Madonna and Child
See also : Christianity Renaissance Ancient painting Italian painting 1300-1700 18th century painting Flemish art Ancient Germany
Chronology : 1150-1300 14th century 15th century 1460-1479 1480-1499 16th century 1500-1519 1520-1539 1540-1569 1570-1599 1610-1619 1730-1739
Chronology : 1150-1300 14th century 15th century 1460-1479 1480-1499 16th century 1500-1519 1520-1539 1540-1569 1570-1599 1610-1619 1730-1739
1250-1280 The Enthroned Virgin and Child
2011 SOLD 6.3 M€ including premium
Predominantly or even exclusively Christian, French Gothic art has created masterpieces. For sale on November 16 at Christie's in Paris, an ivory group of Virgin and Child is announced with a very open estimate of € 1 to 2 million, the first indication that this piece is of exceptional quality and rarity.
Carefully carved around 1250 to 1280, it is an exquisite work, 38 cm high. Seated on a throne and crowned, the mother holds the child on her lap, and an apple in her right hand. The young child with an abundant curly hair has a realistic face, which is a rare feature in medieval art. The ivory has acquired a nice patina. Here is the link to the catalog.
This work has much in common with the Virgin and Child from the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, dating from the reign of Louis IX (St. Louis) and now in the Louvre. Traditionally, the group for sale originated in a Provençal monastery. The link between Paris and the Mediterranea was strong in that reign as Queen Marguerite was the daughter of the comte de Provence.
The ancient pieces often have a history. The child's head, which had belonged to a separate collection, was adjusted again on the group in 1883.
POST SALE COMMENT
The price of real masterpieces can hardly be anticipated. This ivory statuette was sold € 6.3 million including premium.
Carefully carved around 1250 to 1280, it is an exquisite work, 38 cm high. Seated on a throne and crowned, the mother holds the child on her lap, and an apple in her right hand. The young child with an abundant curly hair has a realistic face, which is a rare feature in medieval art. The ivory has acquired a nice patina. Here is the link to the catalog.
This work has much in common with the Virgin and Child from the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, dating from the reign of Louis IX (St. Louis) and now in the Louvre. Traditionally, the group for sale originated in a Provençal monastery. The link between Paris and the Mediterranea was strong in that reign as Queen Marguerite was the daughter of the comte de Provence.
The ancient pieces often have a history. The child's head, which had belonged to a separate collection, was adjusted again on the group in 1883.
POST SALE COMMENT
The price of real masterpieces can hardly be anticipated. This ivory statuette was sold € 6.3 million including premium.
1350 Gothic Realism
2019 SOLD for € 6.2M including premium
Prince Wenceslas, heir to the kingdom of Bohemia and godson of King Charles IV of France, is in Paris from 1323 to 1330. It is the time of the first great Parisian illuminator, Jean Pucelle. Back in Prague, Wenceslas frequently exercises the regency for his father the King Knight John the Blind, to whom he succeeds in 1346 as Charles IV. He will be the first prince of the Luxemburg dynasty to become emperor, in 1355.
In the West the Hundred Years War breaks out in 1337. This international conflict aggravated by the risk of schism between Avignon and Rome is a very good opportunity for Charles IV to make Prague one of the most important cities in Europe, seat of an archdiocese from 1344.
Charles first rebuilds the cathedral. In the year 1348 altogether, he creates the first Germanic university in Prague, launches a major urban plan to modernize his capital and has the imperial castle of Karlstein built for his personal use.
This activity attracts artists from all over Europe. Most remained anonymous, with the exception of Master Theodoric who is the appointed painter of Charles IV throughout his reign. An important group of paintings made by this master for the Karlstein chapel has been preserved.
The paintings on wood from the reign of Charles IV are often made in very small formats, with an obvious search for humanism in the princely portraits and in the spontaneity of the attitudes. The minutia of the line shows that these painters were also illuminators.
An egg tempera 22 x 20 cm on wood 14 mm thick has just surfaced. This enthroned Madonna and Child is in the style of Bohemia, small and precious. The Child is dressed in a light tunic. His actions are innocent. The fingers of one hand grip his foot while the other hand gently holds the thumb of the mother. Their gazes communicate.
This scene is currently surrounded by a black paint dotted with paper stars, probably made in the nineteenth century. An X-ray inspection revealed that the original design was a vast architectural pattern in line with the ostentatious aims of Charles IV's art.
The experts recognized a similarity in the refinement of this painting with the restricted corpus of an anonymous artist designated as the Master of Vissy Brod, active in Bohemia around 1350.
It is estimated € 400K for sale by Cortot in Dijon on November 30, lot 52. Please watch the video shared by Artcento.
In the West the Hundred Years War breaks out in 1337. This international conflict aggravated by the risk of schism between Avignon and Rome is a very good opportunity for Charles IV to make Prague one of the most important cities in Europe, seat of an archdiocese from 1344.
Charles first rebuilds the cathedral. In the year 1348 altogether, he creates the first Germanic university in Prague, launches a major urban plan to modernize his capital and has the imperial castle of Karlstein built for his personal use.
This activity attracts artists from all over Europe. Most remained anonymous, with the exception of Master Theodoric who is the appointed painter of Charles IV throughout his reign. An important group of paintings made by this master for the Karlstein chapel has been preserved.
The paintings on wood from the reign of Charles IV are often made in very small formats, with an obvious search for humanism in the princely portraits and in the spontaneity of the attitudes. The minutia of the line shows that these painters were also illuminators.
An egg tempera 22 x 20 cm on wood 14 mm thick has just surfaced. This enthroned Madonna and Child is in the style of Bohemia, small and precious. The Child is dressed in a light tunic. His actions are innocent. The fingers of one hand grip his foot while the other hand gently holds the thumb of the mother. Their gazes communicate.
This scene is currently surrounded by a black paint dotted with paper stars, probably made in the nineteenth century. An X-ray inspection revealed that the original design was a vast architectural pattern in line with the ostentatious aims of Charles IV's art.
The experts recognized a similarity in the refinement of this painting with the restricted corpus of an anonymous artist designated as the Master of Vissy Brod, active in Bohemia around 1350.
It is estimated € 400K for sale by Cortot in Dijon on November 30, lot 52. Please watch the video shared by Artcento.
Une peinture primitive exceptionnelle a été découverte dans une maison dijonnaise. Attribuée au Maître de Vissy Brod, un peintre anonyme de la Bohème médiévale actif autour de 1350, elle est estimée à plus de 400 000 euros. https://t.co/gm20gTjCfu
— Interencheres (@interencheres) November 20, 2019
early 1470s Unveiling a Renaissance Virgin and Child
2017 SOLD for $ 9M including premium
On April 27 in New York, Christie's sells a panel 111 x 125 cm composed as a triptych in Renaissance style, lot 8 estimated $ 3M. At first glance the piece is shocking : it is an oil painting with the exception of the drawings of the Virgin and Child in the central part and of one of the two characters of saints in the left wing.
The great collector Horace Walpole had acquired it for 80 guineas in 1752 in an auction, as a scene of the marriage of Henry VII with Elizabeth of York in 1486. A difference in technique between the characters and the architectural elements suggests that the composition is hybrid but Walpole is very proud to possess this painting considered as typically Tudor. The provenance is known : it had belonged to William Sykes half a century earlier.
It is exhibited in 1890. An acute observer tells in the Gazette des Beaux Arts that he perceives a classic Virgin and Child through the central part which is a church interior without figures.
The work was acquired in 1977 by the art dealer Edward Speelman. Convinced that only the architectural elements and three of the four saints were contemporaries of the Flemish Renaissance, he entrusted the restoration to the specialist David Bull of the Norton Simon Museum.
In a patient work that spans almost ten years, Bull removes with his knife the 18th century paintings, certainly made by or for Sykes who had a reputation as a faker and knew how to transform works when it pleased his clients. Bull's work brings to light a superb drawing of the Virgin and Child in the central part, supersedes Elizabeth of York with an ill-preserved drawing of St John the Baptist and restitutes to the false Tudor the attributes of St. Louis.
The expertise continued. Radiographic inspection and infrared reflectography demonstrate that the quality of the under-drawing is homogeneous throughout the surface. All the composite elements resulting from the painstaking work of Bull come from a Renaissance work. The beauty of drawing, painting and colors indicates that this panel is the autograph work of a master.
The comparison of expressive details, such as the face of the Virgin or the study of feet, with works indisputably attributed to Hugo van der Goes is convincing and a dating in the early 1470s is consistent with the dendrochronology of the panel. Hugo was a perfectionist until he fell into madness. He worked in Ghent where he admired the polyptych painted half a century earlier by the van Eyck brothers for the altar of St. Bavon's cathedral.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
The great collector Horace Walpole had acquired it for 80 guineas in 1752 in an auction, as a scene of the marriage of Henry VII with Elizabeth of York in 1486. A difference in technique between the characters and the architectural elements suggests that the composition is hybrid but Walpole is very proud to possess this painting considered as typically Tudor. The provenance is known : it had belonged to William Sykes half a century earlier.
It is exhibited in 1890. An acute observer tells in the Gazette des Beaux Arts that he perceives a classic Virgin and Child through the central part which is a church interior without figures.
The work was acquired in 1977 by the art dealer Edward Speelman. Convinced that only the architectural elements and three of the four saints were contemporaries of the Flemish Renaissance, he entrusted the restoration to the specialist David Bull of the Norton Simon Museum.
In a patient work that spans almost ten years, Bull removes with his knife the 18th century paintings, certainly made by or for Sykes who had a reputation as a faker and knew how to transform works when it pleased his clients. Bull's work brings to light a superb drawing of the Virgin and Child in the central part, supersedes Elizabeth of York with an ill-preserved drawing of St John the Baptist and restitutes to the false Tudor the attributes of St. Louis.
The expertise continued. Radiographic inspection and infrared reflectography demonstrate that the quality of the under-drawing is homogeneous throughout the surface. All the composite elements resulting from the painstaking work of Bull come from a Renaissance work. The beauty of drawing, painting and colors indicates that this panel is the autograph work of a master.
The comparison of expressive details, such as the face of the Virgin or the study of feet, with works indisputably attributed to Hugo van der Goes is convincing and a dating in the early 1470s is consistent with the dendrochronology of the panel. Hugo was a perfectionist until he fell into madness. He worked in Ghent where he admired the polyptych painted half a century earlier by the van Eyck brothers for the altar of St. Bavon's cathedral.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
#Masterpiece : un tableau rare de Hugo Van der Goes fait partie de la vente Old Master Paintings chez @ChristiesInc à New-York le 27 avril pic.twitter.com/tOVgTLUZgW
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) March 13, 2017
1493-1495 The Florentine Grace of Sandro Botticelli
2013 SOLD 10.5 M$ including premium
Sandro Botticelli is an empathetic artist. His art will never be outdated. Like Praxiteles and Picasso, he was able to take as a model the most beautiful woman in the world.
Botticelli's life is poorly documented, but his passion for his city, Florence, is the thread.
On January 30 in New York, Christie's sells a Madonna and Child with the young St John. This tempera on panel is estimated $ 5M. Waiting for the catalog, here is the link to the articleshared by Artdaily when this painting was offered for sale at Maastricht in 2010. Of small size, 48 x 38 cm, it was designed for private devotion.
Botticelli's art is not narrative. The scene is by evidence located in Florence, and is not a Biblical story. The presence of John is only meaning that he is the patron saint of Florence. The three characters are graceful and communicate together with ardor. The faces are beautiful.
This work is dated around 1493-1495, the period of transition between the principate of Lorenzo de' Medici and the theocracy of Savonarola. The legend that he had himself brought his secular works in the Bonfire of the Vanities is not confirmed by Vasari, but it seems certain that his career as an artist became difficult afterwards.
POST SALE COMMENT
This small painting typical of the emotional art of Botticelli was sold $ 10.5 million including premium.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Botticelli's life is poorly documented, but his passion for his city, Florence, is the thread.
On January 30 in New York, Christie's sells a Madonna and Child with the young St John. This tempera on panel is estimated $ 5M. Waiting for the catalog, here is the link to the articleshared by Artdaily when this painting was offered for sale at Maastricht in 2010. Of small size, 48 x 38 cm, it was designed for private devotion.
Botticelli's art is not narrative. The scene is by evidence located in Florence, and is not a Biblical story. The presence of John is only meaning that he is the patron saint of Florence. The three characters are graceful and communicate together with ardor. The faces are beautiful.
This work is dated around 1493-1495, the period of transition between the principate of Lorenzo de' Medici and the theocracy of Savonarola. The legend that he had himself brought his secular works in the Bonfire of the Vanities is not confirmed by Vasari, but it seems certain that his career as an artist became difficult afterwards.
POST SALE COMMENT
This small painting typical of the emotional art of Botticelli was sold $ 10.5 million including premium.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
mid 1490s Virgin and Child at the Time of Savonarola
2013 SOLD 13 M$ including premium
On January 30 in New York, Christie's sells a small tondo by Fra Bartolommeo, on the subject of Virgin and Child. Still remaining in its original frame, this oil on panel is estimated $ 10M. It is a recent discovery.
The likely date proposed by the auction house, the mid-1490s, is the era of the iconoclastic dictatorship of Savonarola, the preacher of repentance.
The relationship between art and Christianity were already an intense concern in Florence at the end of the glorious principate of Lorenzo de' Medici. The dying Lorenzo had doubts about the merits of his work, and chose (but unsuccessfully) Savonarola as his last confessor.
Savonarola, whose memory of his bonfires horrifies the art lovers of today, was chasing the vanities. Botticelli's mythological works have sunk therein. But he did not reject art when it glorified the Christian virtues.
Baccio della Porta, born in 1472, is a young artist whose skills are already recognized. Becoming an avid follower of Savonarola, he directs his art in accordance with the theocratic vision of his guru of whom he will also execute a very famous portrait.
It was only in 1500, when Baccio became the Dominican friar Fra Bartolomeo (or Fra Bartolommeo), that he will abandon his activity as an artist for a long period, before brilliantly resuming his brushes at the time of Raphael.
The tondo for sale is a very charming example of Christian art. The naked child rises to the mother's neck for a kiss. Empathy is intense between mother and child. The tondo format, as circular as a halo, contributes to the perfection of this nicely composed image.
POST SALE COMMENT
Deserved result for this very attractive painting by Fra Bartolommeo: $ 13M including premium.
Size of the tondo : 65 cm diameter.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The likely date proposed by the auction house, the mid-1490s, is the era of the iconoclastic dictatorship of Savonarola, the preacher of repentance.
The relationship between art and Christianity were already an intense concern in Florence at the end of the glorious principate of Lorenzo de' Medici. The dying Lorenzo had doubts about the merits of his work, and chose (but unsuccessfully) Savonarola as his last confessor.
Savonarola, whose memory of his bonfires horrifies the art lovers of today, was chasing the vanities. Botticelli's mythological works have sunk therein. But he did not reject art when it glorified the Christian virtues.
Baccio della Porta, born in 1472, is a young artist whose skills are already recognized. Becoming an avid follower of Savonarola, he directs his art in accordance with the theocratic vision of his guru of whom he will also execute a very famous portrait.
It was only in 1500, when Baccio became the Dominican friar Fra Bartolomeo (or Fra Bartolommeo), that he will abandon his activity as an artist for a long period, before brilliantly resuming his brushes at the time of Raphael.
The tondo for sale is a very charming example of Christian art. The naked child rises to the mother's neck for a kiss. Empathy is intense between mother and child. The tondo format, as circular as a halo, contributes to the perfection of this nicely composed image.
POST SALE COMMENT
Deserved result for this very attractive painting by Fra Bartolommeo: $ 13M including premium.
Size of the tondo : 65 cm diameter.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
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1511 The Altarpiece of a Saxon Donor
2012 SOLD 4.3 M£ including premium
On July 4 in London, Sotheby's sells a set of five oil paintings assembled into a folding triptych. The origin is known: these paintings were done shortly after the death in 1511 of a wealthy Saxon named Jobst von Feilitzsch to adorn the altar of his private chapel, and were kept in the family during four centuries and a half.
The central panel, 88 x72 cm, shows St. Anne with the Virgin and Child. The external and internal panels of the wings, 91 x 33 cm, are showing saints along with a postmortem portrait of the donor.
These portraits are beautiful. All these characters have a strong psychological dimension, as we perfectly appreciate when revealing the artist: Lucas Cranach the elder, himself, perhaps without the participation of his studio. At that time, the master had doubtless already assimilated the influence of Raphael.
The arrangement of these five works in a folding triptych seems natural, yet it is unclear what was the original presentation. In the seventeenth century, they had been reframed as a single row. It is remarkable that they were never separated. The set is estimated £ 4M, lot 7.
The images of the five panels are shared by Wikimedia.
POST SALE COMMENT
Atypical lots are difficult to sell. Sold £ 4.3M including premium, this one remained just below its lower estimate.
I invite you to play the video in which Sotheby's has grouped this lot with a painting by Hans Baldung Grien.
Baldung Grien's painting presented in this video was sold £ 2.1 million including premium.
The images of the five panels are shared by Wikimedia.
LATER COMMENT
The set was separated. The internal wings of the altarpiece have been sold together for $ 1.22M including premium by Sotheby's in New York on January 29, 2020 from a lower estimate of $ 1M, lot 5.
The central panel, 88 x72 cm, shows St. Anne with the Virgin and Child. The external and internal panels of the wings, 91 x 33 cm, are showing saints along with a postmortem portrait of the donor.
These portraits are beautiful. All these characters have a strong psychological dimension, as we perfectly appreciate when revealing the artist: Lucas Cranach the elder, himself, perhaps without the participation of his studio. At that time, the master had doubtless already assimilated the influence of Raphael.
The arrangement of these five works in a folding triptych seems natural, yet it is unclear what was the original presentation. In the seventeenth century, they had been reframed as a single row. It is remarkable that they were never separated. The set is estimated £ 4M, lot 7.
The images of the five panels are shared by Wikimedia.
POST SALE COMMENT
Atypical lots are difficult to sell. Sold £ 4.3M including premium, this one remained just below its lower estimate.
I invite you to play the video in which Sotheby's has grouped this lot with a painting by Hans Baldung Grien.
Baldung Grien's painting presented in this video was sold £ 2.1 million including premium.
The images of the five panels are shared by Wikimedia.
LATER COMMENT
The set was separated. The internal wings of the altarpiece have been sold together for $ 1.22M including premium by Sotheby's in New York on January 29, 2020 from a lower estimate of $ 1M, lot 5.
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1515-1519 The Holy Family by Gerard David
2018 SOLD for £ 4.8M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
A Dutch native, Gerard David spent his entire career in Bruges. His art is almost exclusively religious. He does not sign his works but they form a coherent corpus, which evolves over four decades from the primitivism inspired by the schools of Bruges and Ghent to the integration of the new conceptions of painting of the school of Antwerp.
He is the last major artist from Bruges. In 1515 he was most probably the artist who joined the guild of painters in Antwerp under the name of Meester Gheraert van Brugghe. His workshop remains in Bruges but a new period opens for technique and themes. A legal conflict in 1519 with one of his assistants seems to mark the terminus ante quem of his major works.
The Holy Family, oil on panel 41 x 33 cm, is typical of his period under the influence of Antwerp. The family group is shown in a close framing. The cheek-to-cheek attitude of the mother and child is tender and natural. The drawing is realistic and well proportioned, the painting is as soft as a sfumato. The dendrochronology gives a terminus post quem in 1511. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The future drama of the Child is symbolized in an unusual way, by apples. He is holding a fresh apple in his hand while Saint Joseph brings two rotten apples on the lid of a bowl. A composition in a very similar style, the Virgin and Child with milk soup, includes also a fresh apple, on the table next to the bread.
The Holy Family was sold for $ 1M including premium by Christie's on January 24, 2003. As often with old painting, it was disadvantaged by a yellow varnish. Its restoration has brought back the splendid colors as well as the transparency of the veil, in an excellent state of conservation. It was sold for £ 4.8M including premium by Christie's on July 5, 2018, lot 31.
He is the last major artist from Bruges. In 1515 he was most probably the artist who joined the guild of painters in Antwerp under the name of Meester Gheraert van Brugghe. His workshop remains in Bruges but a new period opens for technique and themes. A legal conflict in 1519 with one of his assistants seems to mark the terminus ante quem of his major works.
The Holy Family, oil on panel 41 x 33 cm, is typical of his period under the influence of Antwerp. The family group is shown in a close framing. The cheek-to-cheek attitude of the mother and child is tender and natural. The drawing is realistic and well proportioned, the painting is as soft as a sfumato. The dendrochronology gives a terminus post quem in 1511. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The future drama of the Child is symbolized in an unusual way, by apples. He is holding a fresh apple in his hand while Saint Joseph brings two rotten apples on the lid of a bowl. A composition in a very similar style, the Virgin and Child with milk soup, includes also a fresh apple, on the table next to the bread.
The Holy Family was sold for $ 1M including premium by Christie's on January 24, 2003. As often with old painting, it was disadvantaged by a yellow varnish. Its restoration has brought back the splendid colors as well as the transparency of the veil, in an excellent state of conservation. It was sold for £ 4.8M including premium by Christie's on July 5, 2018, lot 31.
1520 Virgin and Child by Gossaert
2015 SOLD for £ 4.6M including premium by Sotheby's
1560 Quiet Mysticism of Titian
2011 SOLD 16.9 M$ including premium
In the later Renaissance, it is difficult to imagine a more complete painter than Titian. His great mythological or religious scenes offer the full range of psychological expression from violence to peace.
At the end of his life, his creativity is much alive, but he has nothing more to prove to increase his fame. Painter of sensuality and characters, he became the painter of the passions.
Circa 1560, he painted A Sacra Conversazione, also known as the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine. We really catch the intelligence being transferred between the Child Jesus, held by his mother, and Catherine of Alexandria. The Child is active and friendly, Catherine is serious and focused, the Madonna encourages the movement of Jesus. St Luke, standing, is carefully watching.
This large painting on canvas, 128 x 170 cm, is estimated $ 15M, for sale at Sotheby's in New York on January 27. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
There is no doubt about the importance of this work. Already in the 1620s, it had the honor to draw the attention of Van Dyck, who made a sketch of it in a notebook now preserved at the British Museum.
POST SALE COMMENT
As expected, this beautiful Titian dominated the week of ancient art sales in New York. Sold $ 16.9 million including premium, it does not, however, exceed its estimate.
I invite you to play the video shared on the web by Sotheby's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
At the end of his life, his creativity is much alive, but he has nothing more to prove to increase his fame. Painter of sensuality and characters, he became the painter of the passions.
Circa 1560, he painted A Sacra Conversazione, also known as the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine. We really catch the intelligence being transferred between the Child Jesus, held by his mother, and Catherine of Alexandria. The Child is active and friendly, Catherine is serious and focused, the Madonna encourages the movement of Jesus. St Luke, standing, is carefully watching.
This large painting on canvas, 128 x 170 cm, is estimated $ 15M, for sale at Sotheby's in New York on January 27. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
There is no doubt about the importance of this work. Already in the 1620s, it had the honor to draw the attention of Van Dyck, who made a sketch of it in a notebook now preserved at the British Museum.
POST SALE COMMENT
As expected, this beautiful Titian dominated the week of ancient art sales in New York. Sold $ 16.9 million including premium, it does not, however, exceed its estimate.
I invite you to play the video shared on the web by Sotheby's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1587-1588 The Eyes of the Counter-Reformation
2019 SOLD for $ 6.1M including premium
The brothers Agostino and Annibale Carracci and their cousin Ludovico Carracci found in 1585 in Bologna an Academy for reacting against Mannerism. This initiative is well received by the Counter-Reformation that feels the need to make art more appealing to the faithful. In this school which is not a mere workshop, the three founders set to work. The attribution of an unsigned painting to one or the other is sometimes difficult.
Annibale is the youngest and the most innovative. Following the examples by Correggio and Titian, he captures a moment of intimacy shared by the characters in an intense mystical action. An Annunciation 135 x 98 cm was sold for $ 3.45M including premium by Christie's on January 30, 2013.
Like the Annunciation, the mystical marriage of St. Catherine and the offering of St. Lucy are non-violent themes that are well suited to express exemplary emotions. St. John the Baptist plays a pleasant role as an accomplice to the Holy Family.
On May 1 in New York, Christie's sells a Madonna and Child welcoming St. Lucy, oil on panel 79 x 63 cm painted by Annibale Carracci around 1587-1588, lot 26 estimated $ 3M.
Formerly attributed to one of his pupils, this work was sold for £ 770K before fees by Phillips on December 8, 1987. Re-attributed to the master during that auction with the help of Richard L. Feigen, it is one of four works from his collection which are discussed in the video shared by the auction house.
This composition stages five characters. The faces are young and beautiful. St. Lucy is kneeling to present her eyes on a platter and holds in her other hand the palm of the martyrs. She is encouraged by an angel. The Child and his Mother look at the eyes with a serene curiosity totally devoid of fear. Turned to the public, St. John announces the miracle by pointing the platter with his finger.
Annibale is the youngest and the most innovative. Following the examples by Correggio and Titian, he captures a moment of intimacy shared by the characters in an intense mystical action. An Annunciation 135 x 98 cm was sold for $ 3.45M including premium by Christie's on January 30, 2013.
Like the Annunciation, the mystical marriage of St. Catherine and the offering of St. Lucy are non-violent themes that are well suited to express exemplary emotions. St. John the Baptist plays a pleasant role as an accomplice to the Holy Family.
On May 1 in New York, Christie's sells a Madonna and Child welcoming St. Lucy, oil on panel 79 x 63 cm painted by Annibale Carracci around 1587-1588, lot 26 estimated $ 3M.
Formerly attributed to one of his pupils, this work was sold for £ 770K before fees by Phillips on December 8, 1987. Re-attributed to the master during that auction with the help of Richard L. Feigen, it is one of four works from his collection which are discussed in the video shared by the auction house.
This composition stages five characters. The faces are young and beautiful. St. Lucy is kneeling to present her eyes on a platter and holds in her other hand the palm of the martyrs. She is encouraged by an angel. The Child and his Mother look at the eyes with a serene curiosity totally devoid of fear. Turned to the public, St. John announces the miracle by pointing the platter with his finger.
1611-1614 The Family Circle
2020 SOLD for $ 7.1M including premium
Peter Paul Rubens is back in Antwerp in 1608 after spending eight years in Italy. By a happy coincidence, the peace between Spain and the United Provinces is signed a few weeks later. He receives commissions for monumental altar pieces for the cathedral of Antwerp. He opens a large workshop and his business becomes highly successful.
His family life also changes. The death of his mother had been the pretext for his return. He marries in 1609 and is now surrounded by newborns : his daughter Clara Serena born in 1611 as well as the two children of his older brother Philip, Clara born in 1610 and Philip born in 1611. The death of the brother in 1611 brings his two babies closer to the artist's family circle.
The theme of the meeting of the Holy Family with St John the Baptist and his mother appears in his work at that time. Imagined in a Franciscan homily, this group is frequent in Italian iconography and was notably painted by Raphael around 1518.
The action is not unique : the artist expresses with vivacity his family surrounding, symbol of the future. The two babies are exuberant when they play with the dove while the lamb has a soothing effect.
On January 29 in New York, Sotheby's sells a Madonna and Child with St Elizabeth, St John and the lamb, oil on panel 122 x 96 cm. This version is probably the first in this model, and a date between 1611 and 1614 is confirmed by dendrochronology. The children are undoubtedly pictured at their real age on the date of creation of the work.
This painting is estimated $ 6M, lot 19. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The absence of St Joseph allows an original and dynamic composition where the four heads form a circle. The Infant Jesus looks at his mother with an expression of intense admiration. In a slightly larger replica, the Mother's clothing modestly hides the tip of her breast. The engraving executed in the 1620s at the artist's request for protecting his copyright mingles the two versions.
His family life also changes. The death of his mother had been the pretext for his return. He marries in 1609 and is now surrounded by newborns : his daughter Clara Serena born in 1611 as well as the two children of his older brother Philip, Clara born in 1610 and Philip born in 1611. The death of the brother in 1611 brings his two babies closer to the artist's family circle.
The theme of the meeting of the Holy Family with St John the Baptist and his mother appears in his work at that time. Imagined in a Franciscan homily, this group is frequent in Italian iconography and was notably painted by Raphael around 1518.
The action is not unique : the artist expresses with vivacity his family surrounding, symbol of the future. The two babies are exuberant when they play with the dove while the lamb has a soothing effect.
On January 29 in New York, Sotheby's sells a Madonna and Child with St Elizabeth, St John and the lamb, oil on panel 122 x 96 cm. This version is probably the first in this model, and a date between 1611 and 1614 is confirmed by dendrochronology. The children are undoubtedly pictured at their real age on the date of creation of the work.
This painting is estimated $ 6M, lot 19. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The absence of St Joseph allows an original and dynamic composition where the four heads form a circle. The Infant Jesus looks at his mother with an expression of intense admiration. In a slightly larger replica, the Mother's clothing modestly hides the tip of her breast. The engraving executed in the 1620s at the artist's request for protecting his copyright mingles the two versions.
#AuctionUpdate: Recently rediscovered, this powerful depiction of The Virgin and Christ Child with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist by Sir Peter Paul Rubens realizes $7.1 million in #NYC pic.twitter.com/gxEJlff32n
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) January 29, 2020
1735 The Venetian Rosary
2020 SOLD for $ 17.3M including premium
At the time of the Vedutists, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo specializes in religious painting. He takes as models his great Venetian predecessors including Tintoretto and Veronese. His personal style is theatrical and overloaded, typical of the rococo taste.
On January 29 in New York, Sotheby's sells a monumental altarpiece painted by Tiepolo in 1735, oil on canvas 246 x 156 cm, lot 61. The article published on December 4 by the auction house announces an estimate in excess of $ 15M.
The theme is a Madonna of the Rosary with Angels. The simple and effective composition, unusual for the artist, and the liveliness of the colors remind Titian, and the attitude is mannerist.
The artist wanted this Madonna to appear with the utmost majesty. She is standing on a stone pedestal, for being worshiped like a statue. Her youth and elegance are enhanced by a hip position. The red cloak is a symbol of royalty.
The fully unfolded rosary is hanging from her outstretched hand like an offering for an out-of-field user. This artefact brings a modernism to the image : its use in Marian prayer was recommended by Pope Benedict XIII, a former Dominican who died in 1730.
The artist has constructed an interesting symmetry between the rosary held by the Mother and the cross held by the Child. The gaze of the Mother is introverted, while that of the Child is directed towards the hand holding the rosary.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
On January 29 in New York, Sotheby's sells a monumental altarpiece painted by Tiepolo in 1735, oil on canvas 246 x 156 cm, lot 61. The article published on December 4 by the auction house announces an estimate in excess of $ 15M.
The theme is a Madonna of the Rosary with Angels. The simple and effective composition, unusual for the artist, and the liveliness of the colors remind Titian, and the attitude is mannerist.
The artist wanted this Madonna to appear with the utmost majesty. She is standing on a stone pedestal, for being worshiped like a statue. Her youth and elegance are enhanced by a hip position. The red cloak is a symbol of royalty.
The fully unfolded rosary is hanging from her outstretched hand like an offering for an out-of-field user. This artefact brings a modernism to the image : its use in Marian prayer was recommended by Pope Benedict XIII, a former Dominican who died in 1730.
The artist has constructed an interesting symmetry between the rosary held by the Mother and the cross held by the Child. The gaze of the Mother is introverted, while that of the Child is directed towards the hand holding the rosary.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
