Arthur Spooner

Renowned portraitist Frank West Benson paints a young woman by the fireplace reclining in a chair in his artwork entitled, “Firelight.”

Dove, Arthur (American, 1880-1946). OIL BOAT. Watercolor and crayon on paper, 1932. Signed "Dove," lower right. Provenance, Alfred Stieglitz, American Place Gallery; Terry Dintenfass...

The artist: Henri Aime Duhem (1860-1941) French *see notes below, signed Title: The Parkland Medium: signed gouache on paper, loosely laid over card, ...

This early 20th-century oil painting by Danish artist Michael Therkildsen (1850-1925) depicts a rural landscape with a standing bull, resting cattle, chickens and thatched buildings. It’s skillfully rendered and demonstrates the artist’s keen understanding of anatomy. The cottage in the upper right, which is nestled into trees, is also a charming addition. Hans Michael Therkildsen was an accomplished Danish painter of landscapes, rural scenes, interiors and animals. He trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and later under Laurits Tuxen and Frans Schwartz...

This late 19th-century oil painting by Belgian artist Isidore Verheyden (1846-1905) depicts a small farmyard. Snuffling and grunting amid the grubby hay, a chubby pig with a muddy n...

A wonderful image of an English country cottage set in a meadow with cattle grazing. Franklin White (1892-1975) A cottage in the countryside Signed with initials and dated (19)32 Oi...

Near the sea. Cardboard, oil, 17x27 cm Laimdots Murnieks has said: "I am a sunny artist. The sun and a woman are the center of the world. It is not for nothing that the sun always c...

Netherlands, 1870-1951 Constant Artz is the painter of the well-known extremely friendly and sunny scenes with a duck with young ones on the side of a ditch. He was born in Paris in...

Provenance: Torres Family Collection, Asunción, Paraguay, ca. 1967-2017 While the genre of portraiture flourished in the New World, very few examples of early Spanish colonial portraits have survived to the present day. This remarkable painting is a rare example of female portraiture, depicting a member of the highest echelons of society in Cuzco during the last quarter of the 17th century. Its most distinctive feature is the false beauty mark (called a chiqueador) that the sitter wears on her left temple. Chiqueadores served both a cosmetic and medicinal function. In addition to beautifying their wearers, these silk or velvet pouches often contained medicinal herbs thought to cure headaches. This painting depicts an unidentified lady from the Creole elite in Cuzco. Her formal posture and black costume are both typical of the established conventions of period portraiture and in line with the severe fashion of the Spanish court under the reign of Charles II, which remained current until the 18th century. She is shown in three-quarter profile, her long braids tied with soft pink bows and decorated with quatrefoil flowers, likely made of silver. Her facial features are idealized and rendered with great subtly, particularly in the rosy cheeks. While this portrait lacks the conventional coat of arms or cartouche that identifies the sitter, her high status is made clear by the wealth of jewels and luxury materials present in the painting. She is placed in an interior, set off against the red velvet curtain tied in the middle with a knot on her right, and the table covered with gold-trimmed red velvet cloth at the left. The sitter wears a four-tier pearl necklace with a knot in the center with matching three-tiered pearl bracelets and a cross-shaped earing with three increasingly large pearls. She also has several gold and silver rings on both hands—one holds a pair of silver gloves with red lining and the other is posed on a golden metal box, possibly a jewelry box. The materials of her costume are also of the highest quality, particularly the white lace trim of her wide neckline and circular cuffs. The historical moment in which this painting was produced was particularly rich in commissions of this kind. Following his arrival in Cuzco from Spain in the early 1670’s, bishop Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo actively promoted the emergence of a distinctive regional school of painting in the city. Additionally, with the increase of wealth and economic prosperity in the New World, portraits quickly became a way for the growing elite class to celebrate their place in society and to preserve their memory. Portraits like this one would have been prominently displayed in a family’s home, perhaps in a dynastic portrait gallery. We are grateful to Professor Luis Eduardo Wuffarden for his assistance cataloguing this painting on the basis of high-resolution images. He has written that “the sober palette of the canvas, the quality of the pigments, the degree of aging, and the craquelure pattern on the painting layer confirm it to be an authentic and representative work of the Cuzco school of painting...

Mid Century Modern Abstracted Landscape, Big Sur Coast Cliffs Colorful mid-century landscape of jagged cliffs along the dramatic Big Sur coastline by an unknown artist. Unsigned. P...

Provenance: Charles H. and Virginia Baldwin, Claremont, Colorado Springs, Colorado ca. 1907-1934; thence by descent until sold in 1949 to: Charles Blevins Davis, Claremont (renamed Trianon), Colorado Springs 1949 -until gifted in 1952 to: The Poor Sisters of Saint Francis, Trianon, Colorado Springs, 1952 until acquired, 1960, by: John W. Metzger, Trianon, renamed as the Trianon School of Fine Arts, Colorado Springs, 1960-1967; when transferred to: The Metzger Family Foundation, Trianon Art Museum, Denver, 1967 - 2004; thence by descent in the Metzger Family until 2015 Exhibited: Trianon Art Museum, Denver (until 2004) The present work is a spectacular jewel-like canvas by Amigoni, rich in delicate pastel colors, most likely a modello for an altarpiece either lost or never painted. In it the Madonna stands firmly upon a cloud in the heavens, her Child resting on a delicate veil further supported by a cloud, as he gently wraps his arm around his mother’s neck. From above angels prepare to lower flowers and a wreath, while other angels and seraphim surrounding the two joyfully cavort. Dr. Annalisa Scarpa, author of the forthcoming monograph on Jacopo Amigoni...

Léon François Comerre 1850-1916 French L'odalisque à l'éventail (The Odalisque with the Fan) Signed "Léon Comerre" (upper left) Oil on canvas Combinin...