Francesca Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art at TEFAF 2015 Paper (13-22 March 2015)

Mots-clés

Francesca Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art, Horse head, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Pastel on beige paper, Pencil and black charcoal on paper, Two Sikh, Vincenzo Camuccini

Vincenzo Camuccini (1771-Rome-1844), Horse head. Pencil and black charcoal on paper, touches of white, 57 x 44 cm. Francesca Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art (stand 716). TEFAF 2015 Antiques (13-22 March 2015)

Provenance: Camuccini private collection, Cantalupo

Literature: Carlo Falconieri, Vita di Vincenzo Camuccini e pochi studi sulla pittura contemporanea, Rome, 1875

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (1865-1953), Two Sikh. Pastels on beige paper, 61 x 47.3 cm. Signed and dated lower right ‘Levy-Dhurmer 1917. Francesca Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art (stand 716). TEFAF 2015 Antiques (13-22 March 2015)

Exhibitions: Brussels, Galérie des artistes français, Lévy-Dhurmer, 1927-1928, no. 31

Francesca Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art. Director: Antonacci Francesca , Lapiccirella Damiano.

Francesca Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art merges two historical antique galleries, respectively based in Rome and Florence, which have been among the points of reference of both Italian and international collecting since the beginning of the 1900s.
Francesca Antonacci, belonging to the fourth generation of antique dealers, started her own personal business in a charming artist courtyard off via Margutta in Rome; specialised in neo-classical artists, paintings of ‘The Grand Tour’, sculptures and works of art from the XVIII and XIX century.
Damiano Lapiccirella started his activity in London in 1978. Once back to Italy, he took over the family business by inaugurating his own gallery dealing in Old Masters paintings, drawings and works of art; since 2012 he moved to Rome and joined Francesca’s gallery and create e new company: Francesca Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art. They exhibit at the major international art fairs, such as Salon du Dessin in Paris, as well Masterpiece in London, Biennale of Palazzo Corsini in Florence, Mostra Internazionale dell’Antiquariato in Rome.
Specialized in Pantings and Drawings from the XVII to the XIX century, neoclassical sculpture, objects of art.

Publicités

Kunsthaus Zürich presents ‘Master Drawings: 100 Years of the Prints and Drawings Collection’

Mots-clés

'Childhood portrait of Thekla Maria Auguste, 1919, Albrecht Dürer, Apollo, around 1818, ca 1501−05, ca 1795−96, ca 1845, ca 1910, ca. 1880, Countess of Thurn-Valsassina', Dadabild, Das Schiff, Die Strasse von Tarascon, Ein Festtag in Zürich, Emil Nolde, George Grosz, Johann Rudolf Schellenberg, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Juli 1888, Landschaft in der Provence, Marie Ellenrieder, Pastel on paper, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Wiesenstück

Albrecht Dürer, Apollo, ca 1501−05. Kunsthaus Zürich.

ZURICH.- In 2015, the Collection of Prints and Drawings of the Kunsthaus Zürich celebrates its 100th birthday. To mark this event, the exhibition ‘Master Drawings’, which runs from 23 January to 19 April 2015, brings together approximately 120 selected drawings from the 16th to the 21st centuries, including works by Raphael, Albrecht Dürer, Henry Fuseli, J.M.W. Turner, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Alberto Giacometti, Cy Twombly, Erik van Lieshout, Jorinde Voigt and others.

Unlike the classic collections of prints and drawings assembled by princes and scholars or libraries, the Collection of Prints and Drawings of the Kunsthaus Zürich has its origins in a group of amateur artists and autodidacts who came together in 1787 to create the Künstlergesellschaft, or society of artists. They kept a ‘Malerbuch’, or painting book, to which each member regularly submitted drawings and watercolours.

Johann Rudolf Schellenberg, Wiesenstück, ca 1795−96. Kunsthaus Zürich.

OLD MASTERS, CLASSICAL MODERNISM, CONTEMPORARY ART
With some 95,000 works on paper, the Collection of Prints and Drawings is now an institution of considerable size. The organizers of the anniversary exhibition set out to choose the best, most representative and most surprising works from among the 37,000 hand drawings. They include pieces by Raphael, Palma Vecchio, Perino del Vaga, Taddeo Zuccaro, Cavalier d’Arpino, Guercino, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Leu, Tobias Stimmer, Jost Ammann, Hans-Jakob Plepp, Rudolf Meyer, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Rudolf Schellenberg, Salomon Gessner, Anton Graff, Henry Fuseli, Théodore Géricault, J.M.W. Turner, Alexandre Calame, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Käthe Kollwitz, Max Ernst, Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Hans Richter, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Alberto Giacometti. The big names from earlier periods in art history up to the time of Classical Modernism are also represented, as are outstanding contemporary artists such as Cy Twombly, Bruce Nauman, Miriam Cahn, Aleksandra Mir, Erik van Lieshout, Jorinde Voigt and others.

Marie Ellenrieder, ‘Childhood portrait of Thekla Maria Auguste, Countess of Thurn-Valsassina’, around 1818. Pastel on paper, 38.8 × 32.4 cm. Kunsthaus Zürich.

AN INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE THAT SPANS NUMEROUS GENRES
Today, thanks to its innovative exhibition programme, acquisitions in the fields of drawing, prints, photography, film, video, multiples and installations, as well as cooperations and loans, the Collection of Prints and Drawings is part of an impressive network that includes the world’s most prestigious museums. Since 2005, the building in the passage between Rämistrasse and Hirschengraben has been home not just to the prints and drawings but also the curators, the conservation department and the study room for registered visitors. Photographic, video and film works, prints and collages are stored and restored here, and made ready by our scientific staff for exhibitions at the Kunsthaus and elsewhere. The museum stages regular exhibitions of current positions in contemporary art, key areas of the collection and new acquisitions.

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Ein Festtag in Zürich, ca 1845. Kunsthaus Zürich.

COLOUR EXPERIMENTS, TROMPE L’ŒIL, SOCIAL CRITICISM
Bernhard von Waldkirch, conservator of the Prints and Drawings Collection, has spent a year and a half assembling the anniversary exhibition, assisted throughout by an academic advisory board. The selection he has arrived at, together with Dr. Gian Casper Bott, Dr. Christina Grummt and Dr. Paola von Wyss-Giacosa, focuses on drawing in its original sense; for all the differences in technique, medium and function, it is the art of drawing in its purest form that remains pre-eminent. Late-Baroque experiments with colour, pin-sharp ‘trompe-l’œil’ architectures, charcoal portraits that appear almost three-dimensional, romantic landscapes and subtle social criticism – the breadth of the topics is mirrored by the diversity of the techniques expertly deployed. Extending over several hundred square metres in the historic and modern sections of the Kunsthaus, the exhibition presents the drawings immediately alongside paintings and sculptures. Enthusiasts and connoisseurs alike will be impressed by the delicate paper’s ability to assert its presence in this environment: from the format of a pocket mirror to a vast plate measuring 2 x 6 metres that covers an entire wall. Regular public guided tours will focus on the inherent properties of the works as well as the latest research findings.

Paul Cézanne, Landschaft in der Provence, ca 1880. Kunsthaus Zürich.

ZURICH.- En 2015, le cabinet des estampes et des dessins du Kunsthaus Zürich fête son centenaire. Pour l’occasion, du 23 janvier au 19 avril 2015, l’exposition «Six siècles de dessins» réunit quelques 120 dessins de choix du 16ème au 21ème siècle – dont des œuvres de Raphaël, Albrecht Dürer, Johann Heinrich Füssli, William Turner, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Alberto Giacometti, Cy Twombly, Erik van Lieshout et Jorinde Voigt.

À la différence des cabinets d’estampes classiques, qui remontent à des collections et à des bibliothèques princières ou scientifiques, la collection graphique du Kunsthaus Zürich a pour origine un cercle d’artistes amateurs et autodidactes qui se regroupèrent en 1787 en une société d’artistes. Ils tenaient ce qu’on appelait un «livre de peintres», qui s’enrichissait régulièrement de dessins et d’aquarelles de chacun des membres.

Vincent van Gogh, Die Strasse von Tarascon, Juli 1888. Kunsthaus Zürich.

LE PLUS VASTE FONDS DE DESSINS DE FÜSSLI ET DE HODLER

En 1915, le directeur Wilhelm Wartmann établissait le premier «Inventaire des dessins et des estampes». On doit à son initiative l’entrée au Kunsthaus du plus vaste fonds de dessins de Johann Heinrich Füssli et de Ferdinand Hodler. Wartmann faisait connaître ces acquisitions dans des expositions et des catalogues de collection. Des achats ciblés et des donations permirent également à des dessins de maîtres anciens italiens, néerlandais et suisses de rejoindre la Heimplatz. Avec la première extension du Kunsthaus en 1925, les usagers de la collection graphique et de la bibliothèque bénéficièrent pour la première fois d’une vaste salle d’étude et de lecture, qui pouvait aussi accueillir des expositions dans les étages supérieurs – des services tout à fait exceptionnels pour l’époque.

Emil Nolde, Das Schiff, ca 1910. Kunsthaus Zürich © 2015 Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde

MAÎTRES ANCIENS, MODERNITÉ, ART CONTEMPORAIN

Avec ses 95 000 œuvres sur papier, la collection graphique est désormais une institution respectable. Pour l’exposition du jubilée, il a fallu choisir parmi 37 000 dessins les meilleurs, les plus représentatifs et les plus surprenants. Les grands noms de l’histoire de l’art ancien jusqu’au modernisme y sont représentés: Raphaël, Palma Vecchio, Perino del Vaga, Taddeo Zuccaro, Cavalier d’Arpino, Guercino, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Leu, Tobias Stimmer, Jost Ammann, Hans-Jakob Plepp, Rudolf Meyer, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Rudolf Schellenberg, Salomon Gessner, Anton Graff, Johann Heinrich Füssli, Théodore Géricault, William Turner, Alexandre Calame, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Käthe Kollwitz, Max Ernst, Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Hans Richter, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Alberto Giacometti. Mais y figurent également des artistes contemporains exceptionnels comme Cy Twombly, Bruce Nauman, Miriam Cahn, Aleksandra Mir, Erik van Lieshout, Jorinde Voigt.

George Grosz, Dadabild, 1919. Kunsthaus Zürich © 2015 ProLitteris, Zürich

UN RAYONNEMENT INTERNATIONAL DANS DE MULTIPLES GENRES

Grâce à une pratique d’expositions innovante, à des acquisitions dans le domaine du dessin, de la gravure, de la photographie, du film, de la vidéo, de l’art multiple et de l’installation, et à des coopérations et des prêts, la collection graphique est aujourd’hui en lien constant avec les musées les plus renommés du monde. Installés dans le passage situé entre la Rämistrasse et le Hirschengraben, les dessins et gravures partagent leurs locaux avec les curateurs, le département conservation et la salle d’étude accessible à la demande. Photos, vidéos, films, gravures et collages y sont non seulement conservés et restaurés, mais aussi scientifiquement préparés en vue des expositions, au Kunsthaus ou ailleurs. Au musée, des expositions sont régulièrement organisées pour présenter des démarches actuelles de l’art contemporain, des œuvres remarquables de la collection, ou les nouvelles acquisitions.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Mouvement de lignes, 1939. Kunsthaus Zürich.

EXPÉRIENCES AVEC LA COULEUR, TROMPE-L’ŒIL, CRITIQUE SOCIALE

Pendant un an et demi, cette exposition anniversaire a été préparée par Bernhard von Waldkirch, conservateur de la collection graphique, aidé d’un comité scientifique. La sélection opérée par le conservateur en collaboration avec Dr. Gian Casper Bott, Dr. Christina Grummt et Dr. Paola von Wyss-Giacosa met l’accent sur le dessin au sens le plus premier du terme: derrière la diversité des techniques, des traitements et des fonctions, l’authenticité du geste reste toujours au centre du propos. Expériences chromatiques du baroque tardif, architectures en trompe-l’œil d’une netteté de gravure, portraits au fusain à la plasticité saisissante, critique sociale subtile: le spectre des thèmes abordés est aussi large que celui des techniques utilisées avec brio. L’exposition, qui occupe plusieurs centaines de mètres carrés dans les parties historiques et modernes du bâtiment, fait voisiner ces dessins avec les tableaux et sculptures. Les connaisseurs comme les novices seront impressionnés de voir avec quelle facilité le fragile papier s’impose dans cet environnement, que son format soit celui d’un miroir de poche ou d’une immense feuille de 2 mètres sur 6 occupant tout un mur. Des visites guidées régulièrement organisées révèleront aux visiteurs les propriétés de ces œuvres et les résultats des plus récentes recherches.

DES ŒUVRES REPRODUITES POUR LA PREMIÈRE FOIS EN COULEURS

L’histoire de la collection graphique au Kunsthaus Zürich est retracée dans une publication représentative dans laquelle 100 œuvres, dont beaucoup pour la première fois, sont reproduites en couleurs et en pleine page, accompagnées de commentaires de spécialistes. Cet ouvrage relié de grande qualité, comptant 240 pages et 120 reproductions, paraît en allemand aux éditions Scheidegger & Spiess. Il est disponible à la boutique du Kunsthaus pour CHF 55.-, ainsi qu’en librairie

Frick Collection acquires watercolor by French realist Antoine Vollon: View of Dieppe Harbor

Mots-clés

1873, Antoine Vollon, Frick Collection, View of Dieppe Harbor

Antoine Vollon (1833–1900), View of Dieppe Harbor, 1873. The Frick Collection

NEW YORK, NY.– Throughout the nineteenth century, the city of Dieppe attracted artists intent on depicting its pebbled beaches, vibrant harbor, and Renaissance château. Turner, Delacroix, Daubigny, Pissarro, and Whistler all spent time in the northern French city, a hub of transportation between Paris and London situated on the English Channel in Normandy. Henry Clay Frick acquired paintings of Dieppe by Daubigny and Turner in 1904 and 1914, respectively. The Frick announces the acquisition of a third view of the city: a splendid watercolor and graphite drawing by the French artist Antoine Vollon (1833–1900), View of Dieppe Harbor, 1873, the generous gift of the preeminent Vollon scholar, Dr. Carol Forman Tabler, in memory of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander A. Forman III. Next summer, this work will be featured in a presentation of rarely seen drawings from the museum’s permanent collection. Landscape Drawings in The Frick Collection, organized by the Frick’s Research Assistant Joanna Sheers Seidenstein, will be on view in the Cabinet Gallery from June 9 to September 13, 2015. Comments Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon, “Vollon was an immensely well-connected artist, celebrated in his lifetime. This superb drawing is a welcome addition to the Frick’s stellar collection of works on paper, and we are thrilled to have an example of the artist’s work in the collection.”

THE ALLURE OF DIEPPE
Having trained primarily as a printmaker in his native Lyon, Vollon launched a successful career as a painter and draftsman in Paris about 1859. Although known as a painter of still lifes, he dedicated himself as well, if more privately, to landscape. Like the Barbizon School painters who preceded him and the Impressionists who were his contemporaries, Vollon’s interest lay with unpretentious subjects and the ephemeral qualities of nature. Signed and dated 1873, View of Dieppe Harbor is among Vollon’s earliest representations of the port city, which he visited intermittently between 1873 and 1876. During this period, he produced several works—sketches, finished drawings, and large-scale oil paintings—depicting Dieppe’s landscape, architecture, and inhabitants. A longstanding center of the fishing industry and international trade and, beginning in the 1820s, a seaside resort known for its baths, casino, and theater, Dieppe was a cosmopolitan city that yet offered Vollon an abundance of rustic subjects.

This watercolor presents a panoramic vista of the city from the southern side of the port’s inner harbor, looking north. At the center of a dense swath of land that spans the width of the sheet, beneath a large expanse of sky, lies the Gothic church of St. Jacques. Dieppe’s white cliffs and château rise in the distance at left, obscuring the channel on the other side. This vantage point thus affords a view not of scenic beaches and grand ships, but of rough-hewn buildings and small fishing boats. Masts rise throughout the composition and tiny figures—probably fishermen—appear on the shore. The two women in the foreground wear the headdresses, billowing skirts, and clogs typical of the residents of Le Pollet, a fishing community on the harbor’s eastern shore that was characterized in literature of the period as a simple, pre-industrialized society, timeless in its dress and customs. The women’s presence in this calm scene is akin to that of the villagers and farmers in many landscapes of the Barbizon School and particularly to the laundresses in the rural views of Charles-François Daubigny, Vollon’s close friend and mentor. They represent the quotidian life of the harbor and play an important, if subtle, role in the artist’s overall evocation of the atmosphere of the place.

Although Vollon depicted the same view in a small oil painting (now lost), this large watercolor is an independent, finished sheet of the kind contemporary collectors eagerly sought. It contains a remarkable wealth of architectural and nautical details but remains, like many of the artist’s canvases, deliberately sketchy in finish. The swift application of watercolor with a very wet brush across the laid paper leaves the depressions in the sheet clean. These and other untouched areas impart a subdued luminosity to the entire scene—as if bathed in the gray light of a sun filtered through thick cloud cover. The bold strokes of light blue in the sky suggest rapidly passing clouds and strong winds of salt air.

The sheet bears a dedication to Madame Dumas, née Nadezhda von Knorring, the wife of the celebrated French playwright and novelist Alexandre Dumas fils. At their home in Puy, near Dieppe, the couple hosted various artists and writers, including Vollon. They became admiring patrons, acquiring no fewer than eighteen works by the artist. Vollon most likely presented this watercolor to Madame Dumas as a gift of thanks for her hospitality during his first visit to the region.

A SHARED VIEW OF THE CITY
In the summer of 1876, Vollon and Daubigny made overlapping trips to Dieppe. The older artist’s painting of the city’s inner harbor (also in The Frick Collection) resulted from studies he made during this stay, and it shows the same view as Vollon’s watercolor. These good friends, who held similar artistic interests and ambitions, may well have shared their various depictions of Dieppe with one another. Working in oil, Daubigny achieves a sense of immediacy and liveliness of execution similar to that of Vollon’s watercolor, with loose, largely unblended strokes of buttery paint, in some areas thinly applied, in others thick with impasto. Whereas Vollon opted for cool, silvery shades, Daubigny employed his preferred palette of warm tones of green and brown, with touches of yellow and red throughout. Here, the bright white reflections on the calm water, together with the haze over the horizon and the slight blur of the buildings in the background, suggest the heat of a blazing summer sun. Like Vollon, Daubigny presents a quiet moment, his scene animated only by the illusion of fleeting movements of light, water, and air, of rocking boats and swaying masts. Both artists aimed to capture the universal qualities of the natural world, as well as the distinctive atmosphere of the historic port city in which they, and many artists before and after them, found continual inspiration.

LANDSCAPE DRAWINGS IN THE FRICK COLLECTION
In the summer of 2015, the Frick will present a selection of landscape drawings from its small but superb collection of works on paper. These sheets—many of which have rarely been on view—range in date from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century and include examples by Claude, Rembrandt, Corot, Rousseau, Whistler, and others. Depicting quotidian life in the country, urban scenes, and imagined views of timeless Arcadian realms, the works reveal thematic continuities across four centuries. The newly acquired View of Dieppe Harbor by Vollon finds an ideal context amid drawings by the artist’s contemporaries and forebears, with whom he shared a drive to investigate the technical possibilities for representing the light and textures of the natural and built environment. The installation, which will be on view in the Frick’s Cabinet Gallery, provides an opportunity to showcase the acquisition and this growing and vital part of the permanent collection, as well as to explore the approaches of artists over time to the representation of three-dimensional space and intangible atmospheric effects on paper. Landscape Drawings in The Frick Collection runs from June 9 through September 13, 2015.

FRICK ART REFERENCE LIBRARY RECEIVES RELATED ARCHIVAL COLLECTION
In May 2014, The Frick Art Reference Library acquired correspondence and other documents (approximately 450 items) relating to Antoine Vollon, his son, Alexis Vollon, and their peers, as a gift from Dr. Carol Forman Tabler. The materials were assembled by Dr. Tabler through gifts and purchases made during the course of her research. This acquisition complements other archival collections held by the Library, such as the Pierre Miquel study notes on nineteenth-century French landscape painting and the Frank Stokes collection of photographs of artists in their Paris studios (ca. 1890).

Switzerland-Russia: A merciless battle between collectors at Hôtel des Ventes Geneva

Mots-clés

Baron Gérard, Comte Boutourline, Fabergé, François Pascal Simon Gérard, Henrik Wigström, jaspe Kalgan gris, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Pendulette de bureau, St-Pétersbourg, Vase russe

Pendulette de bureau en vermeil guilloché et émail ice blue par la maison Fabergé, maître-orfèvre Henrik Wigström, St-Pétersbourg 1908, numéro d’inventaire ‘10312’. Estimation CHF 30’000-50’000. Adjugé CHF 88’000. Photo Hôtel des Ventes Genève

GENEVA.- With many exhibitions currently celebrating 200 years of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Russia, the art collections from these two countries remain closely tied. The Russian sale at Geneva’s Hôtel des Ventes on Tuesday 9th December symbolises this connection. The most beautiful pieces were the subject of many a fierce battle between Swiss and Russian collectors present in the saleroom or on the telephone. The elegant clock by Fabergé in 1908 from the Count Boutourline collection was bought by a Swiss collector against a Russian under-bidder for CHF 107,000 while it was a Russian buyer who fought to acquire the Kalgan jasper vase at CHF 110,000 over a Swiss collector, creating a new record price. “The success of this Russian sale confirms Hôtel des Ventes’ prime position on the international market in this speciality”, specifies Bernard Piguet, Director and Chief auctioneer of the auction house.

Pendulette de bureau en vermeil guilloché et émail ice blue par la maison Fabergé, maître-orfèvre Henrik Wigström, St-Pétersbourg 1908, numéro d’inventaire ‘10312’. Estimation CHF 30’000-50’000. Adjugé CHF 88’000. Photo Hôtel des Ventes Genève

Monture en vermeil de forme ronde avec bord à décor d’une frise rais de coeur, encadrement en émail blanc perlé guilloché de vagues, cadran blanc avec chiffres arabes noires et aiguilles en or rose à décor ajouré de volutes, la portée sertie de petites perles, le dos recouvert d’une plaque en ivoire avec l’entretoise à volutes en vermeil. Dédicace ciselé sur le dos du mouvement « Bonjour philipine » datée 22-VIII-1908, diam. 11,5 cm, diam. cadran 5 cm

Provenance: Comte Boutourline

Le comte Dimitri Petrovich Boutourline, grand chambellan, conseiller secret du Tsar, sénateur de la Grande Russie et célèbre bibliophile vint s’établir à Florence en 1817 attiré par le système libéral de son ami, le Grand Duc de Toscane. En 1824 il acquit le célèbre palais du Marquis Niccolini situé au centre de Florence où il constitua une nouvelle collection de livres et  d’objets d’art. Son fils Michel était ami et parent de Pouchkine. Son grand-père Alexandre était le favori de l’Impératrice Catherine II.

La famille Boutourline est une importante famille aristocratique et cosmopolite d’origine boyarde qui remonte au XIe siècle.

Avant la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale une partie de la famille vint s’établir en Suisse (Davos)

Count Dimitri Petrovich Boutourline, Grand  Chamberlain, secret Adviser of the Tsar, Senator of the Russian Empire and famous book lover, came to Florence in 1817 attracted by the liberal policies of his friend, the Grand duke of Tuscany.

In 1824, he bought a famous palace from Marchese Niccolini located in the centre of Florence where he started a new collection of books and works of art. His son Mikhail  was one of Puskin’s close friends and relatives. His grandfather, Alexander, was considered a favourite with Empress Catherine II of Russia.

Of boyar origin, the Boutourline family is an important cosmopolitan lineage of Russian aristocracy which dates back to around 11th century AD.

Before the outbreak of World War II, part of the Boutourline family settled in Davos, Switzerland.

Vase russe en forme de cratère en jaspe Kalgan gris. Estimation CHF 5’000-8’000. Adjugé CHF 90’000. Photo Hôtel des Ventes Genève

à décor sculpté de feuilles d’acanthe et ajouré en treillis sur la partie supérieure, le pied avec une frise de rosaces, le socle à base carrée avec des volutes aux coins et des arabesques gravées sur chaque façade, manufacture Kolyvan, c.1850, h. 33 cm

Provenance: A La Vielle Russie, New York

The sale from the descendant of General Dufour, the Reverdin Estate, saw equal success, particularly during the paintings auction on Wednesday evening. A portrait signed by Baron Gérard sold for CHF 91,000 – three times its low estimate – shortly before the portrait by Ingres was bought at CHF 66,000 to join the collections at Geneva’s Art and History Museum. An 18th century Atlas with the same provenance exchanged hands for CHF 14’000 during the antiquarian book sale on Monday evening.

François Pascal Simon Gérard (1770-1837), Portrait de François-Gédéon Reverdin, huile sur panneau, monogrammée, annotée au verso « G. Reverdin peint par Fs. Gérard 1796 », 55×44 cm. Estimation CHF 30’000-50’000. Adjugé CHF 75’000. Photo Hôtel des Ventes Genève

Selon des archives de famille, Gédéon Reverdin se rendit à Paris en 1794 où il entra dans l’atelier du peintre Louis David aux côtés de Gérard, Gros, Ingres, Girodet. Gérard fit alors le portrait de Gédéon à cette époque. 27 ans plus tard, ce sera Ingres qui le représentera (voir lot 1329), collection Olivier Reverdin.

Général Dufour

Le Général Dufour est une personnalité genevoise incontournable de l’histoire de la Suisse moderne.

Militaire de renom, ami de Napoléon III, vainqueur de la guerre du Sonderbund, ingénieur et stratège talentueux, homme politique reconnu, homme de science, créateur du drapeau fédéral, acteur incontournable de la jeune Croix-Rouge, il fut également le premier à finaliser une topographie globale et précise de la Suisse: la Carte Dufour.

Dans le cadre de cette entreprise fastidieuse qui dura près de trente ans, le Général se fit réaliser un secrétaire sur mesure, dont le battant spécial de 88 centimètre sur 86 lui permettait de travailler et consulter les nombreuse cartes et relevés.

Il fixa d’ailleurs la taille des feuilles de papier composant la Carte Dufour à 88 x 66 cm,
représentant chacune une portion de territoire de 70 x 48 km.

Pour cette brillante et novatrice réalisation, Dufour se vit décerner la médaille d’or à l’Exposition Universelle de Paris, le 15 novembre 1855.

Ce secrétaire est un témoin historique privilégié de ce vaste projet scientifique, et fût un compagnon de travail particulièrement chronophage du Général Dufour.

Le général Dufour est un aïeul direct d’Olivier Reverdin, dont les objets proposés à la vente.

Collection REVERDIN

A l’occasion de ses ventes de fin d’année, L’Hôtel des Ventes à le plaisir de proposer à l’encan de nombreux objets appartenant à la succession d’Olivier Reverdin domicilié à la fameuse rue des Granges à Genève. Tous les lots marqués en vert dans ce catalogue proviennent de cette collection. Une vingtaine d’objets sont également répartis en vente silencieuse. Ils sont tous facilement repérables sur notre site http://www.hoteldesventes.ch en tapant le mot clef «Reverdin».

Olivier Reverdin (1913-2000) est un célèbre homme politique suisse, humaniste, érudit, figure du journalisme et de la culture genevoise.

Omniscient, il occupa de nombreuses fonctions prestigieuses tant sur le plan politique (conseiller national) que journalistique (président et rédacteur en chef du journal de Genève), que culturel (président de la société suisse de sciences humaines). Il s’attacha aussi particulièrement au classement et à la conservation des archives son aïeul le général Dufour, la plupart étant restées entre ses mains.

Les objets inclus au catalogue transmis de générations en générations sont ancrés dans le patrimoine régional genevois et présentent un riche aperçu des pérégrinations de cet infatigable homme de savoir, voyageur et collectionneur d’Art, descendant d’illustres familles.

Arrière-arrière-petit-fils du général Guillaume Henri Dufour (1787-1875) (se reporter aux lots 1169, 1327, 1340, 1341 ), Olivier Reverdin est aussi héritier d’une longue lignée d’artistes dont nous pouvons citer, François-Gédéon Reverdin, Gabriel Bouthillier de Beaumont (1811-1887) (lots 1320 et 1321) ou Elisa Dufour (1796-1893) (lot 1325)…François-Gédéon Reverdin (1772-1828), peintre, dessinateur et graveur suisse, a été professeur à l’Ecole de dessin de la Société des Arts de Genève. Il a fréquenté des artistes de renom comme Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) dont il fut l’élève, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres ou Le Baron Gérard qui firent son portrait à 27 ans d’intervalle (voir lots n° 1328 et 1329).

Les notes manuscrites d’Oliver Reverdin mentionnent un salon Louis XVI commandé à Paris par Léonard Bouthillier de Beaumont pour la résidence familiale de Collonges -sous-Salève. (vraisemblablement le lot 1150).

Le secrétaire à abattant fait sur mesure pour le général Dufour (lot 1169) est un autre exemple des pièces restées dans la famille jusqu’à ce jour.

Grand helléniste et président de l’association Hellas et Roma, Olivier Reverdin collectionna tout au long de sa vie des artefacts des cultures grecques et romaines. L’Hôtel des Ventes présentera cet ensemble, dont une très importante amphore attique, lors de sa vacation spécialisée d’archéologie le 10 mars 2015.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), Portrait de François-Gédéon Reverdin, crayon de graphite sur papier, dédicacé « Ingres à son camarade et ami Reverdin », daté 15 novembre 1823, 29,5×21,5 cm. Estimation CHF 40’000-60’000. Adjugé CHF 55’000. Photo Hôtel des Ventes Genève

27 ans après le portrait réalisé par Gérard (voir lot 1328), Ingres, avec qui François-Gédéon Reverdin étudia aussi, le représente à son tour.
Fragment d’une lettre de Gédéon Reverdin se trouvant dans les archives familiales adressée en 1823 à son épouse depuis Florence: « Ce cher camarade d’Etudes (M. Ingres) a eu l’aimable bonté de vouloir faire un croquis de ma baroque figure, ce qui a été l’affaire de 3h, je le tiens, il est fort ressemblant, car Guigon juge plus désintéressé que moi en est fort satisfait […] Que diable faire, j’ai cruellement changé depuis que Gérard eut la même fantaisie que mon ami de Florence », collection Olivier Reverdin.

Over 80% of the 3300 lots included in the catalogue (books, luxury leather goods, Asian and Oriental art, furniture, objets d’art, paintings, jewellery and watches) and put up for auction in December found new owners giving a total result of CHF 4.3 million. This ensemble includes close to 1000 lots sold at under CHF 300, allowing the greater majority to participate in the auction and leave with one or more unique gifts for the festive season. “We are always delighted to provide our ever increasing and loyal clientele the opportunity to buy or offer to their nearest and dearest, quality and unseen works of art at an affordable price” underlines Bernard Piguet.

Confrontation between Russian and Swiss collectors for Russian art

For the fifth year running, Geneva’s Hôtel des Ventes organised a December sale dedicated to the wonders of Imperial Russia. This year, all the workmasters purveying the Tsars of the 19th century were represented in the display cabinets at Hôtel des Ventes. The main protagonists of the sale were Russian and Swiss collectors who competed for the star lots. From the very start of the sale, a set of 19th century books illustrated by Alexeïeff was closely fought over between a Russian and Swiss collector before the latter won the lot for a total nearing CHF 56,000, 10 times the low estimate. In effect, these works were dedicated by the illustrator Alexeïeff to his parton who was none other than Swiss filmmaker Nag Ansorge – a true example of an object with bi-national significance.

The battle ensued over a Kalgan jasper vase sculpted with acanthus leaves and a pierced trellis neck which was won by a Russian collector for the exceptional price of CHF 110,000 (lot 362 estimed at 5,000-8,000) achieving a new international record for a single vase of this type and stature. A further confrontation between the two nationalities came about during the sale of the 1908 Fabergé clock which encased a Swiss movement by H. Moser, being bought by a Swiss connoisseur for CHF 107,000 (lot 456 estimated at CHF 30,000-50,000).

A Drawing by Ingres from the collection of Olivier Reverdin, descendant of General Dufour, joins the collections at Geneva’s Art and History Museum.

A portrait signed by Baron Gérard sold for CHF 91,000 (lot 1328) shortly before the portrait by Ingres was bought at CHF 66,000 to join the collections at Geneva’s Art and History Museum (lot 1329). Represented in the saleroom on the night, the museum is “delighted to have acquired this important drawing for the Genevan Heritage”. It must be pointed out that this work, which has never been seen at auction before, was steeped in strong historical heritage as it comes from the collection of Olivier Reverdin, descendant of General Dufour.

The hundred odd contemporary works of art included in the paintings sale met with great success, attracting buyers in Switzerland and abroad as with a high number of visitors during the exhibition that preceded the auction.

The Jewellery and watches sale was well-awaited by the public who gathered at rue Prévost-Martin before the festive season. The saleroom was verging constantly on full capacity from 19:00 until 23:00 where, throughout the evening, over 90% of the lots found a new owner.

Master Drawings in New York announces highlights at the 2015 edition

Mots-clés

Abromson Ltd, Aert Schouman, Barbara Mathes Gallery, Claudio Bravo, Crispian Riley-Smith Fine Arts Ltd, Daniel Dumonstier, David Tunick, Diana at her Bath, Dionysius Aeropagites, Edward Lear, Elena Climent, Emil Nolde, Fernand Léger, Francesco Fontebasso, Francis Towne, Gaetano Gandolfi, Giorgio Morandi, Giovanni Battista Baiardo, Giovanni Costetti, il Guercino, Indian Elephant, Jacobus van Looy, James Ward, Jan Dibbets, Joan Miró, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Josephus Augustus Knip, Joshua Reynolds, L’Antiquaire and The Connoisseur, Leonard Hutton Galleries, Les Constructeurs, Les Enluminures, Lowell Libson, Margot Gordon Fine Arts, Martyn Gregory, Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, Mattia e Maria Novella Romano, Merce Cunningham, Mia N Weiner, Mireille Mosler, Nicolaas Struyk, Nicolas II Huet, Nissman, Octavianus Monfort, Olivetan Master, Pandora Old Masters, Pierre Bonnard, Pietro Antonio Novelli, Raphaël, Robert Rauschenberg, Samuel Palmer, Sigrid Freundorfer Fine Art, Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, The Cedars of Lebanon, Thomas Gainsborough, Van Doren Waxter

Joshua Reynolds, Dionysius Aeropagites. Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 inches, circa 1772. Photo: Courtesy of Lowell Libson.

NEW YORK, NY.- The tenth edition of Master Drawings in New York January 24 – February 1, 2015 promises to be the best ever. More than thirty of the world’s leading dealers are coming to New York City to offer for sale master art works in pencil, pen and ink, chalk and charcoal, as well as oil on paper sketches and watercolours, created by iconic artists working in the 16th to 21st centuries. Each exhibition is hosted by an expert specialist and many works on offer are newly discovered or have not been seen on the market in decades, if at all.

In addition, Margot Gordon and Crispian Riley-Smith, co-founders of Master Drawings in New York, announced that John Marciari, the new head of the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, will provide the introduction for the 2015 Master Drawings in New York brochure.

Highlights at the 2015 edition of Master Drawings in New York include….

A major rediscovered masterpiece by Sir Joshua Reynolds, listed as missing since 1905, and a star attraction at the exhibition of London gallery LOWELL LIBSON LTD. “’Dionysius Aeropagites’ has only been known from an 18th century engraving,” according to Libson. It depicts Reynolds’ favorite model, a street mender from York, George White. The painting perfectly communicates Reynolds’s ambitions as a history painter shortly after the founding of the Royal Academy.” Painted in emulation of an Italian old master, the powerful head was published shortly after its completion and given the title identifying the sitter as a follower of St. Paul. Libson is also featuring works by William Blake, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Jones, Samuel Palmer, Simeon Solomon and a fascinating group of British portrait drawings of the 1830s and 1840s depicting Queen Victoria, Talleyrand, Chopin and Paganini. Plus Sir Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington’s nieces and J.M.W. Turner’s Alpine tour watercolor, The Val d’Aosta looking towards Sallances.

Thomas Gainsborough RA (1727-1788), A Family Outside a Cottage Door, circa 1775-6. Pen and ink, grey and pink washes over pencil, 7⅝ x 9 ¾ in (194 x 247 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Lowell Libson.

Edward Lear (1812 – 1888), The Cedars of Lebanon. Inscribed, dated and numbered: ‘The Cedars / Lebanon / 20 . 21 May 1858 (193)’, pencil, pen and ink and watercolour, (14 ¾ x 21 ¼ in) 375 x 540 mm. Photo: Courtesy of Lowell Libson.

Also recently discovered is a magnificent Federico Zuccari drawing from an important private collection that is said to be unique. It is likely a preparatory sketch for the Escorial in Madrid, and is being offered at the exhibition of Italian dealers Mattia e Maria Novella Romano. They also are featuring a Vincenzo Gemito Portrait of a Young Girl from a private Naples collection.

Francesco Salghetti Drioli (1811 – 1877), Hector reproaches Paride. Pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, on paper, signed and dated ‘F. Salghetti f.1831 Roma’, 9 ¾ x 13 ¼ in (236 x 336 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Mattia e Maria Novella Romano

Returning exhibitor David Tunick is showing a major gouache by Fernand Leger, Les Constructeurs of 1950, publicly shown only once before at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1971. The definitive study for the painting of the same subject in the Sonja Henie-Onstad Art Centre Museum in Oslo, it last was on the market in 1980. Tunick says, “We were very pleased that the executors of the estate handling the Leger chose to go with us instead of the auction route.”

Fernand Léger, Les Constructeurs, 1950. Study for painting in Oslo museum. Gouache and pencil, 369 x 458mm. Photo: Courtesy of David Tunick.

Gunther Gerzso’s “Surrealist Sketchbook” is among the star attractions at Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art. The hardcover sketchbook is a work from the artist’s estate and has never before been exhibited. It includes 55 original drawings mostly done in the carbon transfer technique some with frottage and many augmented with pen, India ink and colored pencils. Some are experimental, reminiscent of Miro and Matta, others depict pre-Columbian clay fertility figures in Surrealist settings. Plus seven sketches related to well-known paintings from his Surrealist period, such as a portrait of Benjamin Peret. Martin also is showing a group of drawings by Frida Kahlo made between 1928-1946 including an academic study of a Greek Mask, two political drawings representing Kahlo’s “redesigns” of the Statue of Liberty, and a tender portrait of “Tonito” Frida’s nephew, Antonio Kahlo, drawn c1940.

Elena Climent, Mexican, b. 1955, Alebrije Cat in Oaxaca, 8 x 10 3/16 inches (image), iPad drawing digitally printed on rag paper, 2012. Photo: Courtesy of Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art

Elena Climent, Mexican, b. 1955, Tin Cactus and Old Leaves, 8 x 11 inches (image), iPad drawing digitally printed on rag paper, 2012. Photo: Courtesy of Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art

A small group of noteworthy David Cox watercolours Martyn Gregory is bringing to New York includes a very large one that is completely fresh to the market. Gregory says it is interesting as it is made on several sheets of the “Scotch” paper Cox used later in his career, which he had carefully pieced together to make a much larger sheet. It is an interesting reworking of watercolour of one of Cox’s favorite subjects Betwys-y-Coed in North Wales. Gregory is also showing 18th and 19th century British watercolours including Richard Parkes Bonington’s The Ruins of Chateau d’Harcourt near Lillebonne, a pencil and watercolour dating to 1821-22 when Bonington made his first tour of Normandy, a 1793 watercolour by British artist William Alexander showing Chinese Barges of the first British embassy preparing to pass under a bridge, led in 1792-4 by Lord Macartney, and a highly detailed wash drawing, John Hood’s The East Indiaman Essex in three positions.

James Ward, RA (1769-1859), Study of two stags’ heads. Oil over pencil on paper. Signed in monogram ‘JWD. RA’, 10 ⅞ x 17⅜ in (275 x 440 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Martyn Gregory

Joseph Mallord William Turner, RA (1775-1851), A windmill with cottage and wagons. Pencil and watercolor, 7 x 9 ¼ inches (178 x 235 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Martyn Gregory

Frist time exhibitor at MDNY, Eric Gillis Fine Art, is showing a top-quality selection of 19TH century French drawings including an outstanding Seurat work of 1881-82 that once belonged to Paul Signac, The Reader, and a very rare group of drawings from the finest late 19th century Belgian artists, including examples of symbolism and expressionism. Exceptional among these are works by Leon Spilliaert, such as Bird of Prey, and Henry van de Velde, whose Two Haymaker Women which will be among the highlights.

Dalva Brothers are also exhibiting at MDNY for the first time showing a collection of small scale graphite drawings by William Trost Richards (1833-1905) depicting plant studies, rocky shorelines and pastoral scenes from the 1850s through the 1860s, among them views of Atlantic City and Maine.

talian drawings by Domenico Piola and Orazio Samacchini take center stage at Christopher Bishop’s exhibition. Piola, a Genovese artist of the 17th century, drew Angels with Doves presumably for a fresco in the Palazzo Rosso in Genoa. Bishop says The Adoration of the Magi by Orazio Samachini, the late 16th century Bolognese artist, is an exciting find as it is a completely unknown drawing preparatory for a painting which was recently discovered and auctioned off at the Dorotheum in Munich.

Pietro Antonio Novelli (1729-1804), Diana at her Bath. Pen and grey washes, 11 1/4 x 8 1/8 in (287 x 205 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Christopher Bishop Fine Art

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Called il Guercino (1591-1666), Study of a Woman with a Hand held to her Breast. Brown ink and brown washes, 5 11/16 x 6 1/2 inches (145 x 165 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Christopher Bishop Fine Art

Pandora Old Masters is showing interesting political drawings by Giovanni Costetti (1874-1949) of Hitler and Molotov. The recto, The Mask, from 1939, shows them when they signed the non-aggression pact, and the verso, The Face, from 1941, portrays Hitler and Molotov when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union.

Giovanni Costetti (Reggio Emilia 1874 – 1949 Settignano), La Maschera e il Volto (The Mask and the Face) [recto]- Hitler and Molotov [verso]. Colored chalks and watercolor on japanese paper. Inscribed and dated in black chalk on the recto “1939 NON INTERVENZIONE” and “LA MASCHERA E”. Inscribed and dated in black chalk on the verso “1941 IL VOLTO”. 250 x 370 mm (9 13/16 x 14 9/16 inches). Photo: Courtesy of Pandora Old Masters

Among important 20th century artists being featured at the BARBARA MATHES gallery, you will see Agostino Bonalumi’s 1971 Progretto, a mixed media on paper, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s Badnes, Cercles et Lignes, dating to 1932.

Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), Spring Clearance, 1961. Solvent transfer, ink, gouache, and graphite on Strathmore paper, signed and dated on verso: Rauschenberg 1961, 23 x 29 in (584 x 737 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Barbara Mathes Gallery

Jan Dibbets (b. 1941), Wien, 1990-91.Color photo, watercolor on paper on cardboard, signed, titled, and dated on verso: Jan Dibbets, “Wien,” 1990/91, 24 x 24 in (610 x 610 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Barbara Mathes Gallery

London specialist Stephen Ongpin Fine Art always manages to acquire new-to-the-market works by the most iconic names in fine art including Edgar Degas, Thomas Gainsborough, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Signac, Thiebaud and Odile Redon. This year’s exhibition won’t disappoint as Ongpin is showing Gainsborough’s Travellers Passing Through A Village, Klee’s Night impression of a Southern Town, Degas’s A Seated Young Woman Plaiting her Hair, Matisse’s Standing Female Nude, Munch’s Rocks on the Edge of a Sea, Paul Signac’s Still Life with a Bowl of Fruit, Wayne Thiebaud’s Ice Cream Cone and Redon’s A Face in the Window.

Nicolas II Huet (c.1770-1828), An Indian Elephant. Pen and brown ink and watercolour, with touches of gouache on vellum laid down on board. Signed and dated huet fils 1810 at the lower right. 312 x 446 mm. (12 ¼ x 17⅝ in.). Photo: Courtesy of Stephen Ongpin Fine Art

Claudio Bravo (1936-2011), A Seated Man Seen from Behind. Pastel on buff paper. Signed and dated ‘CLAUDIO BRAVO / MCMLXXXIII’ in red chalk at the upper right. 381 x 300 mm. Photo: Courtesy of Stephen Ongpin Fine Art

New exhibitor PRPH Rare Books is offering an album of 70 uncensored 16th century drawings after Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. The original figures depict genitalia and other “lewd” elements which were later censored and painted over at the Church’s direction. These were generally unknown until the restoration of the work in 1980-84. They are bound in 18th century calf and were in the collection of Count Leopold Cicognara (1767-1834), the leading Italian art historian of his time. PRPH is also showing a highly important complete set of 50 engraved fortune telling cards (Northern Italy 1465) by the Master of the ‘Mantegna’ Tarocchi – E-series, rebound in 18th century cartonnato.

Sigrid Freundorfer Fine Art is showing a wonderful selection of contemporary watercolour, gouache and graphite drawings by American artist Scott Kelley (b. 1963) taken from the Legends of Gluskap, the cultural hero of the Wabanaki the five tribes of Maine, where Kelley lived. His heartfelt animal depictions of bears, rabbits, beavers and deer portray Gluskap’s relationship with animals and their importance to mankind and his teachings on how to live together with nature.

Merce Cunningham (1919-2009), Untitled (Grasshopper), 1998. Ink and colored pencil, 9 x 12 in. (230 x 305 mm.). Photo: Courtesy of Sigrid Freundorfer Fine Art

Merce Cunningham (1919-2009), Untitled (Grey Bird), 1998. Ink and colored pencil on paper, 12 x 9 in (305 x 230 mm.). Signed lower center. Photo: Courtesy of Sigrid Freundorfer Fine Art

London dealer Guy Peppiatt brings over wonderful British works including artworks by one of the most important British topographical artists of the late 18th century, Edward Dayes, whose Carlsbrooke Castle Isle of Wight, dating to 1788, is featured at MDNY. Also featured is a William Callow R.W.S. watercolour A Spring Day at Florence from San Miniato, dating to 1882, and Thomas Rowlandson’s pen, ink and watercolour, The Mid-day Rest.

Samuel Palmer (1805-1881), View on the Devon Coast. Watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour, 7 ¼ by 10 ½ in. (187 x 269 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Guy Peppiatt

Francis Towne (1740-1816), Ludlow Castle, Shropshire. Signed lower left: F. Towne/delt. 1777/no 46 and inscribed verso: a view of Ludlow Castle, Shropshire./ Drawn on the spot/ by/ Francis Towne July 21st 1777. Pen and grey ink and watercolour on five sheets of paper joined on original washline mount, 11 ¾ by 22 ¼ in. (30 x 57 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Guy Peppiatt

Pia Gallo is offering a Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) Study for the Figure of Scylla in pen ink and wash that is a study for the painting Glaucus and Scylla at the Brussels Musee des Beaux Arts. The drawing that was once owned by Queen Christina of Sweden. A second artwork offered shows an 1800 Italian school hand painted fan shaped gouache meant to be mounted as a fan, Veduta del Sepolcro della Sacerdotessa Mammia a Pompejano.

New York dealer L’Antiquaire and The Connoisseur is showing Daniel Dumonstier’s (1574-1646) black chalk and pastel A Portrait of a Young Woman in a Ruffled Collar. Dumonstier retained his celebrity undertaking portraits under the reigns of Henry IV and Louis XII. He was renowned for his prodigious memory and gallant and humorous repartee. He was the appointed painter to King Louis XIII who granted him land and titles.

Daniel Dumonstier (1574–1646), A Portrait of a Young Woman in a Ruffled Collar. Medium: Black chalk and pastel, 10 ¼ x 7⅝ in. (260 x 192 mm). Photo: Courtesy of L’Antiquaire and The Connoisseur

Octavianus Monfort (active in Turin, 2nd half 17th century), Still life with pomegranate, apple, peach, pears, plums and gourd; with carnation and hyacinths, resting atop a ledge. Tempera on parchment, 8 x 9½ in. (204 x 242 mm.). Photo: Courtesy of L’Antiquaire and The Connoisseur

Crispian Riley-Smith of London has titled his exhibition, “Flights of Fancy: Birds and Animals by Aert Schouman and his contemporaries in 18th century Holland.” On view are six Aert Schouman watercolours, including five from the collection of the late Lord Fairhaven, and four watercolours by Abraham Meertens. Plus master drawings by Bandini, Benso Hackert, Zuccarelli and Van Goyen.

Gaetano Gandolfi (1734-1802), A Sheet of studies of Six Fantastical Heads, circa 1780s. Pen and brown ink on paper, 213 x 211mm. (8½ x 8⅜ in). Photo: Courtesy of Crispian Riley-Smith Fine Arts Ltd

Aert Schouman (1710-1792), A Black tailed Godwit [Limosa Melanura]. Pencil, pen and ink and watercolour and gum arabic, 357 x 247 mm. (14 x 9 ¾ in.). Photo: Courtesy of Crispian Riley-Smith Fine Arts Ltd

Margot Gordon Fine Arts is staging a show titled “Five Centuries of Faces and Figures.

Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael (1483-1520), Two Putti Supporting a Beam or a Plaque, circa 1517/18. Pen and brown ink, over black chalk, 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 in (114 x 69 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Margot Gordon Fine Arts

Mia Weiner is showing selection of important works by Gaetano Gandolfi, including Studies of Two Angels for L’Immacalota Concezione, a lovely double sketch preparatory for the flanking angels in the 1780 altarpiece “Immaculate Conception” in S.M. Lambarun Coeli. She also offers an intriguing red chalk drawing by a student of the Carracci closest in technique to Annibale, drawing a fellow student as he works from model sheets of facial features made by Agostino. Plus 19th century landscape oil sketches by Northern European artists including Filippo Lauri’s Allegorical Figures Frolicking in the Flowers, Daniel Israel’s Portrait of a Bearded Man, Jan Van Kessel’s Butterfly, Moth, Rose and Spring of Gooseberries watercolour, Salvator Rosa’s Study of a River God for The Dream of Aeneas,”, a study for the same figure in a painting at the Metropolitan Museum and Carl Friedrich Heinrich Werner’s watercolour, A Beautiful Water Carrier which Weiner says is a stunning example of the artist’s work.

Attributed to Giovanni Battista Baiardo (circa 1620–1657), Christ Restoring the Heart of St. Catherine of Siena, The Blessed Ludovica Albertoni. Pen and brown ink , brush and wash, 15 ½ x 10 ¼ in. (394 x 261 mm.). Photo: Courtesy of Mia N Weiner

Josephus Augustus Knip (1777 – 1847), Landscape with Ruins of a Monastery by a River. Signed Lower left ‘J.A.Knip’ and inscribed by the artist, pencil under drawing, pen and grey ink, brush and watercolour, 14⅞ x 20 in. (377 x 500 mm.). Photo: Courtesy of Mia N Weiner

VAN DOREN WAXTER exhibition is titled Emil Nolde and Die Brucke and includes works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Emil Nolde. Nolde’s Meer, also titled Welle, dates to 1926 and Kirchner’s 1912 watercolour and pencil is titled Gerda mit Tanzer.

Emil Nolde (1867-1956), Young Woman with a Big Hat. Watercolour on paper, 5⅜ x 3⅞ inches (137 x 99 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Van Doren Waxter

Leonard Hutton galleries showing Fernand Leger study for“La Gare,” a 1918 pencil on paper.

Joan Miró (1893-1983), Le numéro de music hall, 10 November 1938. Gouache and pencil on cardboard, 10 x 7 ½ in (254 x 191 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Leonard Hutton Galleries

Mireille Mosler is showing artworks spanning five centuries including works by Zacharias Blijhooft, Pieter Holsteyn II, Francois Bonvin, John Constable, Jules Bastien-Lepage, Willem van den Berg, Leo Gestel, Jan Sluyters, Jan Toorop and Jacobus van Looy. The earliest 17th century drawings exhibited are a group of 15 small animals and insects that once belonged to a larger album in the possession of the Earl of Arundel 1585-1648 known as “The Collector Earl.” John Constable’s 1810 “En plein air” East Bergholt depicts the surroundings where he grew up. A Francois Bonvin Study for Le Couvreur tombe dating to 1877 is a recently rediscovered study of a now lost important Salon painting of the same year.

Jacobus van Looy (1855- 1930), A Water Carrier in Tangier. Signed ‘Jac.v. Looy’. Pastel on paper, 320 by 250 mm. Photo: Courtesy of Mireille Mosler

Nicolaas Struyk (1686-1769), Lizards and crustaceans. Bodycolor and grey wash on paper, 380 by 262 mm. Photo: Courtesy of Mireille Mosler

An Antonio Campi (1522-1587) chalk drawing of a Head of a Child is a standout at Nissman-Abromson Ltd. exhibition.

Francesco Fontebasso (1707 – 1769), Study of Heads. Pen and brown ink with umber and brown washes and traces of red chalk. 8 x 10¼ in. (204 x 260 mm.). Photo: Courtesy of Nissman, Abromson Ltd

Giorgio Morandi (Bologna 1890 – 1964 Bologna), Still Life. Graphite. Signed: Morandi / 1941. 6 3/8 x 8 5/8 in. (163 x 220 mm.). Photo: Courtesy of Nissman, Abromson Ltd

Jill Newhouse gallery is showing a selection of works by Georg Sand, Pierre Bonnard, and others. Only one other similar study for Bonnard’s 1893 Study for Conversation is known and it is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Newhouse says the sense of flattened space and perspective for which Bonnard is known is evident in this drawing, and the entire scene is a whirl of tight, energetic marks. Bonnard created the lithograph with the intent of having it published in the weekly satirical magazine L’Escarmouche but the magazine was only published from November 1893 to January 1894. On the verso of the present drawing appear studies of a robust stranding man and a woman singing, figures which evoke the theater and cabaret performances that Bonnard loved to depict. The George Sand watercolor and collage dates to 1855 and is titled Aristolocha Pistolochia. Sand was a watercolorist as well as a writer, much in the same vein as Victor Hugo.

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Woman Painting, 1944. Pencil on paper, signed lower center, 6 ⅞ × 5¼ in (176 × 132 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Jill Newhouse gallery

Les Enluminures is offering a full page frontispiece miniature showing St. Jerome giving his epistle to a messenger, in French. Jerome, Letter LIV to Furia, on the Duty of Remaining a Widow, in the translation by Charles Bronin, has one full-page miniature. It dates to 1500-1510. Also being exhibited is Catherine D’Amboise Complaint of the Fainting Lady against Fortune with 8 large miniatures by the artist of Paris, Mazarine, dating to 1525-30; the Francois Fortin Hours Use of Lisieux and Rouen in Latin and French with 11 miniatures, by a follower of the Master of the Echevinage of Rouen, dating to 1480; and a Noted German Hymnal, Nonnenarbeitern Nuns’ Work, dating to 1460-80, in Latin with a historiated initial R.

Italy, Lombardy [Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto di Baggio near Milan?], c. 1439-1447, Olivetan Master (Frater Jeronimus?), detail from f. 9v, Monks singing the Office; Decorated Initial A[sperges me…]. Gradual, (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, 23 1/2 x 17 1/8 in. (595 x 435 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Les Enluminures

France, Paris, c. 1320-1330, 169v, The Ascension of Christ, St Taurin Missal (Use of the Benedictines). In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment, 15 large historiated initials by an artist in the circle of Jean Pucelle, signed by the scribe Jean de Massingy, 8 5/8 x 6 1/4 in. (225 x 157 mm). Photo: Courtesy of Les Enluminures

Founded in 2006 as a way to draw upon and buttress the presence of collectors and museum officials during the important January art-buying events, including the Old Master auctions and The Winter Antiques Show, MASTER DRAWINGS IN NEW YORK has become an important part of the winter art scene in its own right, attracting the most influential dealers not only in New York but in England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain who each stage a themed exhibition in more than two dozen Upper East Side galleries between East 63rd and 93rd Streets.

Master Drawings in New York has received critical acclaim for orchestrating a showcase for fine art works that cut across the full range of styles, centuries, mediums and genres, and for providing greater accessibility to fine art at price points that range from several thousand dollars to several million.

New York Old Masters specialist Margot Gordon, who organized the first Master Drawings in New York event ten years ago says, “We are delighted to see how well known Master Drawings week has become as it has matured, with probably the most diverse array of representative artworks created between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries presented in both a lively and informative manner.

London drawings dealer Crispian Riley-Smith coordinates New York’s week-long event as well as its sister event during London Art Week each July. He says, “By agreeing to coordinate their exhibitions during a single week in galleries on New York’s Upper East Side, the world’s most respected dealers in master drawings have made it easier for both private and institutional clients to see the newest items on the market from the very top tier of specialists. For individuals interested in learning more about the quality and range of drawings on offer, there’s simply no better way to expose yourself to the very finest examples during a single week each year.”

Over the years both founders of Master Drawings in New York have seen that visitors are “surprised to see that not all our drawings date to the early centuries. We have member dealers who specialize in modern and contemporary works too. From illuminations drawn during medieval times, to preparatory studies for iconic masterworks by artists of the renown of Raphael, Titian, and Gainsborough, to sketches by Picasso and Miro, and wonderful modern and contemporary drawings. What visitors love is that they can enjoy the full range of drawing options in the course of an afternoon visiting a handful of East Side galleries. »

‘Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy, 1860-1960’ at the National Portrait Gallery

Mots-clés

Ambrose Heal, ‘Craft of the Guild' brooch, C.R. Ashbee, Cone Chair, Edward Burne-Jones, Edward Carpenter, Eleanor Marx, Eric Gill, Frederick Hollyer, G F Watts, Grace Black, Howard Coster, National Portrait Gallery, Ray Williams, Roger Fry, Terence Conran, William Morris

William Morris by G F Watts, 1870. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

LONDON.- The first exhibition devoted to William Morris and his influence on twentieth-century life, opens at the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday 16 October 2014.

Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy, 1860-1960 (until 11 January 2015), curated by Fiona MacCarthy, focuses on Morris’s far-reaching politics, thought and design. With portraits, furniture, books, banners, textiles and jewellery, the exhibition includes many extraordinary loans brought together in London for the first time.

Starting with late Victorian and Edwardian Britain, the exhibition and accompanying book explore the ‘art for the people’ movement initiated by William Morris and the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It displays the work of Arts and Crafts practitioners inspired by Morris and ‘simple life’ philosophers such as Edward Carpenter and Eric Gill, before showing how Morris’s radical ideals developed through to the Garden City movement and from the Festival of Britain onwards to young post-war designers such as Terence Conran who took up Morris’s original campaign for making good design available to everyone.

Edward Carpenter by Roger Fry, 1894 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Exhibits include William Morris’s own handwritten Socialist Diary from the British Library, his gold-tooled handbound copy of Karl Marx’s Le Capital, lent from the Wormsley Library and Burne-Jones’s spectacular handpainted Prioresses Tale wardrobe coming from the Ashmolean in Oxford. C R Ashbee’s Peacock brooch from the V&A is joined by Eric Gill’s erotic garden roller, Adam and Eve, from Leeds City Art Gallery and Edward Carpenter’s sandals from Sheffield Archive – the sandals that began the sandal-wearing craze amongst the English left-wing intelligentsia.

Edward Burne-Jones, Prioress’s Tale wardrobe, 1859. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

‘Craft of the Guild’ brooch designed by C.R. Ashbee and made by the Guild of Handicraft, England, 1903 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Curator Fiona MacCarthy says: ‘Now in the 21st century our art and design culture is widespread. But its global sophistication brings new anxieties. We find ourselves returning to many of Morris’s preoccupations with craft skills and the environment, with local sourcing, with vernacular traditions, with art as a vital force within society, binding together people of varying backgrounds and nationalities. This exhibition, as I see it, will not only explore what William Morris’s vision was but will suggest ways in which his radical thinking still affects the way we live our lives’.

Starting with the sometimes violent state of flux of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain as a group of brilliantly radical artists, craftsmen, architects, town planners, sexual and social reformers set out to remake their world, the exhibition introduces us to Morris, a craftsman and designer of extraordinary talent who MacCarthy believes still needs to be recognised as the truly revolutionary figure that he was.

The exhibition shows how the ‘art for the people’ movement had its roots in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s challenge to accepted attitudes to art and also in John Ruskin’s politically radical perception that every human being has inherent creative talent and that handwork was not inferior to brainwork.

On display is work by the artists and craftsmen of Morris’s inner circle: his lifelong collaborator Edward Burne-Jones; the potter William De Morgan; the radical architect Philip Webb; the furniture makers Ernest Gimson and the Barnsley brothers. A number of important female artists and craftswomen will feature in the exhibition since this was a circle in which women were accepted as co-practitioners with men. Arts and Crafts idealists who set up their own working communities, often in defiance of sexual norms, are included, such as the openly homosexual Edward Carpenter at Millthorpe; C R Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft in Chipping Campden and the controversial Catholic artist-craftsman Eric Gill in Ditchling.

Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy, 1860-1960 highlights the element of anarchy within the ‘art for the people’ movement which demanded an overturning of accepted values. Showing how Morris was associated with the Russian anarchists Prince Peter Kropotkin and Sergey Stepniak, visitors will see a strong link between ‘art for the people’, women’s education and suffrage – one of Morris’s closest female associates was Eleanor Marx.

Grace Black, Eleanor Marx, 1881 © National Portrait Gallery, London

The exhibition extends beyond Morris’s own death in 1896 to show how his radical ideals developed through the Edwardian decade, highlighting Patrick Geddes, Raymond Unwin and the Garden City movement and the way in which ‘good design’ became available to a wider market through such pioneering home furnishing shops as Ambrose Heal’s. It explores the ruralist revival of the 1920s and 1930s when leading craft practitioners – the potters Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew, the weaver Ethel Mairet, the hand-blocked textile printers Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher – evolved their own alternative ways of life and work in an increasingly materialistic age.

Ambrose Heal by Frederick Hollyer, c.1895 – 1903. Heal Family Collection.

Fiona MacCarthy is a cultural historian, broadcaster and critic whose widely acclaimed biographies include studies of Eric Gill, William Morris (which won the Wolfson History Prize and the Writers’ Guild Non-Fiction Award), Stanley Spencer, Lord Byron and, most recently, Edward Burne-Jones. She is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art and was awarded the OBE for services to literature in 2009. She curated The Omega Workshops exhibition for the Crafts Council and the exhibition Eye for Industry for the V&A, and in 2002, an exhibition on Byron, working with Peter Funnell, for the National Portrait Gallery.

Eric Gill by Howard Coster, 1927 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Frederick Hollyer, William Morris, 1884 © National Portrait Gallery, London

William Morris, La Belle Iseult, 1858 © Tate 2014

Ray Williams, Terence Conran and His Cone Chair, 1950s © Estate of Ray Williams

Goya retrospective features more than 160 paintings, prints and drawings from around the world

Mots-clés

Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya, María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva Álvarez de Toledo y Silva, Thirteenth Duchess of Alba, 1797. Oil on canvas *On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York, NY. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

BOSTON, MASS.- This fall, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, presents Goya: Order and Disorder, a landmark exhibition dedicated to Spanish master Francisco Goya (1746–1828). The largest retrospective of the artist to take place in America in 25 years features 170 paintings, prints and drawings—offering the rare opportunity to examine Goya’s powers of observation and invention across the full range of his work. The MFA welcomes many loans from Europe and the US, including 21 works from the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, along with loans from the Musée du Louvre, the Galleria degli Uffizi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art (Washington) and private collections. Goya: Order and Disorder includes some 60 works from the MFA’s collection of Goya’s works on paper, one of the most important in the world. Many of these prints and drawings have not been on view in Boston in 25 years. Employed as a court painter by four successive rulers of Spain, Goya managed to explore an extraordinarily wide range of subjects, genres and formats. From the striking portrait Duchess of Alba (1797) from the Hispanic Society of America, to the tour de force of Goya’s Seated Giant (by 1818) in the MFA’s collection, to his drawings of lunacy, the works on view demonstrate the artist’s fluency across media. On view in the Museum’s Ann and Graham Gund Gallery from October 12, 2014–January 19, 2015, the MFA is the only venue for the exhibition, which is accompanied by a publication revealing fresh insights on the artist.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Seated Giant, 1818. Aquatint with burnishing and scraping, first state. Katherine E. Bullard Fund in memory of Francis Bullard. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

“This exhibition offers a once-in-a-generation look at one of the greatest, most imaginative artists of all time,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director at the MFA. “Goya: Order and Disorder reflects the Museum’s close collaboration with the Prado, and builds on our proud tradition of Goya scholarship.”

As 18th-century culture gave way to the modern world, little escaped Goya’s penetrating gaze. Working with equal prowess in painting, drawing and printmaking, he was the portraitist of choice for the royal family as well as aristocrats, statesmen and intellectuals—counting many as acquaintances or friends. Living in a time of revolution and radical social and political transformations, Goya witnessed drastic shifts between “order” and “disorder,” from relative prosperity to wartime chaos, famine, crime and retribution. Among the works he created—some 1,800 oil paintings, frescoes, miniatures, etchings, lithographs and drawings—many are not easy to look at, or even to understand. With a keen sensitivity to human nature, Goya could portray the childhood innocence of Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (about 1788, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)—his most famous portrait of a child—or the deviance of the Witches’ Sabbath (1797–98, Fundación Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid).

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Witches’ Sabbath, 1797–1798. Oil on canvas. Fundación Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid, España. ©

“This Goya exhibition brings together two very important strands of Santander’s identity, our commitment to New England and our heritage in Spain,” said Roman Blanco, president and CEO of Santander US. “We are delighted to join with the Fundación Banco Santander to sponsor the exhibition. We commend the MFA for bringing together this extensive collection of Goya’s work that is sure to inspire all who attend.”

“We thought it was fitting as the foundation representing Spain’s leading bank, to sponsor an exhibit that features the work of Spain’s leading painter,” said Antonio Escámez, Chairman of the Fundación Banco Santander in Madrid. “We are a global bank with a clear focus on the well-being of the communities where we operate. Supporting this exhibit is just one of the ways in which we show our commitment to Boston and the United States.”

The full arc of Goya’s creativity is on display in the exhibition, from the elegant full-length portraits of Spanish aristocrats that first brought the artist fame, to caustic drawings of beggars and grotesque witches, to his series of satirical etchings targeting ignorance and superstition, known as the Caprichos. Rather than a chronological arrangement, exhibition curators Stephanie Loeb Stepanek, Curator of Prints and Drawings, and Frederick Ilchman, Chair, Art of Europe and Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of Paintings, grouped the works in Goya: Order and Disorder, and its accompanying publication, into eight categories highlighting the significant themes that captured Goya’s attention and imagination. From tranquil to precarious, Goya’s art made the diversity of life, and the conflicting emotions of the human mind, comprehensible to the viewer—and to himself.

“We decided to juxtapose similar subjects or compositions in different media in order to allow visitors to examine how Goya’s choice of technique informed and transformed his ideas, since the characteristics of each medium—and the intended audience—influenced the final appearance of the work,” said Stepanek.

Noted for his satirical eye, Goya reserved his closest scrutiny for himself. The first section of the exhibition, Goya Looks at Himself, is a sweeping group of self-portraits. In the MFA’s etching, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), Caprichos 43 (1797-99), Goya offers himself as a universal artist sleeping at a desk, while the creatures of his dreams swirl about his head. This print is grouped with two loans from Madrid, The Artist Dreaming (about 1797), a drawing from the Prado that preceded the famous print, and Self-Portrait while Painting (about 1795), from the Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Together, these works reflect Goya’s tendency to insert his persona into allegories and fantasies. At the entrance of this section is an imposing group portrait of The Family of the Infante Don Luis (1784, Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Parma, Italy)—the brother of King Charles III—which features 14 figures, including Goya, who depicts himself working on a sizeable canvas on an easel.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Self-portrait while painting, about 1795. Oil on canvas. Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. ©

“Just as Goya’s imagery is determined by whether he painted, drew or made a print, he also reconsidered certain favored subjects, reviving them from his memory and returning to them again and again during his long career,” said Ilchman. “Examining his compositional preoccupations across decades—often in the same room of the exhibition—reveals the continuity of Goya’s imagination.”

Through his art, Goya sought to describe, catalogue and satirize the breadth of human experience—embracing both its pleasures and discomforts. The artist tackled the nurturing of children, the pride and infirmity of old age, the risks of romantic love, and all types of women—from young beauties to old women. In the section dedicated to Goya’s depictions of the stages of life, Life Studies, the exhibition explores how the artist transformed observations of human frailty, creating allegories of vanity and the passage of time. A wizened woman, who is unsuccessfully attempting to adopt youthful styles in Until Death (Hasta la muerte), Caprichos 55 (1797–99, The Boston Athenaeum), is revived in one of Goya’s most haunting monumental paintings—Time (Old Women) (about 1810–12, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille). The aged woman is now decayed and diseased, but still clings to her outdated fashions, and is soon to be swept away by the broom of Time. Goya’s tapestry designs frequently depict young people, with relationships between men and women marked by affection, disaffection and tension. The Parasol (1777, Museo Nacional del Prado) presents a young woman who poses under a parasol with her docile lapdog—she seems to ignore her male companion in favor of engaging viewers who would look up at this tapestry, which was meant to hang over a door.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, The Parasol, 1777. Oil on canvas, tapestry cartoon. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. © Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

In the Play and Prey section, Goya’s creative process is revealed through representations of a popular game in which young women toss a well-dressed mannequin in a blanket. In Straw Mannequin, this carnivalesque reversal of class and gender roles is seen in a tapestry (1792–93, Patrimonio Nacional, Spain), as well as two preparatory paintings (1791, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and Museo Nacional del Prado). A late print, Feminine Absurdity (Disparate femenino) Disparates 1 (1815–17, Fundación Lázaro Galdiano), imparts new meaning to the previously simple image of young women at play, as the women now strain to lift several figures, including a peasant and donkey. This more sinister vein is reflected in many of the subjects the artist returned to later in life, following the devastation of the Peninsular War and its political reversals. “Play and Prey” also explores Goya’s famous images of men engaging in hunting (his own favorite pastime) and the bullfight. In these works, including examples from the series of prints, the Tauromaquia and the Bulls of Bordeaux, Goya celebrates both activities while also subtly portraying their darker sides.

The precarious relationship between order and discord, balance and imbalance, is fundamental to Goya’s work, and the subject of the section In the Balance. The theme appears vividly in images of the punishing forces of nature, figures losing their balance and others fighting. This topic is particularly noteworthy given the tumultuous social and political change during Goya’s lifetime, as well as the artist’s own struggles with illness, dizzy spells and deafness. The MFA’s print, The Agility and Audacity of Juanito Apiñani in the Ring at Madrid (Ligereza y atrevimiento de Juanito Apiñani en la de Madrid (Tauromaquia 20) (1815–16) depicts a precarious matador, who is poised midair as he vaults over a charging bull, anchored only by his upright pole.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Two men fighting, 1812–20. Detail. Brush and iron gall ink with scraping on cream laid paper, pink paper mount. Bequest of Eleanor A. Sayre. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Goya earned widespread fame through grand portraits executed in the 1780s and 1790s, and the exhibition displays some of these masterpieces alongside more intimate likenesses of his artistic and family circle. Focusing on the painter’s approach to portraiture—from relations with sitters to his handling of paint—Portraits explores the discipline that remained central to his reputation as Spain’s leading painter and helped sustain him financially throughout his career. Paintings of the Duke of Alba (1795, Museo Nacional del Prado) and Duchess of Alba (1797, Hispanic Society of America), shown together for the first time since the early 19th century, are superb examples of his aristocratic portraits and illustrate two of his most important patrons. In the Duchess of Alba, the darkly clothed sitter points a finger to the ground, where the words “Solo Goya” are written in the sand. The assertion that only Goya was worthy of this commission and that only he could have pulled off such a dramatic likeness, changes the painting’s focus from the aristocrat to the artist.

Other Worlds, Other States features two facets of Goya’s spiritual explorations—Christian religious belief and its opposite, superstition. While Goya frequently focused on clerical abuses, religious commissions helped pay the bills throughout his life, and there is no evidence that he lacked personal piety. One of Goya’s greatest legacies is his ability to represent mental and psychological conditions. His depictions of illusions and inner reality are also on view in this section, and include visions, nightmares and the deluded mind of the insane. An imaginative rendering of a particular Spanish nightmare—a witch riding a bull through the air—is depicted in the drawing Pesadilla (Nightmare) (1816-1820).

Many of Goya’s deranged characters highlight the fragile boundary between lunacy and sanity. A luminous painting on copper from the Meadows Museum in Dallas, Yard with Madmen of 1794—which shows distressed and helpless lunatics—anticipates a sequence of black crayon drawings made three decades later. In these later works, the individuals, whom Goya labeled as “locos,” are in even more desperate condition, restrained in straitjackets or trapped behind bars. Also in this gallery, a “learning space” offers additional educational materials and a timeline that provides context and insight into the mind of the Spanish Master.

A keen awareness of the weight of historical events pervades Goya’s work. Although he belongs in the ranks of great history painters who narrated courageous acts, he is not preoccupied with generals, patriots and battles. Instead, he focuses attention on the anonymous victims of the horrors of war or the Spanish Inquisition, and rarely fails to raise moral questions in these works. In Capturing History, works that blend the epic and mundane include a painting of an imagined scene, Attack on a Military Camp (about 1808–10, Colección Marqués de la Romana), in which a woman holds a screaming infant as she runs from assailants who have already wounded several people. In One Can’t Look (No se puede mirar,) Disasters of War 26 (1810–14), the viewer is only a step or two away from the victims and the advancing bayonets of the print’s aggressors. The work is part of the wrenching print series, Disasters of War, which depict the artist’s thoughts on violence during the Peninsular War that ripped Spain apart from 1808 to 1814.

The final section of the exhibition, Solo Goya, summarizes the characteristics that establish the artist’s greatness—exploring themes such as Goya’s imagery of swarms of human figures as well as his periodic reflection on the concept of redemption. The same artist who took on the abuses of war could also evoke the most sympathetic and poignant moments of human experience, such as the Last Communion of Saint Joseph of Calasanz (1819, Collection of the Padres Escolapios). The altarpiece depicts Joseph of Calasanz, from Goya’s home region of Aragón, who founded the order of the Padres Escolapios (Piarists) to educate poor children. Goya may have attended one of the order’s schools, known as the Escuelas Pías, and might have felt a personal connection to the protagonist of the painting—his final major religious work—which comes to the US for the first time in this exhibition.

One of Goya’s most resonant themes addresses the problem with power, embodied by a central character: the giant. Conditioned by the events of his day, particularly the sudden rise and fall of military and institutional fortunes, Goya explores how power is not necessarily inherent, but comes with a cost. Goya’s Seated Giant (by 1818), from the MFA’s renowned collection of Goya prints and drawings, is among the most enigmatic and compelling of the artist’s graphic works, depicting a looming figure immobilized by the burden of power. While no single work can epitomize an artist’s achievement, this figure embodies the grandest of Goya’s great themes.

The MFA’s Goya collection owes a great debt to former MFA Curator of Prints and Drawings, and esteemed Goya scholar, Eleanor A. Sayre, who worked on the exhibitions The Changing Image: Prints by Francisco Goya (1974) and Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment (1989) at the MFA. Many of the works on view in Goya: Order and Disorder were acquired by the Museum during her tenure, including the Seated Giant; Woman Reading to Two Children (about 1819); Resignation (La resignacion) (1816–1820); Merry Absurdity (Disparate alegre) (1816–1819); and the oil sketch on canvas of the Annunciation (1785). The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), Caprichos 43 (1797–99) and the drawing of Two Men Fighting (1812–20) were part of Sayre’s bequest to the MFA after she passed away in 2001.

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), drawn and etched 1797–98, published 1799. Etching and aquatint with burnishing (first edition). Bequest of Eleanor A. Sayre. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Crazy Skates (Locos Patines), 1824–28. Black crayon on blue [Prussian blue] laid paper. Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.