Decade 1760-1769
See also : 18th century painting Ancient French painting Early still life Venice Ancient Italy George I to III China Qianlong Chinese art Imperial seal Cities Dragon Horse Sport in art Origins of sports
CHARDIN
1
for reference
1758 Le Bocal d'Abricots
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto)
Chardin is appointed in 1755 trésorier of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. In 1757 he is granted by King Louis XV an apartment in the Galeries du Louvre. He is also the tapissier of the annual Salon de peinture et de sculpture, in charge of the arrangement of the selected artworks.
Busy with these official functions and financially secure, Chardin executes still lifes in a new style started in 1748, very different from his earlier depictions of dead games, and closer to classical Dutch arrangements. He is more attentive to reflections, to light. The colors are less impastoed. The artist is more interested in volumes and composition than in details. The subjects are varied : game, fruits, bouquets, pots, jars, glasses.
Le Bocal d'abricots, painted and dated by Chardin in 1758, is an oval oil on canvas 57 x 51 cm. This marble table top is featuring glasses, pieces of bread, a knife, cups, a tambourine and a tied package placed around a jar containing apricots. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Busy with these official functions and financially secure, Chardin executes still lifes in a new style started in 1748, very different from his earlier depictions of dead games, and closer to classical Dutch arrangements. He is more attentive to reflections, to light. The colors are less impastoed. The artist is more interested in volumes and composition than in details. The subjects are varied : game, fruits, bouquets, pots, jars, glasses.
Le Bocal d'abricots, painted and dated by Chardin in 1758, is an oval oil on canvas 57 x 51 cm. This marble table top is featuring glasses, pieces of bread, a knife, cups, a tambourine and a tied package placed around a jar containing apricots. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
2
1760 Le Melon entamé
2024 SOLD for € 26.7M by Christie's
Le Bocal d'abricots was owned by the Parisian goldsmith and silversmith Jacques Roettiers. In 1760 Chardin executed and dated a pendant still life for this patron, in the same oval format.
On the same table top, two bottles and a pitcher surround a sliced melon, some peaches, plums and two pears. The freshly cut slice balanced precariously on top of the melon predated by 120 years the precarious arrangements of Cézanne's tabletops. The warm palette has been described by Rosenberg as a "mysterious half light". The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Both works were exhibited at the Salon de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1761 and illustrated by Saint-Aubin in the catalogue.
Coming from the former Marcille collection and a Rothschild provenance, Le Melon entamé was sold for € 26.7M from a lower estimate of € 8M by Christie's on June 12, 2024, lot 5.
An identical replica executed by the workshop in 1763 is owned by the Musée du Louvre.
On the same table top, two bottles and a pitcher surround a sliced melon, some peaches, plums and two pears. The freshly cut slice balanced precariously on top of the melon predated by 120 years the precarious arrangements of Cézanne's tabletops. The warm palette has been described by Rosenberg as a "mysterious half light". The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Both works were exhibited at the Salon de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1761 and illustrated by Saint-Aubin in the catalogue.
Coming from the former Marcille collection and a Rothschild provenance, Le Melon entamé was sold for € 26.7M from a lower estimate of € 8M by Christie's on June 12, 2024, lot 5.
An identical replica executed by the workshop in 1763 is owned by the Musée du Louvre.
Jean Siméon Chardin’s The Cut Melon — a spellbinding work by the ‘great magician’. This masterpiece from the Rothschild family collection is offered in Paris on 12 June. Find out more here: https://t.co/wLwUyPUG6L pic.twitter.com/LM9fw6wcET
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 30, 2024
3
1761 Panier de Fraises des Bois by Chardin
2022 SOLD for € 24.4M by Artcurial
Jean-Siméon Chardin manages his career without taking care of artistic fashions. A highly skilled perfectionist, he takes the reality of texture and color as his top concern.
Following the path opened by Adriaen Coorte around 1700, Chardin opts for the simplest geometric tabletop compositions in a contrasted light in front of a dark raw background.
Le Panier de fraises des bois, oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm, was released for the Salon de 1761 and illustrated by Saint-Aubin in the livret of that exhibition. It displays a stack of wild strawberries as a spectacular conical tabletop in a basket. That vivid red fruit had been Coorte's preferred pictorial theme.
The composition is completed on the table by a glass filled with limpid water, and by two ornamental cut off flowers, two cherries and a peach. Chardin had skillfully added an upper layer of red lacquer to link together the grainy berries while he left slightly unfocused the carnations.
Recognized as a masterpiece of Chardin's maturity offering a perfect sharp viewing from an ideal distance of 5 m away, Le panier was kept in a private French collection since 1862. It was sold for € 24.4M from a lower estimate of € 12M by Artcurial on March 23, 2022, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Following the path opened by Adriaen Coorte around 1700, Chardin opts for the simplest geometric tabletop compositions in a contrasted light in front of a dark raw background.
Le Panier de fraises des bois, oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm, was released for the Salon de 1761 and illustrated by Saint-Aubin in the livret of that exhibition. It displays a stack of wild strawberries as a spectacular conical tabletop in a basket. That vivid red fruit had been Coorte's preferred pictorial theme.
The composition is completed on the table by a glass filled with limpid water, and by two ornamental cut off flowers, two cherries and a peach. Chardin had skillfully added an upper layer of red lacquer to link together the grainy berries while he left slightly unfocused the carnations.
Recognized as a masterpiece of Chardin's maturity offering a perfect sharp viewing from an ideal distance of 5 m away, Le panier was kept in a private French collection since 1862. It was sold for € 24.4M from a lower estimate of € 12M by Artcurial on March 23, 2022, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
QIAN WEICHENG in Zhejiang
Intro
The very important inspection trips of the Kangxi emperor had a major role in consolidating the Southern provinces. Isolated regions therein must also join the civilization.
The coastal province of Zhejiang is the subject of a freeing campaign in 1727 CE during the reign of Yongzheng. The Qianlong emperor remains vigilant. During his 27th year, 1762 CE, he appoints as Education Commissioner of Zhejiang for a three-year mission one of his most brilliant mandarins named Qian Weicheng.
Qian's career is a very good example of the extreme and multidisciplinary skills required to the mandarins. Received at the examinations at the age of 23 in the tenth year of Qianlong, he had become as a jurist an important member of the imperial bureaucracy. Poet, calligrapher and artist, he knows how to imitate the ancients. His poetry is pleasant and original.
In the tradition of the Qing imperial travels, Qian executes landscape drawings of the Zhejiang in handscrolls of great length.
The coastal province of Zhejiang is the subject of a freeing campaign in 1727 CE during the reign of Yongzheng. The Qianlong emperor remains vigilant. During his 27th year, 1762 CE, he appoints as Education Commissioner of Zhejiang for a three-year mission one of his most brilliant mandarins named Qian Weicheng.
Qian's career is a very good example of the extreme and multidisciplinary skills required to the mandarins. Received at the examinations at the age of 23 in the tenth year of Qianlong, he had become as a jurist an important member of the imperial bureaucracy. Poet, calligrapher and artist, he knows how to imitate the ancients. His poetry is pleasant and original.
In the tradition of the Qing imperial travels, Qian executes landscape drawings of the Zhejiang in handscrolls of great length.
1
1763-1765 Ten Auspicious Landscapes of Taishan
2018 SOLD for HK$ 147M by Sotheby's
On April 3, 2018, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 147M from a lower estimate of HK $ 50M a 34 cm high scroll of ten landscapes of Mount Tiantai, for a total length of 4.60 m, lot 3301. This painting was probably made during or shortly after Qian Weichen’s tenure in Zhejiang.
The drawing without washes is of a topographical accuracy and includes the Buddhist monasteries and some human presence. Yet Qian, who had visited Yandang, did not walk Tiantai personally as his tour plans were each time abandoned due to bad weather. He was probably relying upon pre-existing images to avoid confessing this failure.
Each of the ten views is accompanied by a long descriptive commentary by Qian and by an autograph poem written by Qianlong and dated by him in the jiawu year, 1774 CE, two years after the death of the artist. The artwork was removed from the Palace in the early 1920s by the last deposed Qing emperor in an effort to protect the imperial patrimony from looters.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's including the vision of moving grounds then practiced by this auction house.
The drawing without washes is of a topographical accuracy and includes the Buddhist monasteries and some human presence. Yet Qian, who had visited Yandang, did not walk Tiantai personally as his tour plans were each time abandoned due to bad weather. He was probably relying upon pre-existing images to avoid confessing this failure.
Each of the ten views is accompanied by a long descriptive commentary by Qian and by an autograph poem written by Qianlong and dated by him in the jiawu year, 1774 CE, two years after the death of the artist. The artwork was removed from the Palace in the early 1920s by the last deposed Qing emperor in an effort to protect the imperial patrimony from looters.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's including the vision of moving grounds then practiced by this auction house.
2
1763-1764 Yandang Mountain
2010 SOLD for RMB 130M by Poly
A continuous panoramic view of Yandang mountain in Zhejiang by Qian Weicheng, handscroll in green on paper 31.5 x 730 cm, was sold for RMB 130M from a lower estimate of RMB 50M by Poly on June 3, 2010, lot 2866.
While serving the government on Zhejiang, the artist had visited Yandang twice, in 1763 and 1764. Titled 23 pictures of Yandang, this picture is based from an original by Li Tang, an artist under the Song dynasty.
It features rocks and valleys, majestic peaks, waterfalls and springs, lush vegetation, ancient caves and secluded temples, towering ancient trees, and beautiful lakes and mountains.
The trees and figures in the mountains are meticulously depicted, and the dense brushstrokes and rich colors enliven the atmosphere of the painting. The distant mountains are dyed with blue flowers, and the clouds in the mountains are misty.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
While serving the government on Zhejiang, the artist had visited Yandang twice, in 1763 and 1764. Titled 23 pictures of Yandang, this picture is based from an original by Li Tang, an artist under the Song dynasty.
It features rocks and valleys, majestic peaks, waterfalls and springs, lush vegetation, ancient caves and secluded temples, towering ancient trees, and beautiful lakes and mountains.
The trees and figures in the mountains are meticulously depicted, and the dense brushstrokes and rich colors enliven the atmosphere of the painting. The distant mountains are dyed with blue flowers, and the clouds in the mountains are misty.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1764 Pacification of the Western Regions by Xu Yang
2021 SOLD for RMB 410M by Poly
From the 20th to 24th year of Qianlong matching 1755 to 1759 CE, the emperor ordered three military campaigns for the control of the border Xinjiang region and the destruction of the Dzungars.
Xu Yang was a court artist. A handscroll 43 x 1860 cm in bright colors on paper is titled Picture of the Presentation of the Captives for the Pacification of the Western Regions. Commissioned by the emperor, it depicts scenes in Beijing during a military ceremony in the Qing palace after the victories. His sense of perspective and figuration were influenced by European art.
This detailed topographic picture leads the viewer from Zhengyang gate to the Forbidden City through Tiananmen Square. Crowds are displayed alongside lines of guards and flag bearers.
According to the archives Xu Yang should have completed this painting before the 29th year of Qianlong's reign, 1764 CE.
This piece was originally displayed with brocade wrapping in the imperial palace and bears several seals of Qianlong. It was sold for RMB 134M by Sungari in 2009 and for RMB 410M by Poly on June 6, 2021, lot 1935 and is illustrated in the post sale report shared by CNN. Two details are illustrated in the tweet below.
Xu Yang was a court artist. A handscroll 43 x 1860 cm in bright colors on paper is titled Picture of the Presentation of the Captives for the Pacification of the Western Regions. Commissioned by the emperor, it depicts scenes in Beijing during a military ceremony in the Qing palace after the victories. His sense of perspective and figuration were influenced by European art.
This detailed topographic picture leads the viewer from Zhengyang gate to the Forbidden City through Tiananmen Square. Crowds are displayed alongside lines of guards and flag bearers.
According to the archives Xu Yang should have completed this painting before the 29th year of Qianlong's reign, 1764 CE.
This piece was originally displayed with brocade wrapping in the imperial palace and bears several seals of Qianlong. It was sold for RMB 134M by Sungari in 2009 and for RMB 410M by Poly on June 6, 2021, lot 1935 and is illustrated in the post sale report shared by CNN. Two details are illustrated in the tweet below.
Maybe the most expensive item in the coming Beijing Spring Auction:
— China in Pictures (@tongbingxue) May 17, 2021
Settling Down the Western Regions and Presenting Prisoners,
hand scroll by court artist Xu Yang, Qianlong Period (1736-1796), 1,800 cm wide, Poly Auction, POR. pic.twitter.com/SJqs7nM4DR
1765 Portrait of a Champion by Stubbs
2011 SOLD 22.4 M£ including premium
Serving wealthy English aristocrats, George Stubbs specialized in the topic of race horses. On December 8, 2010, Sotheby's sold £ 10.1 million including premium a very elegant study of mares and foals in a meadow, painted in 1767.
Made around 1765, the oil on canvas for sale by Christie's in London on July 5 is certainly more outstanding. It is estimated £ 20M. This is the portrait of a horse named Gimcrack, who was winning most of the races where he was engaged.
This broad composition, 102 x 196 cm, simple and effective, is divided into two parts. On the left, Gimcrack shows his beautiful profile, surrounded by a coach, a stable boy and a jockey.
A race is held on the horizon, on the right. A horse is far ahead of his three followers. He is also Gimcrack, of course. He is therefore shown twice on that image that had everything to flatter the sponsor of the work, Lord Bolingbroke, owner of the champion.
Stubbs is very accurate in anatomical detail, but still shows horses galloping with their four legs flying above the ground. This feature, which can be excused one century before the studies of Muybridge, applies here only in the background and provides this work with an undeniable poetic dimension.
POST SALE COMMENT
Sold £ 22.4 million including premium, Gimcrack has once again won his race.
Made around 1765, the oil on canvas for sale by Christie's in London on July 5 is certainly more outstanding. It is estimated £ 20M. This is the portrait of a horse named Gimcrack, who was winning most of the races where he was engaged.
This broad composition, 102 x 196 cm, simple and effective, is divided into two parts. On the left, Gimcrack shows his beautiful profile, surrounded by a coach, a stable boy and a jockey.
A race is held on the horizon, on the right. A horse is far ahead of his three followers. He is also Gimcrack, of course. He is therefore shown twice on that image that had everything to flatter the sponsor of the work, Lord Bolingbroke, owner of the champion.
Stubbs is very accurate in anatomical detail, but still shows horses galloping with their four legs flying above the ground. This feature, which can be excused one century before the studies of Muybridge, applies here only in the background and provides this work with an undeniable poetic dimension.
POST SALE COMMENT
Sold £ 22.4 million including premium, Gimcrack has once again won his race.
#GeorgeStubbs was born #OTD in 1724. We sold Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath in 2011 for £22,441,250 #WorldAuctionRecord #artistbirthday pic.twitter.com/B7fCB2eivD
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) August 25, 2017
1766 The Duties of the Grandfather
2021 SOLD for HK$ 146M by Sotheby's
1722 CE was the 61st and final year of Kangxi's reign. He had devoted his entire life to his role as a political leader, continually concerned with the well-being of his people. This competent emperor did not want his work to disappear with him.
In the third month of that 61st year, he asked to meet one of his many grandsons, the ten-year-old Prince Hongli. The boy indeed had promising gifts, both intellectually and physically. The old emperor, aged 69, took a personal and intensive responsibility for the martial and literary education of the prince. When he died a few months later, a hitherto secret letter was opened, designating Hongli's father as his successor.
Hongli in turn ascended to the throne in 1735 with the reign name Qianlong. His short relationship with his grandfather marked him for life. Kangxi will remain his model, for his attitude and his commitments. An emperor must relentlessly do good by applying the highest virtues day after day. Qianlong's piety for his grandfather was so intense that he would abdicate in the 61st year of his own reign, in a decades-long premeditated tribute to Kangxi.
Qianlong may be the Son of Heaven, but he is also a human being. His father's accession to the empire came at the expense of another prince and his own legitimacy could be challenged. In 1742 he wrote an essay on his justification, for the use of the Imperial Palace.
In 1766 the question remains valid. Qianlong reworks his essay which is inscribed on a tablet for the use of Ji'entang, the Hall of Grace Remembrance. The emperor explains how and why his grandfather passed on his beneficent influence to him, and the daily efforts he never ceased to make to be worthy of this trust. He takes care to detail how an emperor of the Zhou dynasty organized his own succession by dismissing a virtuous but unambitious heir.
A white jade seal is made in the same year for use in the same room, with the three characters for impressing the word Ji'entang in archaic script. The sides are inscribed with the full version of the essay. The knob is a pair of entwined dragons. The sacking of the Summer Palace in 1860 left some veining in the perimeter but the mark and the dragons are not damaged.
This 10.4 cm square seal with a total height of 7.8 cm was sold for HK $ 146M by Sotheby's on April 22, 2021, lot 3603. It is the third seal with strong historical significance narrated by Nicolas Chow in the video shared by Sotheby's.
In the third month of that 61st year, he asked to meet one of his many grandsons, the ten-year-old Prince Hongli. The boy indeed had promising gifts, both intellectually and physically. The old emperor, aged 69, took a personal and intensive responsibility for the martial and literary education of the prince. When he died a few months later, a hitherto secret letter was opened, designating Hongli's father as his successor.
Hongli in turn ascended to the throne in 1735 with the reign name Qianlong. His short relationship with his grandfather marked him for life. Kangxi will remain his model, for his attitude and his commitments. An emperor must relentlessly do good by applying the highest virtues day after day. Qianlong's piety for his grandfather was so intense that he would abdicate in the 61st year of his own reign, in a decades-long premeditated tribute to Kangxi.
Qianlong may be the Son of Heaven, but he is also a human being. His father's accession to the empire came at the expense of another prince and his own legitimacy could be challenged. In 1742 he wrote an essay on his justification, for the use of the Imperial Palace.
In 1766 the question remains valid. Qianlong reworks his essay which is inscribed on a tablet for the use of Ji'entang, the Hall of Grace Remembrance. The emperor explains how and why his grandfather passed on his beneficent influence to him, and the daily efforts he never ceased to make to be worthy of this trust. He takes care to detail how an emperor of the Zhou dynasty organized his own succession by dismissing a virtuous but unambitious heir.
A white jade seal is made in the same year for use in the same room, with the three characters for impressing the word Ji'entang in archaic script. The sides are inscribed with the full version of the essay. The knob is a pair of entwined dragons. The sacking of the Summer Palace in 1860 left some veining in the perimeter but the mark and the dragons are not damaged.
This 10.4 cm square seal with a total height of 7.8 cm was sold for HK $ 146M by Sotheby's on April 22, 2021, lot 3603. It is the third seal with strong historical significance narrated by Nicolas Chow in the video shared by Sotheby's.
1768 The Rialto by GUARDI
Intro
The death of Canaletto in April 1768 generates great ambitions to Francesco Guardi suddenly becoming the best supplier of the British tourists.
A pair of oils on canvases is unique in the history of the vedutas by the conjunction of their monumental dimension, 120 x 204 cm each, with the maturity of Guardi. The canvases are wider than the looms in use at that time and a nearly invisible seam had been needed in the lower part of the image.
They show the commercial district of Venice, the Rialto, on the Grand Canal on both sides of its spectacular single arched covered bridge which housed shops. The dense and gentle animation is typical of Guardi but the cloudy atmosphere and contrasting sunlight are worthy of Canaletto.
The sequence of monuments is correct but these panoramas are too wide to respect a unique perspective. The large format brings an abundance of details and an exceptional vision of the Venetian atmosphere.
The first owner was a young British aristocrat who had his tour in 1768, arriving in August in Venice. Guardi worked from the collection of his autograph drawings and the configuration of the monuments does not provide a terminus post quem.
A pair of oils on canvases is unique in the history of the vedutas by the conjunction of their monumental dimension, 120 x 204 cm each, with the maturity of Guardi. The canvases are wider than the looms in use at that time and a nearly invisible seam had been needed in the lower part of the image.
They show the commercial district of Venice, the Rialto, on the Grand Canal on both sides of its spectacular single arched covered bridge which housed shops. The dense and gentle animation is typical of Guardi but the cloudy atmosphere and contrasting sunlight are worthy of Canaletto.
The sequence of monuments is correct but these panoramas are too wide to respect a unique perspective. The large format brings an abundance of details and an exceptional vision of the Venetian atmosphere.
The first owner was a young British aristocrat who had his tour in 1768, arriving in August in Venice. Guardi worked from the collection of his autograph drawings and the configuration of the monuments does not provide a terminus post quem.
1
Northward
2011 SOLD for £ 26.7M by Sotheby's
The pair was separated. The view taken northward was sold by Sotheby's for £ 26.7M on July 6, 2011.
2
with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi
2017 SOLD for £ 26M by Christie's
The view in the reverse direction with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi was sold for £ 26M from a lower estimate of £ 15M on July 6, 2017 by Christie's, lot 25.
Une toile monumentale (122x200cm) de Francesco Guardi fait partie de la vente Old Master à Londres le 6/07 https://t.co/99ODYfvEzn pic.twitter.com/hHqqm8dzHo
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) June 12, 2017
1769 Fragonard out of his Time
2013 SOLD 17 M£ including premium
Like all painters of his time excepted Chardin, Fragonard varied his styles to find customers. Influenced by Boucher, he early found fame in the theme of very young frivolous women with their games and passions.
Fragonard made a small series of oils on canvas known under the generic title of Portraits de fantaisie. Only one of these artworks is dated : 1769, the year of his marriage. It is not by chance.
Close to the aristocracy, Fragonard endeavours at that time to demonstrate that he may revolutionize the art of portrait. These paintings are comparable to the tronies made by Rembrandt. The likeness to the sitter is not the most important.
The movement of shoulders and head brings energy and even violence. Strong colors evoke passion. Fancy costumes "à l'Espagnole" provide a theatrical dimension that also positions the work out of its time.
Influenced by Chardin, Fragonard understood the importance of color. This series of fantasy portraits is an essential link in the history of art between Rembrandt and Manet. He will be the great-granduncle of Berthe Morisot.
Few models have been identified with certainty. Brilliant intellectual, François-Henri d' Harcourt enjoyed his portrait to the point that his family kept it until 1971.
This oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm was then purchased at auction by Dr. Rau. Coming now from this prestigious collection, it is for sale to the benefit of UNICEF by Bonhams in London on December 5.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting has some exceptional qualities reinforced by the fact that it was one of the top masterpieces of the Rau collection and was sold for the benefit of UNICEF. It was sold for £ 17M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Bonhams on YouTube. The image is shared on Wikimedia.
Fragonard made a small series of oils on canvas known under the generic title of Portraits de fantaisie. Only one of these artworks is dated : 1769, the year of his marriage. It is not by chance.
Close to the aristocracy, Fragonard endeavours at that time to demonstrate that he may revolutionize the art of portrait. These paintings are comparable to the tronies made by Rembrandt. The likeness to the sitter is not the most important.
The movement of shoulders and head brings energy and even violence. Strong colors evoke passion. Fancy costumes "à l'Espagnole" provide a theatrical dimension that also positions the work out of its time.
Influenced by Chardin, Fragonard understood the importance of color. This series of fantasy portraits is an essential link in the history of art between Rembrandt and Manet. He will be the great-granduncle of Berthe Morisot.
Few models have been identified with certainty. Brilliant intellectual, François-Henri d' Harcourt enjoyed his portrait to the point that his family kept it until 1971.
This oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm was then purchased at auction by Dr. Rau. Coming now from this prestigious collection, it is for sale to the benefit of UNICEF by Bonhams in London on December 5.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting has some exceptional qualities reinforced by the fact that it was one of the top masterpieces of the Rau collection and was sold for the benefit of UNICEF. It was sold for £ 17M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Bonhams on YouTube. The image is shared on Wikimedia.
