from Louis XVIII to Second Empire
See also : Ancient French painting Orientalism Orientalism 1850-1900 Horse Cats Silverware Time pieces French time pieces Clocks
Chronology : 1810-1819 1820-1829 1830-1839 1840-1849 1850-1859 1860-1869
Chronology : 1810-1819 1820-1829 1830-1839 1840-1849 1850-1859 1860-1869
1818 Portrait of the Dedreux Children by Géricault
2009 SOLD 9 M€ including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
A pupil of Carle Vernet and Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, Théodore Géricault wanted to express excessive emotions. He chose as themes the officers on horseback of the Napoleonic Wars and the muscular male nudes in the style of Michelangelo.
The fall of the Empire opens a new phase, which culminates in 1819 with The Raft of the Medusa, a monumental work without mercy which symbolizes the true destiny of men, in a heroism devoid of meaning and hope.
In his workshop of the rue des Martyrs, Géricault regularly meets other artists including Carle and Horace Vernet, Delacroix and Dedreux-Dorcy. He makes a few portraits of the two children of Dedreux-Dorcy's brother.
In 1818 Géricault is forced against his will to take an interest in children. He could not recognize the birth of his son Georges-Hippolyte, the result of his incest with the wife of his uncle and declared as the son of the housemaid born from an unknown father.
The portrait of Alfred and Elise Dedreux is an oil on canvas 99 x 79 cm painted in 1818. The boy is 8 years old and the girl two years younger. They resemble each other and are similarly hairstyled and dressed. The girl is standing, dominating this scene.
At that time Géricault sought to convert into a neo-classical style. The double portrait is chilling. The gazes of the children are uncompromising for this world of adults in which they do not enter. The landscape behind them is arbitrary and unidentifiable. Two small flowers fall from the hand of the girl who pays no attention to them. This picture is a double tronie, anticipating by its psychological stiffness the studies of mental patients of the later period of the artist.
The young Alfred was passionate about the images of horses painted by Géricault. He will specialize in this theme under the name of Alfred de Dreux, thus usurping a noble particle.
The portrait of the Dedreux children remained in Elise's family until 1925. From the Saint-Laurent - Bergé collection, it was sold for € 9M including premium by Christie's on February 23, 2009 over a lower estimate of € 4M, lot 83. It was bought in that sale by Liliane Bettencourt. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The fall of the Empire opens a new phase, which culminates in 1819 with The Raft of the Medusa, a monumental work without mercy which symbolizes the true destiny of men, in a heroism devoid of meaning and hope.
In his workshop of the rue des Martyrs, Géricault regularly meets other artists including Carle and Horace Vernet, Delacroix and Dedreux-Dorcy. He makes a few portraits of the two children of Dedreux-Dorcy's brother.
In 1818 Géricault is forced against his will to take an interest in children. He could not recognize the birth of his son Georges-Hippolyte, the result of his incest with the wife of his uncle and declared as the son of the housemaid born from an unknown father.
The portrait of Alfred and Elise Dedreux is an oil on canvas 99 x 79 cm painted in 1818. The boy is 8 years old and the girl two years younger. They resemble each other and are similarly hairstyled and dressed. The girl is standing, dominating this scene.
At that time Géricault sought to convert into a neo-classical style. The double portrait is chilling. The gazes of the children are uncompromising for this world of adults in which they do not enter. The landscape behind them is arbitrary and unidentifiable. Two small flowers fall from the hand of the girl who pays no attention to them. This picture is a double tronie, anticipating by its psychological stiffness the studies of mental patients of the later period of the artist.
The young Alfred was passionate about the images of horses painted by Géricault. He will specialize in this theme under the name of Alfred de Dreux, thus usurping a noble particle.
The portrait of the Dedreux children remained in Elise's family until 1925. From the Saint-Laurent - Bergé collection, it was sold for € 9M including premium by Christie's on February 23, 2009 over a lower estimate of € 4M, lot 83. It was bought in that sale by Liliane Bettencourt. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1820 Portrait of Ramel de Nogaret by David
2008 SOLD for $ 7.2M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1821-1824 The Table Service of the Grand Duchess of Baden
2008 SOLD 1.9 M$ including premium
The fall of Napoleon in 1815 did not immediately led to the end of the influence of the Bonaparte family and its allies in Europe. With 1 million inhabitants, the Duchy of Baden was governed by the Grand Duke, from the family of the former Electors of that German province, and his wife Stephanie de Beauharnais.
In parallel, the silversmith Odiot, who had provided regularly some silverware to the Imperials, continued to work after 1815 for this family scattered throughout Europe.
77 pieces of the table service provided by Odiot to the Grand Duchess through several orders between 1821 and 1824 have remained together, and constitute the lot 106 of the sale of Sotheby's in New York on November 6. The total weight of silver is 90 Kg
These pieces of silverware (a soup tureen weighing 9 kg, cups, salts, dishes and plates) are decorated with sirens, putti, grapes and laurels, according to models available in the catalog of Odiot since 1806. All parts are marked with the arms of the Grand Duchy of Baden.
The estimated price of this exceptional lot is $ 2 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
I consider this result as very good: $ 1.9 million including expenses. The lower estimate has not been reached, but it was not easy to predict the price of such a package.
In parallel, the silversmith Odiot, who had provided regularly some silverware to the Imperials, continued to work after 1815 for this family scattered throughout Europe.
77 pieces of the table service provided by Odiot to the Grand Duchess through several orders between 1821 and 1824 have remained together, and constitute the lot 106 of the sale of Sotheby's in New York on November 6. The total weight of silver is 90 Kg
These pieces of silverware (a soup tureen weighing 9 kg, cups, salts, dishes and plates) are decorated with sirens, putti, grapes and laurels, according to models available in the catalog of Odiot since 1806. All parts are marked with the arms of the Grand Duchy of Baden.
The estimated price of this exceptional lot is $ 2 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
I consider this result as very good: $ 1.9 million including expenses. The lower estimate has not been reached, but it was not easy to predict the price of such a package.
1830 The Sketch of Democracy
2017 SOLD for £ 3.1M including premium
Eugène Delacroix is ambitious. He wants his art to be a flagship of modernism. He uses as themes of history some contemporary events including the Greek war of Independence. Against the classicism of Ingres he offers the reinforcement of the emotion through bright colors. The sudden death of Géricault pushes him prematurely to the rank of leader of the romantic painting in France.
The path he chooses is difficult : without any figure of famous personality in the opposite of David and Gros, Delacroix will have to demonstrate his own genius to find patrons. The contemporaries do not like the dirt of his war characters. His realism anticipates Courbet.
In 1830 violent events also happen in Paris. The barricades of the Trois Glorieuses (three glorious days) transfer the French monarchy from the Bourbons to the Orléans. Delacroix had no reason to participate in this new revolution : both branches of the royal family were his clients.
Overcome in the usual competitions of that time on predetermined historical themes, Delacroix feels that he can be the first to express the heroic atmosphere of the Trois Glorieuses to please the new regime.
Already about the Greek war Delacroix had shown fighting and harmed people, and also a feminine Victory inspired by ancient art as a separate artwork. For the Trois Glorieuses he has the very innovative idea of mixing the two themes in a single heroic painting of very large size. He immediately begins to prepare drawings.
Success is mixed. Exhibited in 1831 at the Salon de Paris under the slightly bland title Scènes de Barricades, the oil painting 260 x 325 cm also known as 28 Juillet is bought by the king and then retracted by a minister after a few months with the very understandable excuse that it was an incitement to riot. Accepted by the Louvre at the beginning of the Troisième République, this Liberté guidant le peuple becomes the symbol of democracy.
On December 14 in London, Christie's sells a 64 x 85 cm canvas which is certainly the very first oil sketch made by Delacroix for his Liberté. It is estimated £ 700K, lot 8. Remaining traces of a change of orientation of the canvas allow to state that this painting is autograph. It is a precious testimony of the creative process for one of the most universally admired masterpieces of French art.
The path he chooses is difficult : without any figure of famous personality in the opposite of David and Gros, Delacroix will have to demonstrate his own genius to find patrons. The contemporaries do not like the dirt of his war characters. His realism anticipates Courbet.
In 1830 violent events also happen in Paris. The barricades of the Trois Glorieuses (three glorious days) transfer the French monarchy from the Bourbons to the Orléans. Delacroix had no reason to participate in this new revolution : both branches of the royal family were his clients.
Overcome in the usual competitions of that time on predetermined historical themes, Delacroix feels that he can be the first to express the heroic atmosphere of the Trois Glorieuses to please the new regime.
Already about the Greek war Delacroix had shown fighting and harmed people, and also a feminine Victory inspired by ancient art as a separate artwork. For the Trois Glorieuses he has the very innovative idea of mixing the two themes in a single heroic painting of very large size. He immediately begins to prepare drawings.
Success is mixed. Exhibited in 1831 at the Salon de Paris under the slightly bland title Scènes de Barricades, the oil painting 260 x 325 cm also known as 28 Juillet is bought by the king and then retracted by a minister after a few months with the very understandable excuse that it was an incitement to riot. Accepted by the Louvre at the beginning of the Troisième République, this Liberté guidant le peuple becomes the symbol of democracy.
On December 14 in London, Christie's sells a 64 x 85 cm canvas which is certainly the very first oil sketch made by Delacroix for his Liberté. It is estimated £ 700K, lot 8. Remaining traces of a change of orientation of the canvas allow to state that this painting is autograph. It is a precious testimony of the creative process for one of the most universally admired masterpieces of French art.
Our London #ClassicWeek highlights are on view and open to the public. Come see masterpieces at King Street, or find out more online: https://t.co/3xuZg6yb8j pic.twitter.com/gF2bDYmkDM
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) December 4, 2017
1833-1834 Choc de Cavaliers Arabes by Delacroix
1998 SOLD for FF 46.5M before fees by Piasa
1835 The Clock of the Duc d'Orléans
2012 SOLD 6.8 M$ including premium
The most extraordinary ancient timepiece that was recently sold at auction is the clock of the duc d'Orléans, reaching $ 5.8 million including premium at Sotheby's in New York on 2 December 1999. It is listed again on December 4 by the same auction house. Here is the link to the catalog.
In 1795, Abraham-Louis Breguet imagines the combination of a clock and a watch. This outstanding inventor manages later to achieve this stupendous set known as Breguet Sympathique.
After being used during the day, the watch is repositioned in a cradle at the top of the clock. At midnight, the clock triggers a mechanism that enters the watch, measures and rectifies the error. After a few days, the value of the error is integrated into the beat of the watch and its adjustment becomes automatic.
When Breguet died in 1823, five copies have been made. Only kings can afford to own such an expensive mechanism.
Being an extremely remote cousin of Charles X, Louis Philippe I becomes King of France after a revolution. His eldest son, the duc d'Orléans, is a brilliant prince who would like to live again in the luxury of the Ancien Régime. He commissions his sympathique clock to the Breguet workshop. It is completed in 1835.
Luxury adds to technical feat. 58 cm high, the piece is made in the imitation of Boulle style which is so fashionable in that time, in a cabinet by Bellangé and with Denière bronzes on a design by Questel.
The clock and the watch of this set have not been separated. Having been restored to operation by George Daniels, it provides an exceptional demonstration of one of the most advanced ideas of automatism.
POST SALE COMMENT
Again a great and deserved price for this fabulous clock: $ 6.8 million including premium.
In 1795, Abraham-Louis Breguet imagines the combination of a clock and a watch. This outstanding inventor manages later to achieve this stupendous set known as Breguet Sympathique.
After being used during the day, the watch is repositioned in a cradle at the top of the clock. At midnight, the clock triggers a mechanism that enters the watch, measures and rectifies the error. After a few days, the value of the error is integrated into the beat of the watch and its adjustment becomes automatic.
When Breguet died in 1823, five copies have been made. Only kings can afford to own such an expensive mechanism.
Being an extremely remote cousin of Charles X, Louis Philippe I becomes King of France after a revolution. His eldest son, the duc d'Orléans, is a brilliant prince who would like to live again in the luxury of the Ancien Régime. He commissions his sympathique clock to the Breguet workshop. It is completed in 1835.
Luxury adds to technical feat. 58 cm high, the piece is made in the imitation of Boulle style which is so fashionable in that time, in a cabinet by Bellangé and with Denière bronzes on a design by Questel.
The clock and the watch of this set have not been separated. Having been restored to operation by George Daniels, it provides an exceptional demonstration of one of the most advanced ideas of automatism.
POST SALE COMMENT
Again a great and deserved price for this fabulous clock: $ 6.8 million including premium.
1845 Corot above the Fireplace
2018 SOLD for $ 9M including premium
The trend in France is in the historical landscape. Corot is not someone complicated. He enjoys walking around, simply. Like the English tourists, he draws many sketches. Following the example of Michallon, he also paints outdoors in oil on canvas. These small size paintings are not intended for his trade but to provide inspiration for the background of his genre scenes.
Nobody is really convinced by the art of Corot until the young Baudelaire, in 1845, observes that the simplicity of his landscapes is not naive but is instead a supreme harmony. As a result Corot's art is forever unclassifiable, between classicism and modernism. Despite his pleasure in open-air painting, he cannot be considered as a forerunner of the Impressionnistes, in the opposite of Boudin and Courbet slightly later.
Throughout his life Corot has a lot of friends. He supplies paintings to a magistrate of Mantes whom he met from 1840 and decorates in his own hand the walls of the bathroom with Italian views.
Corot had visited Venice in 1828 and 1834. For the same friend he painted in 1845 an enlarged version in the format 48 x 82 cm of a view of the quay of the Schiavoni towards Santa Maria della Salute.
In 1957 this painting caught the attention of David Rockefeller. It is not a Canaletto : the animation is poor. It is not a Guardi : the sky is too blue. It is neither a Turner nor a Monet : the line is too sharp to offer an atmosphere. Despite the confusing perspective on the Piazzetta, it is not a wide-angle photo. The erroneous shadows of earlier versions of this image have fortunately been rectified.
This bright painting has two other qualities : it exudes a great serenity and its width is in harmony with the fireplace of the library in the country house at Hudson Pines. It superseded at this place a Jas de Bouffan by Cézanne of which Rockefeller was tired and was to remain there until his death. It is estimated $ 5M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 8, lot 4.
Nobody is really convinced by the art of Corot until the young Baudelaire, in 1845, observes that the simplicity of his landscapes is not naive but is instead a supreme harmony. As a result Corot's art is forever unclassifiable, between classicism and modernism. Despite his pleasure in open-air painting, he cannot be considered as a forerunner of the Impressionnistes, in the opposite of Boudin and Courbet slightly later.
Throughout his life Corot has a lot of friends. He supplies paintings to a magistrate of Mantes whom he met from 1840 and decorates in his own hand the walls of the bathroom with Italian views.
Corot had visited Venice in 1828 and 1834. For the same friend he painted in 1845 an enlarged version in the format 48 x 82 cm of a view of the quay of the Schiavoni towards Santa Maria della Salute.
In 1957 this painting caught the attention of David Rockefeller. It is not a Canaletto : the animation is poor. It is not a Guardi : the sky is too blue. It is neither a Turner nor a Monet : the line is too sharp to offer an atmosphere. Despite the confusing perspective on the Piazzetta, it is not a wide-angle photo. The erroneous shadows of earlier versions of this image have fortunately been rectified.
This bright painting has two other qualities : it exudes a great serenity and its width is in harmony with the fireplace of the library in the country house at Hudson Pines. It superseded at this place a Jas de Bouffan by Cézanne of which Rockefeller was tired and was to remain there until his death. It is estimated $ 5M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 8, lot 4.
Nous serons ouverts ce soir jusqu'à 19h30 pour vous permettre d'admirer les oeuvres de la collection #Rockefeller avant leur départ. Voici également une découverte en vidéo de l'exposition : https://t.co/AWyhGw672E pic.twitter.com/xHGDkuLfl0
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) March 21, 2018
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.
1855 The Parure by Bapst for Empress Eugénie
2014 SOLD for CHF 2.3M including premium
Eugénie de Montijo was a Spanish aristocrat educated in Paris. The new emperor Napoleon III married her in 1853. He was captivated by this young woman aged 27 who will lead the court by her elegance and majestic attitude and guide the fashion according to her taste.
Eugénie was one of the greatest users of jewelry of her time. She rushes to the Crown Jewels of France that had not been dispersed and selects some of them for assembling new pieces.
Alfred Bapst then recovers the role played by his ancestors who had been jewelers to the Crown. In 1855, Eugénie commissions to Bapst a parure (ornament set) that will remain one of the most prestigious jewelry of her reign.
The parure realized by Bapst is composed of three elements: a guirlande (necklace), a tour de corsage (turn-of-bodice) to wear on the dress and a devant-de-corsage (pin-to-bodice brooch). The motifs of currant leafs (feuilles de groseillier) are made by a paving of ancient-cut diamonds mounted in silver and gold.
After the fall of the Empire, Eugénie's jewels were auctioned. Many of them have been disassembled due to the market value of their individual gems. The Bapst groseillier brooch remained however as is. It is estimated CHF 1.9M for sale by Christie's in Geneva on November 11, lot 387. It is centered with a larger diamond and decorated with three hanging pampilles.
Eugénie was one of the greatest users of jewelry of her time. She rushes to the Crown Jewels of France that had not been dispersed and selects some of them for assembling new pieces.
Alfred Bapst then recovers the role played by his ancestors who had been jewelers to the Crown. In 1855, Eugénie commissions to Bapst a parure (ornament set) that will remain one of the most prestigious jewelry of her reign.
The parure realized by Bapst is composed of three elements: a guirlande (necklace), a tour de corsage (turn-of-bodice) to wear on the dress and a devant-de-corsage (pin-to-bodice brooch). The motifs of currant leafs (feuilles de groseillier) are made by a paving of ancient-cut diamonds mounted in silver and gold.
After the fall of the Empire, Eugénie's jewels were auctioned. Many of them have been disassembled due to the market value of their individual gems. The Bapst groseillier brooch remained however as is. It is estimated CHF 1.9M for sale by Christie's in Geneva on November 11, lot 387. It is centered with a larger diamond and decorated with three hanging pampilles.
1862 The Darings of Courbet
2015 SOLD for $ 15.3M including premium
Gustave Courbet was a socialist in the following of the workers' movement of Proudhon. His conception of realism is ideological: the ordinary man and woman can be shown in art without being beautiful or even clean.
He is provocative. Taking the format of an epic painting on a large size, 315 x 668 cm, L'Enterrement à Ornans makes a scandal in 1850. Proudhon is delighted.
The second empire, decreed in 1852, marks the return in France of a prudish censorship that sends its policemen against a pornography now facilitated by photography. For the artists opponent to the regime of Napoléon III, the nude becomes a challenge.
The deliberate ugliness enters the theme of the nude in 1853 with Les Baigneuses by Courbet. Even Ingres, yet close to the government, is interested in this new approach. His Bain Turc, on which he worked for ten years, is an unprecedented erotic accumulation that takes Orientalism as an excuse to avoid reprisals.
On November 9 in New York, Christie's sells a Femme nue couchée, oil on canvas 75 x 97 cm painted by Courbet in 1862, lot 10A estimated $ 15M.
The woman viewed in full length is reclining on a bed, her head turned in a rest position, looking like some replica of the Venus of Urbino but without the discreet hand. Her offering attitude and the half undone stocking reveal that a sexual activity was just completed. The provocation of the picture is increased by a surrounding in romanticist style with a curtain and a landscape.
Such women by Courbet represent a milestone in modern French painting. On one hand, new private customers invite Courbet to even more daring pictures. On the other hand, Manet does not hesitate to confront the scandal with Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe and Olympia.
He is provocative. Taking the format of an epic painting on a large size, 315 x 668 cm, L'Enterrement à Ornans makes a scandal in 1850. Proudhon is delighted.
The second empire, decreed in 1852, marks the return in France of a prudish censorship that sends its policemen against a pornography now facilitated by photography. For the artists opponent to the regime of Napoléon III, the nude becomes a challenge.
The deliberate ugliness enters the theme of the nude in 1853 with Les Baigneuses by Courbet. Even Ingres, yet close to the government, is interested in this new approach. His Bain Turc, on which he worked for ten years, is an unprecedented erotic accumulation that takes Orientalism as an excuse to avoid reprisals.
On November 9 in New York, Christie's sells a Femme nue couchée, oil on canvas 75 x 97 cm painted by Courbet in 1862, lot 10A estimated $ 15M.
The woman viewed in full length is reclining on a bed, her head turned in a rest position, looking like some replica of the Venus of Urbino but without the discreet hand. Her offering attitude and the half undone stocking reveal that a sexual activity was just completed. The provocation of the picture is increased by a surrounding in romanticist style with a curtain and a landscape.
Such women by Courbet represent a milestone in modern French painting. On one hand, new private customers invite Courbet to even more daring pictures. On the other hand, Manet does not hesitate to confront the scandal with Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe and Olympia.
The #GustaveCourbet settles just within estimate for a final of $15,285,000 @ChristiesInc pic.twitter.com/EeCHeSopZi
— Art Observed (@ArtObserved) November 10, 20151862 Portrait of the Artist as an Old Tiger
2018 SOLD for $ 9.9M including premium
Eugène Delacroix is the romanticist interpreter of violent passions. His allegories do not call for realism. He fascinates his contemporaries with his mastery of colors and his exotic scenes are spectacular.
The artist appreciates that passion is not a human exclusivity and he loves the powerful savagery of tigers and lions. A great admirer of Rubens, he is inspired by the whirlwind of his hunting scenes.
An artist needs real models, although Dürer's rhinoceros is a wonderful exception. Géricault is passionate about horses and Raden Saleh remembers big game hunting. For his tigers and lions, Delacroix looks at his pet cat and at stuffed animals in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. Fortunately the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes hosts a tiger from 1847.
In 1862 the artist feels old and tired. The tiger remained his emblem and his friends flatter him by comparing his behavior with the anthropocentric emotions attributed to this animal. Delacroix imagines confrontations with reptiles. Facing the threat of the snake, the big cat no longer knows how he can still win.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells Tigre jouant avec une tortue, oil on canvas 45 x 62 cm painted in 1862, lot 3 estimated $ 5M.
As ever the animal behavior is fanciful. A fully grown tiger no longer plays because game is used by cubs to train in hunting. This one with a paw on the tortoise is stopping as if he waited some advice. The tortoise disturbed and threatened by the predator omitted to close its shell.
The artist appreciates that passion is not a human exclusivity and he loves the powerful savagery of tigers and lions. A great admirer of Rubens, he is inspired by the whirlwind of his hunting scenes.
An artist needs real models, although Dürer's rhinoceros is a wonderful exception. Géricault is passionate about horses and Raden Saleh remembers big game hunting. For his tigers and lions, Delacroix looks at his pet cat and at stuffed animals in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. Fortunately the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes hosts a tiger from 1847.
In 1862 the artist feels old and tired. The tiger remained his emblem and his friends flatter him by comparing his behavior with the anthropocentric emotions attributed to this animal. Delacroix imagines confrontations with reptiles. Facing the threat of the snake, the big cat no longer knows how he can still win.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells Tigre jouant avec une tortue, oil on canvas 45 x 62 cm painted in 1862, lot 3 estimated $ 5M.
As ever the animal behavior is fanciful. A fully grown tiger no longer plays because game is used by cubs to train in hunting. This one with a paw on the tortoise is stopping as if he waited some advice. The tortoise disturbed and threatened by the predator omitted to close its shell.
François de Ricqlès, President of Christie’s France, explains how this exceptional Romantic work that ‘marks the beginning of modernity’ also speaks to the Rockefeller family’s long and mutually admiring relationship with France. Check it out here: https://t.co/8QpCJrNHVH pic.twitter.com/alUUMid0bs
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) March 25, 2018
1870 Gérôme in the Desert
2019 SOLD for £ 3.14M including premium
Jean-Léon Gérôme was a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts since 1864 and a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts since 1865. He specialized in the historical painting fashionable under the Second Empire. He worked in his studio from his own sketches and appreciated photography as a source of truth.
Gérôme is also a tourist passionate about Greece, Turkey and Egypt. In 1868 with a small group of artists, he makes a long excursion in the desert, crossing the Sinai to the Gulf of Aqaba. His brother-in-law Albert Goupil is the photographer of this small expedition. In 1869 Gérôme is part of a delegation that attends the inauguration of the Suez Canal.
Gérôme's paintings interpret the arid sands and the overwhelming heat, an achievement that the black and white photography of the period could not do. As with the historical themes, the characters are stereotyped or picturesque.
On October 22 in London, Sotheby's sells a scene of riders crossing the desert, oil on panel 41 x 56 cm painted in 1870, lot 14 estimated £ 3M. This image was edited in photogravure by Goupil in 1878.
The foreground features three horsemen moving away from the dunes. The bearded old man is certainly the leader. The realistic image is also highlighting the famous beauty of the Arabian horses.
The scene is completed in the background by characters on foot or camel de-focused by the sand dust. All go in the same direction, bringing the dynamic impression of a coordinated movement. They are quiet but some wear a sword. The darker blue almost indistinguishable in the distance is probably Aqaba.
Gérôme cannot restrain himself from adding the tragedy. With a horse dying of overheat in a scenery similar to the example above, a rider in the desert, oil on canvas 60 x 101 painted in 1872, was sold for £ 1.15M including premium by Sotheby's on April 30, 2019.
Gérôme is also a tourist passionate about Greece, Turkey and Egypt. In 1868 with a small group of artists, he makes a long excursion in the desert, crossing the Sinai to the Gulf of Aqaba. His brother-in-law Albert Goupil is the photographer of this small expedition. In 1869 Gérôme is part of a delegation that attends the inauguration of the Suez Canal.
Gérôme's paintings interpret the arid sands and the overwhelming heat, an achievement that the black and white photography of the period could not do. As with the historical themes, the characters are stereotyped or picturesque.
On October 22 in London, Sotheby's sells a scene of riders crossing the desert, oil on panel 41 x 56 cm painted in 1870, lot 14 estimated £ 3M. This image was edited in photogravure by Goupil in 1878.
The foreground features three horsemen moving away from the dunes. The bearded old man is certainly the leader. The realistic image is also highlighting the famous beauty of the Arabian horses.
The scene is completed in the background by characters on foot or camel de-focused by the sand dust. All go in the same direction, bringing the dynamic impression of a coordinated movement. They are quiet but some wear a sword. The darker blue almost indistinguishable in the distance is probably Aqaba.
Gérôme cannot restrain himself from adding the tragedy. With a horse dying of overheat in a scenery similar to the example above, a rider in the desert, oil on canvas 60 x 101 painted in 1872, was sold for £ 1.15M including premium by Sotheby's on April 30, 2019.
سوذبيز @Sothebys تعرض 40 عملاً فنياً، في 22 اكتوبر، من لوحات المستشرقين لتاريخ العالم الإسلامي مُجسدةً كل جانب من جوانب الحياة في المنطقة بتفاصيل تقنية متميزة.
— يوسف الحربي (@yousifalharbi) September 6, 2019
*لوحة راكبي الخيل في مصر قدرت بـ6 مليون دولار للفنان الفرنسي جان ليون جيروم pic.twitter.com/KS1O1ItMDl
1870 Courbet on Seaside
2013 SOLD 3.75 M$ including premium
Gustave Courbet occupies a key position in the evolution of French painting, between romanticism and impressionism. Opposed to all social conventions, he claims freedom.
In his career, he is the contemporary and the opposite of Corot. Corot likes to seduce and Courbet loves to shock. Corot maintains an extensive customer base, but for whom is Courbet working ?
Photography disrupts the graphic arts. After Delacroix, Courbet uses it. The style of the painter must go further, be more emotional than the simple optical imaging. In 1865, his art influences a younger artist named Claude Monet who is willing to promote plein air painting.
Is it a coincidence ? Monet grew up in Le Havre and Courbet, suddenly, looks at Etretat, the most beautiful site of cliffs in the Pays de Caux, and at the raging waves of the Channel. Courbet's painting is then soaked in the sun and becomes clear and bright.
On November 6 in New York, Sotheby's sells a view of Etretat painted by Courbet in 1870. This oil on canvas estimated $ 2M is shown in the press release shared by ArtDaily .
From an artistic point of view, Courbet had the capacity to become the leader of the new French painting. His appetite for a social revolution sent him into exile in 1871 after his controversial attitude during the Paris Commune.
The size of this painting is 65 x 81 cm.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good price for this interesting pre-Impressionist landscape: $ 3.75 million including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
In his career, he is the contemporary and the opposite of Corot. Corot likes to seduce and Courbet loves to shock. Corot maintains an extensive customer base, but for whom is Courbet working ?
Photography disrupts the graphic arts. After Delacroix, Courbet uses it. The style of the painter must go further, be more emotional than the simple optical imaging. In 1865, his art influences a younger artist named Claude Monet who is willing to promote plein air painting.
Is it a coincidence ? Monet grew up in Le Havre and Courbet, suddenly, looks at Etretat, the most beautiful site of cliffs in the Pays de Caux, and at the raging waves of the Channel. Courbet's painting is then soaked in the sun and becomes clear and bright.
On November 6 in New York, Sotheby's sells a view of Etretat painted by Courbet in 1870. This oil on canvas estimated $ 2M is shown in the press release shared by ArtDaily .
From an artistic point of view, Courbet had the capacity to become the leader of the new French painting. His appetite for a social revolution sent him into exile in 1871 after his controversial attitude during the Paris Commune.
The size of this painting is 65 x 81 cm.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good price for this interesting pre-Impressionist landscape: $ 3.75 million including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
