Decade 1840-1849
See also : Ancient drawing Illustrators US painting < 1940 Russia 1700-1900 European ceramics Stamps Arms Colt UK II British Royals George IV to Victoria Turner Louis XVIII to 2nd Empire Cities Venice Literature Literature in French Music
1841 View of Venice by Turner
2006 SOLD for $ 36M including premium by Christie's
1841 Balzac on Provincial Life
2017 SOLD for € 1.17M including premium
Balzac aimed to build through his novels a fictional society to express all types of aristocratic and bourgeois behaviors of his time, most often by exacerbating their greed. He is passionate about this work for which he devotes eighteen hours a day in reading, documenting, planning, writing and correcting. He wants the realism of the details to be indisputable.
A great admirer of himself, he foresees for his work the notoriety of Napoléon and puts his social classification on the rank of the scientific works by Buffon and Cuvier. According to the mood of his time he is very keen of physiognomy.
He was born in Tours : for provincial life, his experience is direct. He has met during his childhood these bourgeois, these doctors and these priests who do not understand the unpleasant character of their own pettiness. Balzac does not exclude anything from the mental environment of his bourgeois who are, depending on the individuals, either attracted, repulsed or little concerned in religion or occultism.
Ursule Mirouët, written in 1841, is the story of an innocent girl whom everyone in her surrounding manages to disinherit. Balzac is particularly satisfied with this novel which will soon become the first opus of the Scènes de la Vie de Province in the complete edition of La Comédie Humaine by Furne.
Ursule Mirouët's first-run manuscript will be sold on December 20 in Paris (Hôtel Drouot) in the inaugural auction of the Aristophil collections operated by Aguttes and OVA, lot 45estimated € 800K.
According to Balzac's usual practice, this manuscript has many differences with the final published text. Indeed he preferred to write in speed and to rely upon the printing proofs for reviewing the consistency and bringing innumerable corrections.
Ursule Mirouët is one of only two first-run manuscripts from La Comédie Humaine in private hands. The other example, Massimilla Doni, on music, is a little away from the main social stream of Balzac.
Please watch the video shared by Aguttes.
A great admirer of himself, he foresees for his work the notoriety of Napoléon and puts his social classification on the rank of the scientific works by Buffon and Cuvier. According to the mood of his time he is very keen of physiognomy.
He was born in Tours : for provincial life, his experience is direct. He has met during his childhood these bourgeois, these doctors and these priests who do not understand the unpleasant character of their own pettiness. Balzac does not exclude anything from the mental environment of his bourgeois who are, depending on the individuals, either attracted, repulsed or little concerned in religion or occultism.
Ursule Mirouët, written in 1841, is the story of an innocent girl whom everyone in her surrounding manages to disinherit. Balzac is particularly satisfied with this novel which will soon become the first opus of the Scènes de la Vie de Province in the complete edition of La Comédie Humaine by Furne.
Ursule Mirouët's first-run manuscript will be sold on December 20 in Paris (Hôtel Drouot) in the inaugural auction of the Aristophil collections operated by Aguttes and OVA, lot 45estimated € 800K.
According to Balzac's usual practice, this manuscript has many differences with the final published text. Indeed he preferred to write in speed and to rely upon the printing proofs for reviewing the consistency and bringing innumerable corrections.
Ursule Mirouët is one of only two first-run manuscripts from La Comédie Humaine in private hands. The other example, Massimilla Doni, on music, is a little away from the main social stream of Balzac.
Please watch the video shared by Aguttes.
1 170 000 € pour le manuscrit Ursule Mirouët, d'Honoré de Balzac lors de la vente des Collections #Aristophil chez @CAguttes pic.twitter.com/Dxa8YulBdx
— Drouot (@Drouot) December 20, 2017
1841 Heidelberg after the Rain
2013 SOLD 4.6 M$ including premium
Turner is the best illustrator of the European landscapes. In 1840, the engraver Thomas Prior commissions him for a view of Heidelberg. The small town on the Neckar is one of the most enchanting sites, with its bridge, its church, and the ruins of its palace on the hillside.
At 65, Turner is at the top of his art. He retains in his watercolors the exceptional light and iridescence from bad weather conditions. The landscape is always recognizable, and improved with small figures engaged in their daily tasks.
To respond to the order, he sketches Heidelberg when the rain has stopped and the rainbow is just beginning to rise. This large watercolor, 35 x 53 cm, was probably made in 1841. It will be published in 1846 by Prior.
The artwork presents a curiosity that is not a fantasy. Several characters are in medieval costume. Turner remains a witness of his time: the Heidelberg students used to dress in that way.
This is one of the most successful watercolors by Turner. It was rewarded by a price of £ 2M including premium at Sotheby's on 14 June 2001. It is now estimated $ 4M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on January 31. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This very interesting example of a view made to order was sold $ 4.6 million including premium.
At 65, Turner is at the top of his art. He retains in his watercolors the exceptional light and iridescence from bad weather conditions. The landscape is always recognizable, and improved with small figures engaged in their daily tasks.
To respond to the order, he sketches Heidelberg when the rain has stopped and the rainbow is just beginning to rise. This large watercolor, 35 x 53 cm, was probably made in 1841. It will be published in 1846 by Prior.
The artwork presents a curiosity that is not a fantasy. Several characters are in medieval costume. Turner remains a witness of his time: the Heidelberg students used to dress in that way.
This is one of the most successful watercolors by Turner. It was rewarded by a price of £ 2M including premium at Sotheby's on 14 June 2001. It is now estimated $ 4M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on January 31. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This very interesting example of a view made to order was sold $ 4.6 million including premium.
1841 Flight to the Celestial City
2015 SOLD for £ 2.7M including premium
The Bible, either directly or through Milton's Paradise Lost, offers a fabulous theme for artists at the time of Romanticism. John Martin is a specialist in the landscapes of paradise and hell in large size paintings.
In 1841, a pair of oils on canvas deals with these two extreme aspects of supernatural life in the exhibition at the Royal Gallery. It also demonstrates the artist's ability to illustrate opposite effects: happiness and horror.
The very dark and sinister Pandemonium displays Satan's capital. This oil on canvas 123 x 184 cm in its original artist's frame was sold for £ 1.65M including premium by Christie's on February 19, 2003 and entered the Louvre in 2006.
Its pendant, The Celestial city and the River of bliss, 123 x 194 cm, is estimated £ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 8,lot 57.
The city of perpetual happiness floats above the bend of a river in paradise. Object of desire to the dead of the Last Judgment, it is barely visible, like a halo in the clouds. The angel knows the way: it goes straight, carrying a character in its flight.
The art of John Martin was lucrative but his dreamlike themes do appear as a distant precursor of surrealism. Glenn Brown did not miss it. Diverting an Apocalyptic scenery by Martin, he entitled his own artwork The Tragic Conversion of Salvador Dali. The market likes contemporary art. This oil on canvas 222 x 323 cm painted in 1998 was sold for £ 5.2 million including premium by Sotheby's on June 26, 2012.
In 1841, a pair of oils on canvas deals with these two extreme aspects of supernatural life in the exhibition at the Royal Gallery. It also demonstrates the artist's ability to illustrate opposite effects: happiness and horror.
The very dark and sinister Pandemonium displays Satan's capital. This oil on canvas 123 x 184 cm in its original artist's frame was sold for £ 1.65M including premium by Christie's on February 19, 2003 and entered the Louvre in 2006.
Its pendant, The Celestial city and the River of bliss, 123 x 194 cm, is estimated £ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 8,lot 57.
The city of perpetual happiness floats above the bend of a river in paradise. Object of desire to the dead of the Last Judgment, it is barely visible, like a halo in the clouds. The angel knows the way: it goes straight, carrying a character in its flight.
The art of John Martin was lucrative but his dreamlike themes do appear as a distant precursor of surrealism. Glenn Brown did not miss it. Diverting an Apocalyptic scenery by Martin, he entitled his own artwork The Tragic Conversion of Salvador Dali. The market likes contemporary art. This oil on canvas 222 x 323 cm painted in 1998 was sold for £ 5.2 million including premium by Sotheby's on June 26, 2012.
£2.7m for John Martin's Paradise-Lost–inspired masterpiece, one of final oil paintings by artist in private hands pic.twitter.com/W6O7C4z9HJ
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 8, 20151841 Turner in the Colors of Switzerland
2012 SOLD 1.05 M£ including premium
For a long time, watercolors of Switzerland by Turner are considered as masterpieces, among the most perfect precursors of modern art. Take as an example the auction made by Christie's one hundred years ago, on 5 July 1912.
On that day, the Blue Rigi, 30 x 45 cm, was sold for 2700 guineas. Warm and varied colors supersede the drawing, in the admirable blur of a sunrise. Yet in the foreground, sharp tiny characters observe the landscape from the shores of the Lake of Lucerne.
More recently, the Blue Rigi came back to auction. Sold £ 5.8 million including premium by Christie's on 5 June 2006, this stunning drawing is now owned by Tate Britain.
In the sale of 1912, a smaller watercolor, 23 x 33 cm, was sold at nearly the same price: 2500 guineas. Based on a sketch made in 1841, it shows Lausanne. Colors explode within this remarkable landscape. Small farmers are busy with their daily work.
The watercolor of Lausanne is estimated £ 600K, for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 4.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good results for three watercolors by Turner.
Lausanne, the main subject of this article, was sold £ 1.05 M. Domleschg, presented in the same video, reached £ 600K, and a sunset over a lake that had been estimated £ 80K has been sold £ 530K.
The great surprise of the sale was awarded to a beautiful drawing by Canaletto, sold £ 1.95 million on an estimate of £ 300K.
These prices include premium.
On that day, the Blue Rigi, 30 x 45 cm, was sold for 2700 guineas. Warm and varied colors supersede the drawing, in the admirable blur of a sunrise. Yet in the foreground, sharp tiny characters observe the landscape from the shores of the Lake of Lucerne.
More recently, the Blue Rigi came back to auction. Sold £ 5.8 million including premium by Christie's on 5 June 2006, this stunning drawing is now owned by Tate Britain.
In the sale of 1912, a smaller watercolor, 23 x 33 cm, was sold at nearly the same price: 2500 guineas. Based on a sketch made in 1841, it shows Lausanne. Colors explode within this remarkable landscape. Small farmers are busy with their daily work.
The watercolor of Lausanne is estimated £ 600K, for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 4.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good results for three watercolors by Turner.
Lausanne, the main subject of this article, was sold £ 1.05 M. Domleschg, presented in the same video, reached £ 600K, and a sunset over a lake that had been estimated £ 80K has been sold £ 530K.
The great surprise of the sale was awarded to a beautiful drawing by Canaletto, sold £ 1.95 million on an estimate of £ 300K.
These prices include premium.
1842 The Blue Rigi, watercolor by Turner
2006 SOLD 5.8 M£ including premium by Christie's
Link to the catalogue.
1842 Turner in Lucerne
2018 SOLD for $ 1.1M including premium
Turner travels a lot, sketching the figures of the landscapes in his notebooks. He wishes to express the sublime while respecting sufficiently the topographic balance so that the location is immediately recognizable. He adds the atmosphere by the colors of the extreme hours of the day highlighted by the lightness and spontaneity of the watercolor.
The mountains appeal this idealist by their paradox between the aesthetic beauty of a calm day and the unstoppable power of its storms. From 1841 to 1844 he travels Switzerland in four successive trips. Murray's travel handbook does not leave his pocket : the legends created by the interaction between men and mountains nourish the creativity of the artist.
During the first of these four trips, Turner radically changed his business strategy. Previously he aimed at editing his images by printers. He now considers that watercolor can become a high quality product, providing the customer with an illusion of presence that exceeds that of oil painting.
On his first return to his workshop in 1842, Turner combined his sketches to make watercolors in mid format. He had not gone far from Lucerne and this new series of fifteen images is composed of views of the lake and of the Righi (Rigi) mountain. Passing off the initial reluctance of his seller Thomas Griffith, he prepares the large format watercolors that will be proposed as finished products, one per image. The large format allows him to add with his subtle touch and fine line the details that animate the scenery.
In this series the three views of the Rigi, blue and dark at dawn and red at sunset, anticipate by several decades the studies by Monet and Cézanne on the color variations. The 30 x 45 cm watercolor of the Blue Rigi was sold for £ 5.8M including premium by Christie's on June 5, 2006.
Almost all the mid sized watercolors from this first trip were bequeathed by Turner to Tate Britain. One of them, a view of the lake from Brunnen 25 x 31 cm, escaped that legacy : Turner had presented it to Griffith shortly after the completion of its large format. It is estimated $ 800K for sale by Christie's in New York on January 30, lot 84.
A large format of this view was used as a pendant with the Blue Rigi by its first owner, a whaling tycoon who appreciated this contrast between the quiet atmosphere of the lake and the brutal force of the rock.
The mountains appeal this idealist by their paradox between the aesthetic beauty of a calm day and the unstoppable power of its storms. From 1841 to 1844 he travels Switzerland in four successive trips. Murray's travel handbook does not leave his pocket : the legends created by the interaction between men and mountains nourish the creativity of the artist.
During the first of these four trips, Turner radically changed his business strategy. Previously he aimed at editing his images by printers. He now considers that watercolor can become a high quality product, providing the customer with an illusion of presence that exceeds that of oil painting.
On his first return to his workshop in 1842, Turner combined his sketches to make watercolors in mid format. He had not gone far from Lucerne and this new series of fifteen images is composed of views of the lake and of the Righi (Rigi) mountain. Passing off the initial reluctance of his seller Thomas Griffith, he prepares the large format watercolors that will be proposed as finished products, one per image. The large format allows him to add with his subtle touch and fine line the details that animate the scenery.
In this series the three views of the Rigi, blue and dark at dawn and red at sunset, anticipate by several decades the studies by Monet and Cézanne on the color variations. The 30 x 45 cm watercolor of the Blue Rigi was sold for £ 5.8M including premium by Christie's on June 5, 2006.
Almost all the mid sized watercolors from this first trip were bequeathed by Turner to Tate Britain. One of them, a view of the lake from Brunnen 25 x 31 cm, escaped that legacy : Turner had presented it to Griffith shortly after the completion of its large format. It is estimated $ 800K for sale by Christie's in New York on January 30, lot 84.
A large format of this view was used as a pendant with the Blue Rigi by its first owner, a whaling tycoon who appreciated this contrast between the quiet atmosphere of the lake and the brutal force of the rock.
1844 The Late Prince Royal
2016 SOLD for $ 1.72M including premium
Louis-Philippe I is the Roi des Français since 1830. Attempting a middle way between revolutionaries and conservatives, he is not politically convincing. All hopes are heading to his eldest son Ferdinand-Philippe duc d'Orléans. The Prince Royal has many qualities that miss to the old king. His military career was already brilliant. Young and active, friendly and charming, he is also a patron of the arts.
The duc requires Ingres to paint his portrait. After some hesitation, the artist accepts. Seven sitting sessions are made in 1841. The portrait in three quarter length of the prince standing in military uniform is supplied by the artist on 8 May 1842. This oil on canvas 158 x 122 cm entered in 2005 in the collections of the Musée du Louvre.
The fatal accident of the duc on 13 July 1842 at the age of 32 is a disaster for the Orléans dynasty. His friends desire to maintain his image. The widow returns to Ingres and commissions a portrait in bust length.
On August 2, 1844 Ingres delivers to the duchesse d'Orléans a portrait of the deceased duc in oval format 75 x 61 cm. His beautiful face testifies well to the friendship and admiration that he had inspired to the artist. Preserved up to now in the descendance of the duchesse, this oil on canvas is estimated $ 400K for sale by Christie's in New York on April 13, lot 43.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
The duc requires Ingres to paint his portrait. After some hesitation, the artist accepts. Seven sitting sessions are made in 1841. The portrait in three quarter length of the prince standing in military uniform is supplied by the artist on 8 May 1842. This oil on canvas 158 x 122 cm entered in 2005 in the collections of the Musée du Louvre.
The fatal accident of the duc on 13 July 1842 at the age of 32 is a disaster for the Orléans dynasty. His friends desire to maintain his image. The widow returns to Ingres and commissions a portrait in bust length.
On August 2, 1844 Ingres delivers to the duchesse d'Orléans a portrait of the deceased duc in oval format 75 x 61 cm. His beautiful face testifies well to the friendship and admiration that he had inspired to the artist. Preserved up to now in the descendance of the duchesse, this oil on canvas is estimated $ 400K for sale by Christie's in New York on April 13, lot 43.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
1846-1848 The Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity by Edward Hicks
2008 SOLD for $ 9.7M including premium by Sotheby's (UNPAID 4 months later)
Link to pre sale press release.
1847 Bordeaux cover with Mauritius stamps
1993 SOLD 6.2 MCHF including premium by David Feldman
Shared by Wikimedia :
1847 Colt Walker for Trade
2018 SOLD for $ 1.84M including premium
Samuel Colt's meeting with President Polk in December 1846 is decisive for the restart of his business. The government orders to the inventor 1,000 Single Action Revolvers for the use of the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, two per man with no attrition.
Colt no longer has a production line and the revolvers are manufactured in 1847 by Eli Blake in Whitneyville CT. Once the government order is honored, the same team builds 100 additional pieces numbered from 1001 to 1100, to use attrition components manufactured by Blake and also to anticipate the transfer of the machinery and tools from Whitneyville to the new Colt plant in Hartford CT.
The first non-governmental units are presented to contributors. The pair 1001-1002 is offered in June 1847 to Jack Hays, the Texas Ranger officer who had understood the operational advantage of using Colt's patented inventions. The pair 1009-1010 is attributed to Samuel Walker, the young captain who had been delegated by Hays to discuss with Colt their ideas for technical improvements. Walker died in action in October 1847 and the model, military and civilian, was nicknamed Colt Walker in his honor.
Civilian revolvers are available through the trade. The serial number 1022 is purchased by a Danish sea captain to a retailer in New York City. It is the only one of the first commercial series to still be housed in its original case and it is accompanied by a guarantee of authenticity handwritten by Samuel Colt himself. It retains 50 to 60% of its bright blue finish.
This piece often described in the specialized literature is estimated $ 800K for sale by Rock Island Auction Company in Rock Island IL on April 13, lot 60.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Colt no longer has a production line and the revolvers are manufactured in 1847 by Eli Blake in Whitneyville CT. Once the government order is honored, the same team builds 100 additional pieces numbered from 1001 to 1100, to use attrition components manufactured by Blake and also to anticipate the transfer of the machinery and tools from Whitneyville to the new Colt plant in Hartford CT.
The first non-governmental units are presented to contributors. The pair 1001-1002 is offered in June 1847 to Jack Hays, the Texas Ranger officer who had understood the operational advantage of using Colt's patented inventions. The pair 1009-1010 is attributed to Samuel Walker, the young captain who had been delegated by Hays to discuss with Colt their ideas for technical improvements. Walker died in action in October 1847 and the model, military and civilian, was nicknamed Colt Walker in his honor.
Civilian revolvers are available through the trade. The serial number 1022 is purchased by a Danish sea captain to a retailer in New York City. It is the only one of the first commercial series to still be housed in its original case and it is accompanied by a guarantee of authenticity handwritten by Samuel Colt himself. It retains 50 to 60% of its bright blue finish.
This piece often described in the specialized literature is estimated $ 800K for sale by Rock Island Auction Company in Rock Island IL on April 13, lot 60.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
We are proud to announce that the catalog for our April Premiere Firearms Auction is now online, ready for viewing and bidding. This promises to be a most exciting sale. https://t.co/Fcy6hjousK pic.twitter.com/wpQNyyvrOT
— Rock Island Auction (@RIAuction) March 3, 2018
1847 The Post Office in Mauritius
2016 SOLD for € 1.23M including premium
The stamp, circulated by the British administration in 1840, was gradually adopted by other countries. In 1847 Mauritius was the first British colony to release this method of payment for the conveyance of the postage.
Two denominations are issued : 1 penny and 2 pence. The printing plate is made in intaglio by a local engraver in imitation of the stamps then applicable in Great Britain with the profile of Queen Victoria.
They are extremely rare : the printing was stopped in the following year when the administration decided to put the wording Post Paid instead of Post Office on the left edge. 500 'Post Office' stamps of each value had been edited. A cover that circulated with each of the two stamps was sold for CHF 6.2M including premium by David Feldman in 1993.
The printing plate surfaced in 1912. It is unique in its kind. A single example of each denomination appears on this small piece of copper 81 x 61 mm. Because of this rudimentary configuration, the stamps had to be printed individually.
Considered as an outstanding philatelic treasure, the plate enters around 1930 in the collection of Maurice Burrus but will not appear in his succession. The mystery is lifted in 2013 when the family finds it by chance in the inventory of a further deceased estate : a niece of the collector had kept it in his memory inside a small cover without ever imagining its inestimable value as a witness of the pioneering era of the postage stamp.
The plate is estimated in excess of € 2M for sale on December 1 in Geneva by David Feldman, lot 1. Here is the link to the website of the auction house. The image below is taken from the press kit. Please watch the video shared by David Feldman explaining in details this rediscovery.
Two denominations are issued : 1 penny and 2 pence. The printing plate is made in intaglio by a local engraver in imitation of the stamps then applicable in Great Britain with the profile of Queen Victoria.
They are extremely rare : the printing was stopped in the following year when the administration decided to put the wording Post Paid instead of Post Office on the left edge. 500 'Post Office' stamps of each value had been edited. A cover that circulated with each of the two stamps was sold for CHF 6.2M including premium by David Feldman in 1993.
The printing plate surfaced in 1912. It is unique in its kind. A single example of each denomination appears on this small piece of copper 81 x 61 mm. Because of this rudimentary configuration, the stamps had to be printed individually.
Considered as an outstanding philatelic treasure, the plate enters around 1930 in the collection of Maurice Burrus but will not appear in his succession. The mystery is lifted in 2013 when the family finds it by chance in the inventory of a further deceased estate : a niece of the collector had kept it in his memory inside a small cover without ever imagining its inestimable value as a witness of the pioneering era of the postage stamp.
The plate is estimated in excess of € 2M for sale on December 1 in Geneva by David Feldman, lot 1. Here is the link to the website of the auction house. The image below is taken from the press kit. Please watch the video shared by David Feldman explaining in details this rediscovery.
1847-1853 Manuscript of the 2nd Symphony by Robert Schumann
1994 SOLD for £ 1.5M by Sotheby's
1848 The Presentation of the Porcelains to the Tsar
2009 SOLD 2.6 M£ including premium
Twice a year, at Easter and Christmas, the Imperial manufactories of porcelain and glassware offered to the Tsar the most prestigious pieces created in their workshops. Thus the Emperor Nicholas I furnished the private apartments of the Imperial Palace.
Financially, these gifts were offset by increasing orders from the Emperor for offering similar pieces to his allies in the ruling royal and ducal families of other countries. I have already had occasion to note in this group the role that gifting had for aristocratic cohesion at the Imperial court of Russia.
The pair of porcelain vases from St. Petersburg that Sotheby's is selling in London on June 10 is a technical feat. Dated 1848, 1.5 meters high, it is the largest format that has been done at that time by this factory.
These enormous vases are adorned with ring shaped reproductions of paintings from the collection of Catherine the Great, in this case two stables scenes of Philips Wouwerman.
Russians love the memories of the palace. The estimate also is imperial: £ 1.2 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was literally exploded, which is rare at such a price level. This confirms the exceptional nature of this pair of vases, sold £ 2.6 million including premium.
Financially, these gifts were offset by increasing orders from the Emperor for offering similar pieces to his allies in the ruling royal and ducal families of other countries. I have already had occasion to note in this group the role that gifting had for aristocratic cohesion at the Imperial court of Russia.
The pair of porcelain vases from St. Petersburg that Sotheby's is selling in London on June 10 is a technical feat. Dated 1848, 1.5 meters high, it is the largest format that has been done at that time by this factory.
These enormous vases are adorned with ring shaped reproductions of paintings from the collection of Catherine the Great, in this case two stables scenes of Philips Wouwerman.
Russians love the memories of the palace. The estimate also is imperial: £ 1.2 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was literally exploded, which is rare at such a price level. This confirms the exceptional nature of this pair of vases, sold £ 2.6 million including premium.
1849 Ingres in the Salon of Madame la Comtesse
2013 SOLD 1.93 M$ including premium
The comtesse Marie d'Agoult holds a Salon in the best tradition of the previous century, and her friends belong to the cultural elite: Balzac, George Sand. She bears three children to Liszt without her husband feeling too much offended. She writes under the pseudonym Daniel Stern.
The 1848 revolution can not keep her indifferent. Later, she will support the Republicans in opposition to the Second Empire. But the evolution of society will soon make these literary salons outdated and unnecessary.
In 1849, another revolution, this one in technology, is progressing : photography favors the portraits. Only an exceptional master may still claim to do better. For Marie, he will be Ingres.
Aged 69 and busy with other projects, Ingres accepts the commission from Marie and makes a large drawing, 48 x 40 cm, in pencil embellished with watercolor. His line is always realistic and his composition well proportioned. Marie and her daughter Claire aged 19 are posing in the living room.
The line of Ingres is perfect without being spontaneous. By a careful observation, the artist has found the attitudes that best express the complicity between mother and daughter.
The comtesse did not fail to comment with sympathy in her notebooks the intrusion of this exceptional man in her apartment. Ingres is fat and short, passionate, with an especially sharp gaze.
This nice drawing is estimated $ 1.5 million, for sale by Christie's in New York on January 31. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
The catalog was convincing about the exceptional qualities of this drawing, sold $ 1.93 million including premium.
The 1848 revolution can not keep her indifferent. Later, she will support the Republicans in opposition to the Second Empire. But the evolution of society will soon make these literary salons outdated and unnecessary.
In 1849, another revolution, this one in technology, is progressing : photography favors the portraits. Only an exceptional master may still claim to do better. For Marie, he will be Ingres.
Aged 69 and busy with other projects, Ingres accepts the commission from Marie and makes a large drawing, 48 x 40 cm, in pencil embellished with watercolor. His line is always realistic and his composition well proportioned. Marie and her daughter Claire aged 19 are posing in the living room.
The line of Ingres is perfect without being spontaneous. By a careful observation, the artist has found the attitudes that best express the complicity between mother and daughter.
The comtesse did not fail to comment with sympathy in her notebooks the intrusion of this exceptional man in her apartment. Ingres is fat and short, passionate, with an especially sharp gaze.
This nice drawing is estimated $ 1.5 million, for sale by Christie's in New York on January 31. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
The catalog was convincing about the exceptional qualities of this drawing, sold $ 1.93 million including premium.
