region still in wilderness. Their scholars do not want to use the available British translations. Their new version in English verse takes the excuse of a need to be closer to the original Hebrew text. It was actually a remarkable collective work, and the first sign of their independence from the Church of England.
They now have to publish this text. In London, Josse Glover supports the project and in turn leaves to America in 1638. He did not reach it, but he was accompanied by Stephen Day (or Daye), a locksmith who will be the first printer in New England.
Currently known by the nickname Bay Psalm Book, The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre is printed by Day in 1640 in Cambridge and sold by the earliest bookseller of New England, Hezekiah Usher.
The original edition consisted of 1700 copies. For a century, the book was highly successful and often reprinted. Because of its liturgical use, most copies were damaged and destroyed.
The arrival at auction of a copy in good condition of the 1640 edition is an event of the utmost importance for American bibliophiles and patriots. In 1947, one of them went to be more expensive than the Old Testament of the Gutenberg Bible.
Another one is estimated $ 15M to 30M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 26. Here is the link to the home page of the sale. The seller is the Old South Church in Boston which keeps another copy in a similar condition.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Bay Psalm Book was sold for $ 14.2M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
The singing of the psalms is a strong element of their liturgy, linking together the first parishioners of that region still in wilderness. Their scholars do not want to use the available British translations. Their new version in English verse takes the excuse of a need to be closer to the original Hebrew text. It was actually a remarkable collective work, and the first sign of their independence from the Church of England.
They now have to publish this text. In London, Josse Glover supports the project and in turn leaves to America in 1638. He did not reach it, but he was accompanied by Stephen Day (or Daye), a locksmith who will be the first printer in New England.
Currently known by the nickname Bay Psalm Book, The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre is printed by Day in 1640 in Cambridge and sold by the earliest bookseller of New England, Hezekiah Usher.
The original edition consisted of 1700 copies. For a century, the book was highly successful and often reprinted. Because of its liturgical use, most copies were damaged and destroyed.
The arrival at auction of a copy in good condition of the 1640 edition is an event of the utmost importance for American bibliophiles and patriots. In 1947, one of them went to be more expensive than the Old Testament of the Gutenberg Bible.
Another one is estimated $ 15M to 30M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 26. Here is the link to the home page of the sale. The seller is the Old South Church in Boston which keeps another copy in a similar condition.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Bay Psalm Book was sold for $ 14.2M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
1640 Baroque Lucretia
2018 SOLD for € 1.9M including premium
The artistic skills of Artemisia Gentileschi are recognized and encouraged by her father Orazio. She is like him an excellent colorist. Very early she dares the female nude. In 1611, aged between 18 and 21, she is raped by a collaborator of her father. This crime reinforces her desire to feature the violent heroism of the women of the Bible against the abuses of men.
She is also interested in figures of women from real or legendary history such as Cleopatra or Lucretia at the moment of their suicide. She certainly does not identify her fate with Lucretia shown as a matron in an oil on canvas painted around 1620.
Another oil on canvas 133 x 106 cm on the theme of Lucretia is formally attributed to Artemisia in 2015 after being kept since the mid-nineteenth century in an Italian collection. The best connoisseurs of the artist propose a date circa 1640-1645 or slightly earlier. This artwork is estimated € 500K for sale by Dorotheum in Vienna on October 23, lot 56.
The new Lucretia is much younger and dressed in brightly colored drapery. Her extremely dynamic Baroque attitude is very similar to a painting on the same theme made around 1625 by Simon Vouet whom Artemisia had met when they were both in Rome. The dagger is held at arm's length, directed straight to the bare chest in a gesture that leaves no doubt about its fatal outcome.
The image is shared by the auction house in the August 22 press release (Courtesy of Dorotheum). Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
She is also interested in figures of women from real or legendary history such as Cleopatra or Lucretia at the moment of their suicide. She certainly does not identify her fate with Lucretia shown as a matron in an oil on canvas painted around 1620.
Another oil on canvas 133 x 106 cm on the theme of Lucretia is formally attributed to Artemisia in 2015 after being kept since the mid-nineteenth century in an Italian collection. The best connoisseurs of the artist propose a date circa 1640-1645 or slightly earlier. This artwork is estimated € 500K for sale by Dorotheum in Vienna on October 23, lot 56.
The new Lucretia is much younger and dressed in brightly colored drapery. Her extremely dynamic Baroque attitude is very similar to a painting on the same theme made around 1625 by Simon Vouet whom Artemisia had met when they were both in Rome. The dagger is held at arm's length, directed straight to the bare chest in a gesture that leaves no doubt about its fatal outcome.
The image is shared by the auction house in the August 22 press release (Courtesy of Dorotheum). Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1641 Van Dyck painted by Himself
2009 SOLD 8.3 M£ including premium
A native of Antwerp and pupil of Rubens, Van Dyck moved permanently to England in 1632. He got there one of the greatest successes in the history of painting as a portraitist of King Charles I and his court.
In 1641, a few months before his death, he made the self-portrait on canvas that Sotheby's is selling in London on December 9. He is a typical gentleman of the mid-seventeenth century, with long hair pulled back to clear the forehead, and abundant whiskers. He was shown almost in profile, in an oval format that is highlighted by a splendid frame.
The lower estimate announced by Sotheby's is £ 2 million, but the press retains only the higher estimate, £ 3 million. Recent results for paintings by Van Dyck can actually give hope that this price is reached.
In the same family for three centuries, this portrait was one of the stars of the Van Dyck exhibition at Tate Britain in London last spring.
Here are links to information provided by other sites that encourage sharing. You will access to the photo of the artwork, with in one of these pages the presence of an assistant who gives the scale. I wish you a pleasant visit.
Shared by Guardian
Shared by Bloomberg
Shared by Art Market Monitor
POST SALE COMMENT
This outstanding and attractive painting gets one of the best results of this London sale session: £ 8.3 million including premium.
In 1641, a few months before his death, he made the self-portrait on canvas that Sotheby's is selling in London on December 9. He is a typical gentleman of the mid-seventeenth century, with long hair pulled back to clear the forehead, and abundant whiskers. He was shown almost in profile, in an oval format that is highlighted by a splendid frame.
The lower estimate announced by Sotheby's is £ 2 million, but the press retains only the higher estimate, £ 3 million. Recent results for paintings by Van Dyck can actually give hope that this price is reached.
In the same family for three centuries, this portrait was one of the stars of the Van Dyck exhibition at Tate Britain in London last spring.
Here are links to information provided by other sites that encourage sharing. You will access to the photo of the artwork, with in one of these pages the presence of an assistant who gives the scale. I wish you a pleasant visit.
Shared by Guardian
Shared by Bloomberg
Shared by Art Market Monitor
POST SALE COMMENT
This outstanding and attractive painting gets one of the best results of this London sale session: £ 8.3 million including premium.
Self-portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) sold for $13.63 million in 2009. #NationalSelfieDay #art #auction pic.twitter.com/6uzblndHOB
— Maine Antique Digest (@AntiqueDigest) June 21, 2016
1641 Royal Children by van Dyck
2018 SOLD for £ 5.9M including premium
A great art patron, King Charles I wanted to take one of the best portrait painters to his service. He chooses Antoon (Anthony) van Dyck. Equal to his famous contemporaries Rubens, Hals, Velazquez and Rembrandt for the quality of the faces, van Dyck also brings a careful attention to the attitudes of the characters, always natural, never stiff. He is undoubtedly the best portraitist of children.
When van Dyck began this new mission in 1632, the royal couple had two children, Charles and Mary. James, Elizabeth and Anne will be born later. The artist watches them grow.
The mother, Henriette, brought to the Stuart court her French elegance with luxurious fabrics. A portrait kept in the Boston Museum shows Mary in 1637. The six-year-old princess wears a long silk dress to which the artist's skill brings a lustrous appearance.
On May 2, 1641 Mary marries a prince of Orange. In the days that followed, van Dyck paints a new portrait similar to the previous one, on which the little girl now wears her wedding ring and the brooch offered by her newlywed.
Making autograph copies is a common practice of van Dyck. By the quality of dress and jewels and the transparency of the embroidery, the 158 x 109 cm autograph oil on canvas for sale by Christie's in London on December 6 is perhaps the original painting of 1641. It is estimated £ 5M, lot 15.
On December 5 in London, Sotheby's sells another example of same size, lot 30 estimated £ 600K. The figure of the child is identical but the ambience background has nearly vanished, and the spectacular coral pink gown worn at the wedding has become a saturated orange, probably to please the new Orange in-laws of the princess. A participation of the studio is possible.
A portrait of the same format and same year shows the Prince of Wales later King Charles II, aged 11, in armor. It was probably since its creation a pendant with Mary's picture in orange and is estimated £ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in the same sale, lot 29.
Please watch the videos shared by the auction houses.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Christie's (Princess Mary) : SOLD for £ 5.9M
Sotheby's (Prince Charles) : SOLD for £ 2.6M
Sotheby's (Princess Mary) : SOLD for £ 790K
When van Dyck began this new mission in 1632, the royal couple had two children, Charles and Mary. James, Elizabeth and Anne will be born later. The artist watches them grow.
The mother, Henriette, brought to the Stuart court her French elegance with luxurious fabrics. A portrait kept in the Boston Museum shows Mary in 1637. The six-year-old princess wears a long silk dress to which the artist's skill brings a lustrous appearance.
On May 2, 1641 Mary marries a prince of Orange. In the days that followed, van Dyck paints a new portrait similar to the previous one, on which the little girl now wears her wedding ring and the brooch offered by her newlywed.
Making autograph copies is a common practice of van Dyck. By the quality of dress and jewels and the transparency of the embroidery, the 158 x 109 cm autograph oil on canvas for sale by Christie's in London on December 6 is perhaps the original painting of 1641. It is estimated £ 5M, lot 15.
On December 5 in London, Sotheby's sells another example of same size, lot 30 estimated £ 600K. The figure of the child is identical but the ambience background has nearly vanished, and the spectacular coral pink gown worn at the wedding has become a saturated orange, probably to please the new Orange in-laws of the princess. A participation of the studio is possible.
A portrait of the same format and same year shows the Prince of Wales later King Charles II, aged 11, in armor. It was probably since its creation a pendant with Mary's picture in orange and is estimated £ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in the same sale, lot 29.
Please watch the videos shared by the auction houses.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Christie's (Princess Mary) : SOLD for £ 5.9M
Sotheby's (Prince Charles) : SOLD for £ 2.6M
Sotheby's (Princess Mary) : SOLD for £ 790K
These portraits of an 11 year-old Charles II, when Prince of Wales, and his 9 year-old sister Mary, Princess Royal, were among the last works #VanDyck painted for his royal patron, Charles I. #SothebysMasters https://t.co/cGm7aFEAvb pic.twitter.com/lYbs1RzTEW
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) September 13, 2018
1640s The Five Labours of Hercules
2018 SOLD for £ 6.8M including premium
Pietro Tacca had the skills and the position to become one of the best sculptors of all time. He was unlucky. Disciple and then assistant to Giambologna in Florence, he succeeds the master in 1608. At the same time Baroque supersedes Mannerism.
Tacca designs groups in violent action as well as equestrian monuments, made in bronze by assembling elements. His statue of King Philip IV of Spain on a rearing horse only standing on its hind legs and tail is an unprecedented technical feat but the artist died in 1640 just before the installation of this masterpiece.
In 1612 the heir to the throne of England is the 18 years old Prince Henry. He communicates to the Grand Duke of Tuscany his interest in bronzes. Appealed by the idea of an easy support for a new alliance, the Grand Duke commissions to Tacca a set of groups illustrating the labours of Hercules.
Around 1614 Tacca prepares five models but the young English prince had died and the project no longer interests anyone. Twenty years later there were still arrears of payment.
It is not Pietro but his son Ferdinando who brings to perfection the art of the Florentine bronze, with a surface finish that simulates in a differentiated way the skin, the hair, the textile, the hide, the rock, the plant. The five groups of Hercules had remained unused. Ferdinando made the first bronzes of this series after the death of his father. The sculpture is out of fashion. Ten years later Ferdinando had become a theater machinist and an architect.
In 1681 the French King Louis XIV wishes to complete the education of his son and heir the Grand Dauphin. He gathers a collection of nine humanist minded bronzes including four groups of Hercules made in the 1640s by Ferdinando Tacca.
Released from the royal collections during the French Revolution, Hercules slaying the Acheloüs bull, 58 x 55 x 38 cm with a beautiful reddish-brown patina, was sold for $ 1.65M by Sotheby's on May 20, 1994. It will be sold by Christie's in London on July 5, lot 110. The press release of April 16 announces an estimate in the region of £ 5M.
Tacca designs groups in violent action as well as equestrian monuments, made in bronze by assembling elements. His statue of King Philip IV of Spain on a rearing horse only standing on its hind legs and tail is an unprecedented technical feat but the artist died in 1640 just before the installation of this masterpiece.
In 1612 the heir to the throne of England is the 18 years old Prince Henry. He communicates to the Grand Duke of Tuscany his interest in bronzes. Appealed by the idea of an easy support for a new alliance, the Grand Duke commissions to Tacca a set of groups illustrating the labours of Hercules.
Around 1614 Tacca prepares five models but the young English prince had died and the project no longer interests anyone. Twenty years later there were still arrears of payment.
It is not Pietro but his son Ferdinando who brings to perfection the art of the Florentine bronze, with a surface finish that simulates in a differentiated way the skin, the hair, the textile, the hide, the rock, the plant. The five groups of Hercules had remained unused. Ferdinando made the first bronzes of this series after the death of his father. The sculpture is out of fashion. Ten years later Ferdinando had become a theater machinist and an architect.
In 1681 the French King Louis XIV wishes to complete the education of his son and heir the Grand Dauphin. He gathers a collection of nine humanist minded bronzes including four groups of Hercules made in the 1640s by Ferdinando Tacca.
Released from the royal collections during the French Revolution, Hercules slaying the Acheloüs bull, 58 x 55 x 38 cm with a beautiful reddish-brown patina, was sold for $ 1.65M by Sotheby's on May 20, 1994. It will be sold by Christie's in London on July 5, lot 110. The press release of April 16 announces an estimate in the region of £ 5M.
Groupe en bronze représentant Hercule terrassant Achelous sous la forme d'un taureau. Attribué à Ferdinando Tacca, Florence, XVIIe siècle. Cadeau de #LouisXIV au Grand Dauphin en 1681. Portant le n°302 dans l'inventaire des bronzes de la Couronne. @Sothebys Londres 05/07 pic.twitter.com/KA4OE8frr5
— Didier P. Doré (@DPDORE) June 19, 2018
early 1640s A Maritime Pen Painting by Van de Velde
2015 SOLD for $ 5.4M including premium
In the early 1640s, Willem van de Velde is working in the Dutch harbors and on shipboard. He draws sketches that will serve him for his portraits of ships and later for his best known specialty: the paintings of naval battles. He is commonly referred as van de Velde the Elder to avoid confusing him with his son.
At that time, van de Velde developed a new technique, the penschilderij. He considered after Goltzius that a work of art can reuse on panel or canvas the techniques of drawing for providing the same sharpness of details on a larger size.
The preparation was long and difficult because the white coating used in background had to be perfectly dry to support the whole quality of a pen drawing. No other artist reused the penschilderej.
On January 29 in New York, Sotheby's sells the view of an unidentified harbor with boats and a lively shore. This pen painting in ink and oil on panel 48 x 65 cm is estimated $ 2M, lot 32.
The result combining the qualities of a painting and those of a drawing is excellent. The artist has managed to execute the backgrounds in a softer line, improving the perception of distance and atmosphere under the beautiful cloudy sky.
At that time, van de Velde developed a new technique, the penschilderij. He considered after Goltzius that a work of art can reuse on panel or canvas the techniques of drawing for providing the same sharpness of details on a larger size.
The preparation was long and difficult because the white coating used in background had to be perfectly dry to support the whole quality of a pen drawing. No other artist reused the penschilderej.
On January 29 in New York, Sotheby's sells the view of an unidentified harbor with boats and a lively shore. This pen painting in ink and oil on panel 48 x 65 cm is estimated $ 2M, lot 32.
The result combining the qualities of a painting and those of a drawing is excellent. The artist has managed to execute the backgrounds in a softer line, improving the perception of distance and atmosphere under the beautiful cloudy sky.
#AuctionUpdate: A bidding war drives Willem van de Velde's depiction of a Dutch Harbor to $5.4M, an #ArtistRecord pic.twitter.com/q6wkbNrwzo
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) January 29, 2015
1643 Mazarin's Treasure
2013 SOLD 7.3 M€ including premium
Around 1640 in Kyoto, the art of lacquer reached a fabulous refinement. The Dutch East India Company managed to export some pieces of very high quality.
At that time in Europe, the commode has not been invented, and the usual saving furniture is the coffre, without drawers. A wonderful chest kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum is part of a group of four shipped to Batavia on 1 October 1643. Its attested belonging to the Mazarin - La Meilleraye family suggests that it was acquired by the cardinal-minister. It is identified as the Mazarin chest.
The very detailed website of the museum devotes a full page to another chest from the same series, lamenting that its fate is unknown since 1941. Black and white photos show a panel and the top..
The lost piece was just found in a family that had no idea of its importance. It is listed in the annual prestige sale at the château de Cheverny by Rouillac on June 9. The auction house considers that it had been acquired circa 1658 in Amsterdam by an agent of Mazarin. The cardinal, a great lover of art, was considered as the richest man in the world.
This is a large piece, 64 x 145 x 73 cm. The total surface of black and gold lacquer is extraordinary: nearly 9 square meters including the inside of the lid. Despite its decades of incognito survival, it is in very good condition.
Above all, it represents by itself a synthesis of the decorative arts of Japan, with all the technical applications of lacquer including inlays of mother of pearl. The many figures of people, animals and palaces are exquisite.
The position of these chests in the history of furniture is great. It was to wait for more than half a century to get the fashion of commodes and desks decorated with lacquered panels.
POST SALE COMMENT
Purchased for the benefit of the Rijksmuseum, the chest will come back to Amsterdam three and a half centuries after being bought in this city by an agent of Mazarin. Its price, € 7.3 million including premium, confirms that Rouillac made a perfect analysis by considering it as a masterpiece.
At that time in Europe, the commode has not been invented, and the usual saving furniture is the coffre, without drawers. A wonderful chest kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum is part of a group of four shipped to Batavia on 1 October 1643. Its attested belonging to the Mazarin - La Meilleraye family suggests that it was acquired by the cardinal-minister. It is identified as the Mazarin chest.
The very detailed website of the museum devotes a full page to another chest from the same series, lamenting that its fate is unknown since 1941. Black and white photos show a panel and the top..
The lost piece was just found in a family that had no idea of its importance. It is listed in the annual prestige sale at the château de Cheverny by Rouillac on June 9. The auction house considers that it had been acquired circa 1658 in Amsterdam by an agent of Mazarin. The cardinal, a great lover of art, was considered as the richest man in the world.
This is a large piece, 64 x 145 x 73 cm. The total surface of black and gold lacquer is extraordinary: nearly 9 square meters including the inside of the lid. Despite its decades of incognito survival, it is in very good condition.
Above all, it represents by itself a synthesis of the decorative arts of Japan, with all the technical applications of lacquer including inlays of mother of pearl. The many figures of people, animals and palaces are exquisite.
The position of these chests in the history of furniture is great. It was to wait for more than half a century to get the fashion of commodes and desks decorated with lacquered panels.
POST SALE COMMENT
Purchased for the benefit of the Rijksmuseum, the chest will come back to Amsterdam three and a half centuries after being bought in this city by an agent of Mazarin. Its price, € 7.3 million including premium, confirms that Rouillac made a perfect analysis by considering it as a masterpiece.
The Divine Boy
2018 SOLD for € 3.6M including premium
In 2017 the auctioneers Rouillac father and son inspect an oil on canvas 72 x 59 cm on request from an an individual at her home. The expertise will be unambiguous after confrontation of the canvas with the artworks in the Musée du Louvre : it is an authentic painting by Le Nain brothers.
It shows the young Christ in his age of awareness, kneeling in front of the symbols of the Passion. He is dressed in a wide white tunic, symbol of purity. The evening light is mystical.
This previously unknown image adds a new theme to the Christian iconography. The engraver Wierix who died in 1619 had published the image of a young adult saint in the same attitude. No image of Christ at that age in that role was known up to now. A little later Murillo will be one of the very few artists to consider the pre-adolescence of Christ but in less mystical attitudes. We also knew a newborn Christ sleeping on the cross.
The role of Christ is played on this Le Nain painting by a young boy of about twelve or thirteen with a beautiful childish face, fair skin and blond hair. This very recognizable healthy child appears at various ages in works by Le Nain, as an angel and then as a young peasant.
The small size of this painting indicates that it was made for a private devotional use. It is difficult to appreciate why no similar example is known, especially since it is well matching the new trends of the Counter-Reformation considering that the life of Christ must be analyzed as a whole. On this point the presentiment of sad Madonnas by Botticelli is a precedent.
Le Nain has treated here the age of wisdom when Christ understands and accepts his destiny for the first time. The same passage is important for the kings of France who are assisted by a regency until the age of 13 years. From 1643 to 1651 King Louis XIV is a minor. Once the king has begun his personal reign, it is possible that the boy Christ had a decreasing appeal to the customers of the only survivor of the Le Nain brothers.
This painting of l'Enfant Jésus méditant sur les instruments de la Passion is estimated € 1M to be sold by Rouillac at the annual Garden Party auction at Château d'Artigny on June 10, lot 60. Higher expectations had been announced in March before this work was classified as French Trésor National.
I invite you to read the essay prepared by Rouillac which contains many convincing illustrations to demonstrate the importance of the artwork.
It shows the young Christ in his age of awareness, kneeling in front of the symbols of the Passion. He is dressed in a wide white tunic, symbol of purity. The evening light is mystical.
This previously unknown image adds a new theme to the Christian iconography. The engraver Wierix who died in 1619 had published the image of a young adult saint in the same attitude. No image of Christ at that age in that role was known up to now. A little later Murillo will be one of the very few artists to consider the pre-adolescence of Christ but in less mystical attitudes. We also knew a newborn Christ sleeping on the cross.
The role of Christ is played on this Le Nain painting by a young boy of about twelve or thirteen with a beautiful childish face, fair skin and blond hair. This very recognizable healthy child appears at various ages in works by Le Nain, as an angel and then as a young peasant.
The small size of this painting indicates that it was made for a private devotional use. It is difficult to appreciate why no similar example is known, especially since it is well matching the new trends of the Counter-Reformation considering that the life of Christ must be analyzed as a whole. On this point the presentiment of sad Madonnas by Botticelli is a precedent.
Le Nain has treated here the age of wisdom when Christ understands and accepts his destiny for the first time. The same passage is important for the kings of France who are assisted by a regency until the age of 13 years. From 1643 to 1651 King Louis XIV is a minor. Once the king has begun his personal reign, it is possible that the boy Christ had a decreasing appeal to the customers of the only survivor of the Le Nain brothers.
This painting of l'Enfant Jésus méditant sur les instruments de la Passion is estimated € 1M to be sold by Rouillac at the annual Garden Party auction at Château d'Artigny on June 10, lot 60. Higher expectations had been announced in March before this work was classified as French Trésor National.
I invite you to read the essay prepared by Rouillac which contains many convincing illustrations to demonstrate the importance of the artwork.
Découverte : Commissaires-priseurs dénicheurs de trésors dans les caves et les greniers de France, les @RouillacSas ont mis la main sur la toile "Le Christ enfant méditant sur la Croix" des frères Le Nain ! Vente prévue le 10 juin au château d’Artigny.
— Quotidien de l'Art (@Quotidiendelart) March 16, 2018
Courtesy: Rouillac pic.twitter.com/iZ8bjj03vf
1648 Humility of Christ
2018 SOLD for £ 9.5M including premium
The end of the 1640s is very difficult for Rembrandt. He is a widower and his life with his son's nanny creates a scandal. Orders cease and his financial situation is very bad. He is nevertheless one of the best portrait painters of his time.
The scenes from the Gospels are part of his offer. In 1648 he paints The Pilgrims of Emmaus, oil on wood 68 x 65 cm preserved in the Musée du Louvre. Christ, who is of course the central character, responds to his traditional figuration, with waving hair covering his shoulders and with a short beard.
Rembrandt is more interested in the realism and psychology of faces than in mysticism. The young man who posed for the Emmaus scene is recognizable in a group of portraiture studies with various positions of the head that express the concentration of prayer and the humility, without a halo.
Two of these portraits were considered as autographs by the Rembrandt Research Project. The four or five other paintings in this group are copies of lost originals or imitations.
One of the two authentic portraits, oil on wood 25 x 21 cm, is kept at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. The other one, in same technique and dimensions, is estimated £ 6M for sale by Sotheby's in London on December 5, lot 18. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The scenes from the Gospels are part of his offer. In 1648 he paints The Pilgrims of Emmaus, oil on wood 68 x 65 cm preserved in the Musée du Louvre. Christ, who is of course the central character, responds to his traditional figuration, with waving hair covering his shoulders and with a short beard.
Rembrandt is more interested in the realism and psychology of faces than in mysticism. The young man who posed for the Emmaus scene is recognizable in a group of portraiture studies with various positions of the head that express the concentration of prayer and the humility, without a halo.
Two of these portraits were considered as autographs by the Rembrandt Research Project. The four or five other paintings in this group are copies of lost originals or imitations.
One of the two authentic portraits, oil on wood 25 x 21 cm, is kept at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. The other one, in same technique and dimensions, is estimated £ 6M for sale by Sotheby's in London on December 5, lot 18. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1649 Allegory of Dutch Painting
2012 SOLD 3.8 M€ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Gerrit Dou, who also signed as Dov, has devoted his life to his art, painting. After being one of the best collaborators of Rembrandt, he worked in Leiden, but curiously he is not quoted by Wikipedia among the artists who have influenced Vermeer.
He was so meticulous that he finished, they say, some of his paintings with a magnifying glass. He preferred working on panel to avoid the grain of a canvas.
On May 12 in Cologne, Lempertz sells an allegory of painting signed by Dov in 1649. Sizing 68 x 53 cm, it is one of the largest works of the artist.
The old painter is installed in front of an easel, focused on his work. This is not a self-portrait: the artist was then 36 years old.
Various sources of inspiration are arranged around him. Nature is represented by a big dead peacock, poetry by a flying Eros, knowledge by a book, art by a bust, interior scene by a metal pot and a heavy curtain. The workshop is beautifully lit, assessing the influence of Rembrandt.
This oil on panel is estimated € 1.8 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
Of course this interesting allegory of painting was worth more than its estimate. It was sold € 3.8 million including premium.
Gerrit Dou, who also signed as Dov, has devoted his life to his art, painting. After being one of the best collaborators of Rembrandt, he worked in Leiden, but curiously he is not quoted by Wikipedia among the artists who have influenced Vermeer.
He was so meticulous that he finished, they say, some of his paintings with a magnifying glass. He preferred working on panel to avoid the grain of a canvas.
On May 12 in Cologne, Lempertz sells an allegory of painting signed by Dov in 1649. Sizing 68 x 53 cm, it is one of the largest works of the artist.
The old painter is installed in front of an easel, focused on his work. This is not a self-portrait: the artist was then 36 years old.
Various sources of inspiration are arranged around him. Nature is represented by a big dead peacock, poetry by a flying Eros, knowledge by a book, art by a bust, interior scene by a metal pot and a heavy curtain. The workshop is beautifully lit, assessing the influence of Rembrandt.
This oil on panel is estimated € 1.8 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
Of course this interesting allegory of painting was worth more than its estimate. It was sold € 3.8 million including premium.
