Painter (1703-1761)

« The First Meeting »
« The Reading »

Austrian school
Signed F.C. Janneck fc

Circa 1740
Oil on copper

Height : 25,8 cm (10,1 in.) ; Width : 31,2 cm (12,3 in.)
With frame – Height : 36,5 cm (14,4 in.) ; Width : 43,5 cm (17,1 in.)

Elegant pair of oil-on-copper paintings depicting two rural genre scenes, “The First Meeting” and “Reading.” “The First Meeting” depicts the moment when two young people, likely betrothed to one another, meet for the first time. The father, mustachioed and potbellied, invites his daughter to meet the young man he has chosen for her. Somewhat aloof, she turns her back to us and fixes an unflinching gaze on the suitor, her hand on her hip as a sign of reluctance. The young lady-in-waiting, who is adjusting her dress, steals a glance at the young man, who, with a charming air, pulls a bottle of wine from the stream where it had been cooling. Will his good nature and the wine be enough to win over the young woman? The outcome of this encounter may lie in the landscape, enhanced by delicate glazes ranging from blue to cream, depicting a vast landscape and a wide blue sky, perhaps mirroring the young man’s psyche,in contrast to the young woman’s tormented and hostile state of mind, symbolized by the forest.

 “The Reading” could be seen as the future of its counterpart. Here, the couple is already established, the parents of the little boy and girl, in the midst of a reading session. Everyone is absorbed in the young woman’s story; the weather is pleasant, wine is being enjoyed, and loyalty reigns, as evidenced by the dog; in short, it’s a time for relaxation. Far removed from the preconceptions of a first encounter, “The Reading” extols the virtues and joys of family life and marriage.

As with many 17th- and 18th-century works inspired by the Northern Schools, humor and morality intertwine in pictorial aphorisms, suggesting that this pair of copper plates encouraged its, or rather, its original female, owner to remain hopeful about the future, even if, at first glance, a marriage of convenience might put an end to other aspirations.  

related work

Another pair of paintings, this time on panel, is housed at the Belvedere in Vienna (inv. nos. 4179 and 4181), where Janneck once again demonstrates his skill in rendering glazes.   

biography 

Franz Christoph Janneck was a painter born in Graz in 1716. He trained in the studio of Matthias Vangus in Vienna, where he was active from 1721 to 1728. He then studied under Joseph Orient in Frankfurt am Main until 1731. It is likely that he was then introduced to the paintings of the Northern Schools—Flemish, Dutch, and Rhenish—which greatly influenced his work. Most of his surviving works show a marked Flemish influence, particularly from painters such as Jan Brueghel the Elder and David Teniers the Younger. In 1736, he returned to Vienna, where he died in 1761.

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Painter (1816-1899)

« The young Horsewoman » and « The Girl with the Hat »

 French school
Signed C^t Brochart

Circa 1870

Pastel on paper 

Height : 45 cm (17,7 in.) ; Width : 31,5 cm (12,4 in.)
With frame – Height : 74 cm (29,1 in.) ; Width : 56 cm (22 in.)

This charming pair of pastels forms a perfect pair and brilliantly illustrates the talent of Constant Joseph Brochart, a 19th-century portraitist. A specialist in ethereal, idealized female figures, the artist here embraces the Neo-Rococo style that so fascinated the bourgeoisie of the Second Empire, drawing inspiration from the elegance of the age of Watteau and Fragonard.

“The Young Horsewoman,” depicted in a three-quarter view, casts a gentle yet confident glance at the viewer. She is dressed in an elegant, whimsical ensemble consisting of a white satin jacket with silvery sheen, cinched at the waist with a wide coral-colored sash. The voluminous lace ruff, reminiscent of the 17th century, and the gray felt hat, adorned with ostrich feathers, frame her porcelain-complexioned face. She delicately holds a riding crop in her right hand, adding a touch of playfulness to the composition.

Echoing the first piece perfectly, “The Girl with the Hat” features a young woman in an 18th-century-inspired outfit. She wears a sumptuous blue dress, richly embroidered with gold motifs and accented by abundant ruffles of lace at the cuffs. Her innocent face is accentuated by a charming woven straw hat adorned with a garland of fresh roses. The treatment of the fabrics is remarkable, playing on the transparency of the muslin and the weightiness of the embroidered silk. She holds a small dog in her arms, adding to her air of purity.

With this pair of portraits, Brochart demonstrates his mastery of the pastel technique, his medium of choice for capturing the softness of the skin and the fluidity of fabrics. The skillfully directed light caresses the faces of these two elegant women, bringing out the vibrancy of the colors.

Biography

Constant Joseph Brochart was born in 1816 in Pecq, in the province of Hainaut, and died in 1899 in Paris. Student at the Beaux-Art in Lille, where he won a first-class medal in 1837, he exhibited at the Salon from 1845 to 1862. Considered the driving force behind the revival of pastel painting in France by the Journal des Artistes (May 14, 1899), he specialized in portraits of elegant ladies, which brought him fame.

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Painter (1814-1878)

« Breakfasts in Marly »

French School
Signed J. Duval.L.C.

Exhibited at the Salon of 1846, no. 592

Oil on canvas

Dimensions with frame – Height : 157 cm (61,8 in.) ; Width : 170 cm (67 in.)

Large oval painting depicting a breakfast gathering in Marly’s park on a sunny morning. The guests, seated in a circle on the grass, are enjoying the pleasant summer weather, glasses of wine in hand. Perhaps they are already tipsy, as suggested by a gentleman’s belongings carelessly abandoned in the foreground, the overturned glass and the proximity of the group with rosy cheeks, where each person is almost slumped against their neighbor. This revelry, however, is not permitted for the youngest among them: the child, drawn to the bunch of grapes, a symbol of wine, is held back by his mother on the edge of the circle, who takes the fruit away from him. Not far behind flows a fountain where the next bottle is kept cool, ready to be brought by the attentive servants. A greyhound, a symbol of loyalty, looks away from the group, foreshadowing the events to come.

This painting follows in the pictorial tradition of “fêtes galantes”, a genre that emerged in France in the 18th century through the works of Watteau, Boucher, and Fragonard. The Age of Enlightenment was characterized by a liberation from social and moral constraints and from the rigors of etiquette; consequently, scenes depicting the good life, far removed from the austerity imposed by the court, were celebrated. Thus, the figures in our painting are all dressed in 18th-century fashion and wear wigs typical of the period. It is noteworthy that he mastered the harmony of colors, acid green, pale pink, and powder blue, and of light, a mastery already recognized by the jury of the Salon in 1838. This “personal palette” surely responded to the sensibilities of the 1840s.

The original gilded frame adds to the work’s splendor: a garland of roses, daisies, fruits, and leaves, tied with a ribbon, extends the painting’s pastoral theme through a delightful interplay of volumes. The whole appears to be suspended by a pleated ribbon and bordered on either side by a frieze of pearls.

biography

Jules-Alexandre Duval Le Camus (1814–1878) was a French painter who received his training in the studio of his father, Pierre Duval Le Camus, and later studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the studios of Drölling and Delaroche. In 1838, he placed second in the 1838 Prix de Rome for painting, and then exhibited at the Salon from 1840 through 1867. His particular focus was religious painting and history painting, which were frequently featured at the Salon as well as in several churches in France where his works are still on display. Following in his father’s footsteps, however, he also produced several genre scenes. He was also a major collector of drawings, which are now scattered among the world’s major museums.

bibliography

• «Beaux-Arts. Exposition du Louvre en 1846 » in L’Étoile : revue du progrès […], 1^ère année, 1^ère série, 22 March 1846, p. 118 ;
• « Beaux-arts. Salon de 1846» in M. de Murville, L’Indépendant, 19^e année, 17 avril 1846, p.1 ;
• « Beaux-arts. Salon de 1846. Septième article» in Gazette nationale ou le Moniteur universel, 27 April 1846, Paris, p. 1105 ;
• L’Illustration, Journal Universel, n°167, Vol. VII, 9 May 1846, Paris, pp. 153-154, repr. p.153.

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Painter (1816-1889)

« Last Days of Happiness in Pompeii »

Belgian School
Signed and dated 1863

Exhibited at the 1863 Salon, no. 452

Oil on canvas

Height : 118 cm (46,5 in.) ; Length : 135 cm (53,1 in.)

A beautiful painting depicting a scene of family life in an idealized Pompeian interior, featuring wall panels typical of the Fourth Style, framing mythological scenes such as a Venus in a shell, friezes of parading figures, and chimeras. Lying on a bed, a couple rests, in front of whom two naked children on a sumptuous leopard skin and a young girl innocently play knucklebones, a very popular ancient pastime often depicted in Roman art. On the left, a young boy brandishes an imposing grotesque theater mask, causing a small dog to bark. A servant stands on the left, holding a bowl of fruit, a symbol of abundance and refinement.

This work is a perfect example of 19th-century academic painting, and more specifically of the Neo-Greek movement (or “Pompeian style”). Strongly influenced by the archaeological discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum, Coomans specialized in the idealized and anecdotal depiction of ancient domestic life. Far from grand heroic or mythological narratives, the painter offers here an intimate genre scene, celebrating Roman otium (leisure time).

“Le Journal illustré”, July 2nd ,1865, p.215

“A travers le Salon de 1863” by J. Girard de Rialle, p. 63-64

biography

Pierre-Olivier-Joseph Coomans (1813–1889) was a Belgian genre and history painter who trained under Nicaise de Keyser and Baron Wappers at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 1843, Queen Louise-Marie d’Orléans sent him to Algeria to follow the French army in Kabylie. There he met the military painter Horace Vernet. His three stays in Algeria (1843, 1844, and 1845) introduced Orientalism into his work. He was awarded a vermeil medal at the 1848 Brussels Salon for Dernière charge d’Attila à la bataille de Châlons-sur-Marne.
In 1855, he settled in the vicinity of Naples, and the Roman frescoes of Pompeii led him to gradually abandon Orientalism in favor of romantic Neapolitan scenes, and then a new genre known as the “Pompeian style.”
In 1860, he settled in Paris and began to move toward academic classicism. From October 1888 to June 1889, he stayed in Philadelphia and New York, where he painted mainly portraits.

bibliography

– J. Girard de Rialle, À travers le Salon de 1863, Paris, 1863, pp.63-64 ;
– Explication des ouvrages de peinture […] exposés au palais des Champs-Élysées le 1er Mai 1863, Paris, 1863, p. 57, no. 452.

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Painter (1853-1929)

« The Arrival of the Bride »

Signed and dated E. Boutigny 1928

Oil on canvas

Height : 90 cm (35,4 in.) ; Width : 110 cm (43,3 in.) ; Depth : 7 cm (2,7 in.)

This elegant painting depicts the arrival of a carriage bringing the bride to a church. The moment captured is that of a worldly disembarkation, transformed into a social spectacle. The figures, richly dressed, fill the space in a dense and animated composition. The dresses, made of silky fabrics in shimmering colors, contrast with the men’s garments adorned with embroidery and gold buttons, highlighting the social hierarchy and refinement of the protagonists.

The light, diffuse and carefully controlled, emphasizes the central figures while leaving the peripheral areas in relative shadow. On the right, the presence of a beggar introduces a discreet note of social contrast, though without any real critical tension: it functions more as a picturesque motif inherited from the eighteenth-century tradition than as a form of denunciation. This restraint confirms the idealized dimension of the scene, in which the Ancien Régime is evoked as an age of elegance and harmonious sociability. Created at the end of Boutigny’s career, this work bears witness to a deliberate fidelity to a narrative and decorative aesthetic, running counter to contemporary avant-garde movements.

Biography

Paul Émile Boutigny (1853–1929) was among the most highly regarded painters of historical and fashionable genre scenes during the Third Republic. A pupil of Alexandre Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he specialized at an early stage in genre scenes inspired by history, most often set in the eighteenth century. He thus aligned himself with the so-called “neo-gallant” tradition, inherited from Watteau, Fragonard, and Lancret, but reinterpreted through the sensibility and technique of the late nineteenth century. He made his debut at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1881 and exhibited there regularly, where his works met with a favorable reception. His success was based on a seductive, narrative, and decorative style of painting, perfectly suited to bourgeois and aristocratic interiors. At a time marked by the rise of Impressionism and later the avant-gardes, he deliberately chose to remain faithful to a classical aesthetic, embracing a certain stylistic conservatism. At the turn of the twentieth century and until the end of his life, Boutigny pursued this path with consistency. His later works, particularly those of the 1910s and 1920s, reveal a great freedom of brushwork while maintaining clarity of narrative and elegance of composition. The pictorial surface sometimes becomes more vibrant, reflecting a heightened sensitivity to light and movement.

Bibliography

– Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, Paris, Gründ.
– Catalogue du Salon des Artistes Français, années 1881–1895.
– Jean‑Paul Crespelle, La Vie artistique à la Belle Époque, Paris, 1966.
– Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Saint‑Denis – fonds Paul Émile Boutigny.
(References on the artist’s biography and exhibitions held during the 1880s and 1890s.)

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Painter (1845-1926)

 « Les Fêtes Galantes »

Signed, located and dated G. Simoni. Paris. 1881

Oil on canvas

Dimensions with frame – Height : 165 cm (64,9 in.) ; Width : 105 cm (41,3 in.)

This large pair of oval paintings depicts elegant ladies and gentlemen dressed in eighteenth-century fashion, gathered in a vast formal French garden. The first painting shows an open-air concert: a group of musicians accompanies the stroll of refined couples moving along a path lined with flowering beds, beneath tall trees that filter a clear light. The second painting depicts a social rendezvous at the foot of a staircase adorned with statues and ornamental urns. Ladies in brightly colored silk gowns and cavaliers in pastel attire converse, while other figures recede into the depth of the park.

The palette is luminous, dominated by the greens of the foliage, the blues of the sky, and the pinks, blues, and whites of the fabrics. The brushwork, supple and vibrant, suggests the details of costumes and vegetation rather than describing them meticulously, creating an atmosphere of lighthearted and animated festivity.

These paintings belong to the Neo-Rococo revival that enjoyed great success in Paris during the Second Empire and then the Third Republic. Simoni draws inspiration from the tradition of the fêtes galantes of Watteau and Fragonard, reinterpreted by the painters of fashionable genre scenes of the Belle Époque.
The choice of the oval format, the staging of an idealized park, and the emphasis on polite conversation, music, and promenade all evoke a nostalgic and refined vision of the Ancien Régime, highly sought after by the Parisian bourgeois clientele of the late nineteenth century.
Through the liveliness of the brushwork, the care given to textiles, and the animation of the crowd, these paintings are close to the works of contemporaries such as Cesare Augusto Detti, Federico Andreotti, and Vittorio Reggianini, who were also active between Italy and Paris.

biography

Gustavo Simoni (1845–1926) was an Italian painter born in Rome who studied at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. From 1877 onward, Simoni began traveling throughout Europe (France, Spain) and especially in North Africa (Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, where he settled for several years).
These travels nourished his inspiration and oriented him toward Orientalism, a nineteenth-century European artistic movement depicting life in the Maghreb and the Middle East, of which he became one of the leading Italian representatives. His works depict caravans, North African markets, street scenes, musicians, and Berber figures with realism and a keen sense of detail.
He won a gold medal at the Paris Salon of 1889 with his monumental scene The Burning of Persepolis. In the 1890s, he opened a studio in Paris and founded an Orientalist painting school in Rome to train young artists. He contributed to the Società degli Acquarellisti Romani (Association of Roman Watercolorists), and his works are now held in collections and museums around the world, notably in Glasgow, Leipzig, Melbourne, and New York.

bibliography

• • Crespelle, Jean‑Paul, La vie artistique au temps de la Belle Époque, Paris, 1966
• • Conisbee, Philip, Painting in 19th‑Century France, London, 1990
• • Expositions de peintres de genre mondain à Paris (catalogues de salons, 1875–1900)

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“The Swing” and “The Archery”

France
18th Century

Oil on canvas mounted on wood

Height : 60 cm (23,6 in.) ; Length : 84 cm (33 in.)

A beautiful pair of paintings, one depicting Cupids playing on a swing on a tree trunk, and the other representing Cupids shooting bows and setting traps, all in a rural landscape.
The paintings are decorated at the corners with gilded rosettes, and surrounded by a frame decorated with interlacing.

These scenes of playing Cupids are characteristic of the charming subjects popular in 18th century France, one of the greatest artists of which being François Boucher (1703-1770).

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Painter (1852-1926)

« Thwarted Love  »

Signed Lionel Royer and dated 1882 (?)

French School
Oil on canvas

Former Salon exhibition label at the top right, n°538
Indication of an exhibition in Lyon on the back of the frame, n°163

Height : 169 cm (66,5 in.) ; Width : 130 cm (51,2 in.) ; Depth : 12 cm (4,7 in.)

Beautiful painting illustrating a theme taken from romantic literature and pastoral novels of the 19th century: impossible love. It depicts an embracing couple, whose love is highlighted by symbols such as the pair of doves above them and the flowering rose bushes. They seem to be of different social classes, a shepherd, and the woman, married, dressed more elegantly. Their love seems to overcome these obstacles, as evidenced by the presence of a spinning wheel in the background, symbol of perseverance.

This theme of impossible love has been evoked since Antiquity (Orpheus and Eurydice in Ovid’s Metamorphoses), in the Middle Ages (Tristan and Yseult or Héloïse and Abelard) and of course in the 19th century (Le Rouge et Le Noir by Stendhal, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë), and illustrated in painting on numerous occasions.

Biography

Lionel-Noël Royer, born December 25, 1852 in Château-du-Loir and died June 30, 1926 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, studied painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris, where he was a student of Alexandre Cabanel and William Bouguereau. Exhibiting at the Salon from 1874, he obtained a 3rd class medal in 1884 and a 2nd class medal in 1896. He won the first Grand Prix de Rome in painting in 1882 and a bronze medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Renowned portraitist, commentator of his time (he painted Dreyfus in his prison for Le Petit Journal), Lionel Royer is best known as a history painter. Marked by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 in which he participated, he seeks to exalt the emblematic figures of French glory, such as Jeanne D’Arc and Vercingétorix. His best-known works are Vercingétorix jette ses armes aux pieds de César  (1899, Crozatier museum in Puy-en-Velay) and the decoration of the basilica of Domrémy dedicated to Joan of Arc. In memory of his participation in the Battle of Loigny, he gave two paintings to the new reconstructed church of this village, one representing the mass heard by the Volunteers of the West before leaving for the battle and the second depicting the night of agony of General de Sonis on the battlefield. In 1897, he donated to the Maine Historical and Archaeological Society ten watercolor models representing the Life of Joan of Arc, executed to the tenth and presented in 1893 in the competition for the glass roofs of the Sainte-Croix Cathedral in Orléans, which he will not realize.

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France

Circa 1865

Oil on Canvas, Sculpted and Gilded Wood

Height : 180 cm (70,9 in.) ; Width : 63,5 cm (25 in.) ; Depth : 12 cm (4,7 in.)

Rare set of four paintings of allegories of Arts depicted by figures with putti: 

The Music, The Sculpture, The Painting and The Theater. 

The lowers parts are adorned by four bouquets of blooming flowers.

The whole is beautifully framed with delicately carved and gilded wooden shells, scrolls and palms.

Provenance

Collection of Baron Maurice Lemonnier

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Tapestry Manufacture (Founded in 1664)      

F. Boucher                                    

Painter (1703-1770)

Set of Four Tapestries with Pastoral scenes

France
1770

Tapestry, Giltwood

Each panel = Height : 206 cm (81,1 in.) ; Width : 56 cm (22 in.) ; Depth : 4 cm (1,5 in.)

Beautiful set of four tapestries from the Manufacture de Beauvais representing children’s pastorals. These tapestries were made after the paintings by François Boucher (1703-1770) delivered around 1751 to the marquise de Pompadour for her Château de Crécy. 

Presented in superimposed medallions with flowers and bordered with interlacing, these scenes are : 

– A shepardess and a gardener with the initials « F.B » on the base of the tree ;
– a fisherboy and a farmer signed on the stone on the right « Boucher 1780 Beauvais »
– a puppeteer and a spinner sat on a stone bench signed « Boucher » ;
– a musician and a butter maker signed on the bottom left « Boucher 1780 Beauvais »

They are surrounded by arched giltwood frames decorated with leaves.

related work

Set of four paintings by F. Boucher which decorated the Château de Crécy at the time of the marquise de Pompadour.
It became the property of the duc de Penthièvre in 1757 with all its furniture. The latter resold the castle in 1775 without its collections, which he installed in the Château de Sceaux.
Sold during the Revolution, the paintings were bought in 1862 by the duc de Trévise, and reinstalled in the Château de Sceaux until 1923, date of its sale to the Seine department. Reappeared on the art market during the Rouillac sale of June 10th, 2018, the paintings were preempted by the Château de Sceaux to join their collections (inventory n° 2018.1.1 ; 2018.1.4 ; 2018.1.2 ; 2018.1.3 ; 2018.1.4) and are exposed Salle Penthièvre.

biography

François Boucher (1703-1770) perfected his learning of oil painting from François Lemoyne. He won the Grand Prize for Painting in 1723. Approved at the Academy of painting and sculpture, he was admitted there in 1734. He had a brilliant career, knew all the honors, receiving incessant royal commissions and worked for the leading personages of the court of the King Louis XV, as Madame de Pompadour. It also provided cartons for the production of tapestries, such as from 1750 the Loves of the Gods commissioned by Oudry who was the director of the Manufacture de Beauvais. Undisputed master of the rococo style, a precious and sensual painter, known during his lifetime as “the Painter of the Graces”, he was however since 1760 increasingly shunned by the public and critics who turned their favor into neoclassical art. It was therefore only in the second half of the nineteenth century, when Empress Eugenie reinvented her 18th century taste, the Goncourt brothers rediscovered then the most representative painter, François Boucher.

The Royal Tapestry Factory of Beauvais was created in 1664 by Jean-Baptiste Colbert to compete with the tapestry factories of Flanders in order to meet the requirements of his mercantilist policy and reduce imports. Unlike the Manufacture des Gobelins, whose production was essentially intended for the King, the Manufacture de Beauvais was originally a company oriented towards the private market. Production is then limited to simple subjects such as verdures. Since the direction of Philippe Béhagle (1641-1705) merchant-upholsterer to the king, originally from Flanders and trained at the Gobelins, the factory has called on recognized artists to provide cartoons, such as Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer or Jacques Duplessis, replaced by Jean -Baptiste Oudry in 1726.
It is to the latter that the management is entrusted until his death in 1755, which corresponds to the most remarkable period in the history of the manufacture. Under the artistic direction of Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Beauvais relied on an international network of exhibition stores established in Paris, Leipzig or Regensburg by the previous directors to develop its exports to the whole of Europe, creating immense hangings.  The collaboration between the painters Oudry and François Boucher largely contributed to this success.
At that time, large productions of tapestries for seats matching the patterns of the hangings were made, thus creating very homogeneous decorative ensembles. Despite its success with private customers, the Beauvais factory owed its survival to annual orders from the royal furniture repository. The factory employed several hundred workers during the French Revolution and on October 8, 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to make it a state factory.
The weavings of Beauvais were of an exceptional quality, comparable to those of Gobelins. The factory was particularly renowned for seat upholstery. During the 19th century, the manufacture declined. The 20th century marked the revival of the Manufacture with the collaboration of great contemporary artists.

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French School

France
Circa 1840

Oil on canvas

Dimensions with frame : Height : 61 cm (24 in.) ; Width : 51 cm (20 in.)

Charming pair of paintings representing young women in well-off interiors during their music lesson, one illustrating a singing lesson and the other a cello lesson.

The theme of the music lesson, abundantly represented since the 17th century in Europe, was particularly appreciated in the 18th century in France by painters such as Boucher or Fragonard,  who transformed this simple genre scene into a gallant scene, transforming the student-teacher relationship into a young woman-suitor.

However, in these paintings, the game of seduction is absent as indicated by the presence of a third person in both scenes, a maid in one and a young boy holding a violin in the other, probably also preparing to have a lesson too.

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Painter
(1853-1920)

Gondola ride in Venice

Milan – 1889

Dimensions without frame : Height : 89 cm (35 in.) ; Width : 139 cm (54,7 in.)
Dimensions with frame : Height : 121 cm (47,6 in.) ; Width : 169 cm (66,5 in.)

Picturesque scene of a family ride in gondola on a canal in Venice.

Unlike the Eighteenth-century painters who portray Venice in a very architectural way with the genre of the « veduta » (based on the perspective representation of an urban landscape), Giacomo Mantegazza uses the city as a simple background for his genre scenes, as he did many times for gallant themes.

His fine and precise touch gives a great expressiveness to his models, usually placed at the center of very detailed compositions.

Biography

Born in Saronno in 1853 and dead in Cernobbio in 1920, Giacomo Mantegazza is a artist known for his many portaits and genre scenes. Student of Giuseppe Bertini, renowned for his frescoes, in the Brera Academy, he later specialized in Orientalist scenes, with representations of gypsies and harems.

Bibliography

– Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, Bénézit, éd. Gründ, 1976, vol. IX, p.159.
– Ottocento, Catalogo dell’Arte Italiana dell’Ottocento – n°31, Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori, Edizioni dell’Ottocento, 2002, p.295.

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Paintor (1825-1908)
French School

“ Le Moineau de Lesbie ”

Painting exposed at the Salon of 1861

Signed C. Brun and dated 1860
Oil on canvas

Dimensions with frame : Height : 116 cm (45.7 in.) ; Width : 144 cm (56.7 in.)
Dimensions without frame : Height : 85 cm (33.5 in.) ; Width : 118 cm (46.5 in.)

Atrium with a rich Pompeian decor in which a young woman lying on a bed is playing with a sparrow, not paying attention to the man sat at her feet.

This painting is a major work of art of C. G. Brun, well-know for the precision of his technic, by the elegance of its composition, the pureness of the colors, the refinement of the touch and the expressivity of the characters.

This rare intimist scene in an interior decorated in the Pompeian style perfectly illustrates the taste of the time for the discovery of the villas of Pompei, thanks to the archeological excavations of the 18th century and the books published about them. To arrange its interiors based on the models of the Pompeian villas is then a trend that the most important people of that time will follow, as the Prince Napoléon, cousin of the Emperor Napoléon III, who orders the construction of a splendid Pompeian villa on the Avenue Montaigne, of which nothing remains but a few pictures and a painting by Gustave Boulanger, dated 1861 and called  Répétition du « Joueur de flûte » et de la « Femme de Diomède » chez le Prince Napoléon.

This painting illustrates the poem « Fletus passeris Lesbiae » from the collection « Carmina » written by Catulle (87-54 av. J.-C.) : in his work, the author, in love with Lesbie, a married woman living in Rome, puts on a show a sparrow as the main center of interest of its mistress who neglects her suitor.

This theme, Le Moineau de Lesbie, has been represented many times in painting, like the version by Raphaël Poggi exposed at the Salon of 1865, or Lawrence Alma-Tadema in 1866 or Edward Poynter in 1907.

Painting exposed, as reference number 467 – Le Moineau de Lesbie, at the Salon of 1861 on the picture rail of the Palais des Champs-Elysées (Hall des sculptures et cimaises du salon de 1861/ Photographies par Richebourg, vue 17, BNF)

Biography

Charles Guillaume Brun, born in Montpellier in 1825 and died in Paris in 1908, was registered in 1847 at the Paris Beaux-Arts school, where he studied under the direction of François- Edouard Picot (1786-1868) and of Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889). His participation in the Paris Salon began in 1851 with genre subjects (Young girl doing her morning prayer), but as soon as 1853, he regularly sent Orientalist scenes, located in Algeria (Prayer in 1859, Rendez-vous in Constantine in 1861, Moorish woman in 1867), strongly architecturally designed, animated with sharp contrasts in lighting effects and showing a fine sensitivity while modulating his grays. In addition to numerous landscapes of Algeria, he was also known as military portraitist, painting accurately uniforms, and he naturally became official painter to the Ministry of War, where he worked with Alexandre Cabanel. He was also the author of decoration of churches, including that of Villemomble (Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, 1857). Brun became a member of the French Artists society from 1883.

Bibliography

– 1820-1920 – Les Petits Maitres De La Peinture, G. Schurr, Les Editions de l’amateur, Paris, 1975, t.V, p.32.

– Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, Bénézit, éd. Gründ, 1976, vol. II, p.887.

– Hall des sculptures et cimaises du salon de 1861/Photographies par Richebourg, Pierre-Ambroise Richebourg, 1861, vue 17

– Explication des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, gravure, lithographie et architecture des artistes vivants exposés au palais des Champs-Elysées le 1^er mai 1861, Charles de Mourgues Frères, Imprimeurs des musées impériaux, 1861

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« Deers in a landscape » 

France
Signed Saunier and dated 1819

Painting on porcelain, giltwood frame
Dimensions with frame: Height: 44 cm (17,3 in.); Width : 54 cm (21,3 in.)
Without frame : Height : 24 cm (9,4 in.) ; Width : 33 cm (13 in.)

A charming oval porcelain plaque painted with deers in a landscape, with a hovel in the background.

It is inserted in a giltwood frame with palms.

Paris Porcelain

Since the discovery of kaolin, needed material for the making of porcelain, porcelain factories also called porcelain manufactures are on the increase in all France and naturally in Paris. Most of those manufactures worked in the 18^th century under the protection of a member of the Royal family, such the comte de Provence, future Louis XVIII, who protected the Clignancourt manufacture. But during and the 19^th century, numerous pieces did bear no making mark. It was then almost imposssible to attribute them to any particular Parisian factory, hence the expression “Paris porcelain” or “Vieux Paris” including all those various productions.

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Painter
(1684-1721)
(In the taste of)

“Fêtes Galantes”
“Courtly Love” and “Inconstant Love”

French School
Late 19th Century

Oil on canvas
Measurements with frames : Height : 135 cm (53 in.) ; Width : 94 cm (37 in.) ; Depth : 6 cm (2,4 in.)

Magnificent pair of important paintings on the theme of “Fêtes galantes” and so dedicated to the art of seduction. One represents “Courtly Love”, where elegant couples walk in a park, talking and declaiming their sincere love. The other painting depicts young women and actors wooing less wisely near a gushing fountain, a lively and representative subject of “Inconstant Love”.

These works are reminiscent of the painter Antoine Watteau’s ones (1684-1721), the inventor of the “Fêtes galantes” theme, where the artist gave via these juxtaposed skits considerable importance to the attitudes and positions of bodies, expressing thus feelings in an outdoor setting.

The theme of “Fêtes galantes” quick to spur love trouble, treated with delicacy, were continued throughout the eighteenth century, thanks to the followers of Watteau, such as Jean-Baptiste Pater (1695-1736), Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743), François Boucher (1703-1770) and Jean- Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806 ).

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Painter
(Late 19th century)

“The three sisters”

Inscribed Cecilia Josuan, Colegio de N. S. del Huerto, Buenos Aires, 1896

Argentinian School

Height : 167 cm (65 3/4 in.) ; Width : 121 cm (47 2/3 in.)

A rare “fixé sous verre” painting using a combined technique of chromolithography for the faces and hands, and silk embroidery for the clothes and background drape. Representing three women holding each other’s hands.

Chromolithography technique uses thin paper motifs glued and varnished to integrate its support.

Commentary

Along from the rich Spanish legacy, Argentina is also very influenced since 19th century by European culture, notably Italian. Traces of American Indian culture are harder to find than in the other Latin America countries. During 19th century, with the National pride appears Argentina specific cultural themes. The Gaucho character, keeping the cattle in the Pampas, is recurrent in literature and particularly in poetry: Fausto (1866), by Estanilaslao del Campo, or Martin Fierro (1872), by José Hernandez, often considered to be an hymn to the Pampa. Painting also celebrates this genre with the works of painter Prilidiano Pueyrredon (1823-1870).

At the beginning of 19th century, painters in Latin America and particularly in Argentina are foreigners (French, Germans and British) named Costumbristas, painting folkloric landscapes and portraits much appreciated in Europe. During second part of 19th century, a national painting appears with internationally renowned painters such as Prilidiano Pueyrredon, Angel de La Valle or Eduardo Sivori. Sivori, student of Jean-Paul Laurens from 1882, is the first Argentina painter presented at the Paris Salon. Quite influenced at first by European styles and schools, these artists create, by the themes they choose to paint, a true Argentinean pictorial tradition.

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Painter
(1853-1892)

“The Saint-Cloud Fair”

Signed and dated F. Blayn, 1892

French School

Oil on canvas

Measurements with frame : Height : 117 cm (46 in.) ; Width : 138 cm (54 1/3 in.)

Painting exposed under n°127 at the 1892 Salon des Artistes français

Painting reproduced p. 157 of the “Catalogue Illustré des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture et gravure exposés au Champs-de-Mars le 7 mai 1892”

Genre scene presenting a mother in front of her trailer preparing her two girls to the circus of the Saint-Cloud Fair.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, during the holy Cloud pilgrimage, sumptuous feasts were given in the Saint-Cloud park. Each September, one of the oldest France funfairs gathered Parisians, merchants, showmen and actors.

Biography

Fernand Blayn (1853-1892) studied painting under Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889). He specialized in portraits and genre paintings depicting everyday-life scenes. F. Blayn exhibited from 1878 at the Salon of French Artists. He obtained a third class medal at the 1886 Salon and a bronze medal at the Salon of 1889. Dedicated to the circus, the composition of this painting, painted the year of the death of the artist, of flawless execution, is distinguished by fine and delicate tones. The expression of faces as the care given to the quality and texture of fabrics reveal the brilliant art of the artist.

Museology

– Segré City Hall, Wedding Room : Le Repas du Soir (1889)

– Picardie Museum, Amiens : Le Retour des Pêcheurs

Bibliography

Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, Bénézit, éd. Gründ, 1976, t.II, p.77

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Painter
(1798-1850)
(attributed to)

“Back from the fair”

French School

2nd quarter of the 19th century

Oil on canvas

Measurements with frame : Height : 40,5 cm (16 in.) ; Width : 49 cm (19 1/4 in.)

Biography

Born in 1798 in Mirecourt (Meurthe-et-Moselle Dept.), died in 1850 in Paris, Jean-Louis-Francois Demay was a painter specializing in genre scenes and landscapes. As a self-trained artist, Demay participated in the Paris Salon from 1827 until 1846. He then represented lively scenes depicting markets, fairs, festivals, and peasant life, at the time of the French Restoration (1815-1830).

Museology

The painted works made by Jean-François Demay are now either part of private collections, or exhibited in renowned museums, such as the Magnin Museum in Dijon, who own ‘The last Stop’ (oil on panel, Inv. 1938 F 266), or the Bordeaux Fine Arts Museum, who have ‘Landscape’ (oil on canvas, dated 1829, Inv. Bx E 714 ; Bx M 6553).

Bibliography

Les petits Maîtres de la peinture 1820-1920, Les Editions de l’Amateur, Paris, 1981, t.V.

Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, E. Bénézit, Editions Gründ, Paris, 1999, t. IV, p. 433.

J. Magnin, Un Cabinet d’un amateur parisien en 1922 – Peintures et dessins de l’école française, II, Paris, 1922 (n° 516).

Les Peintures françaises, catalogue sommaire illustré, Dijon musée Magnin, Paris 2000 (n° 143, p. 73 repr.).

Dictionnaire des peintres paysagistes français au XIXème siècle, Harambourg L., Neuchâtel, 1985, (p. 115; repr.).

Catalogue, Manciet C., Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture de Bordeaux, 1933, (p. 67, n° 238).

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