David de Noter

Still Life, Flowers and Fruit

c. 1860s

Canvas size: 57 3/4 x 45 1/2 inches A striking and impressive French Academic painting in a high quality Italian style gold leaf frame. Gorguet was an Academic French artist who was trained by Boulanger, Gerome, Bonnat and Morot. His academic training was so strong that he was asked by the Opera House to illustrate many of their posters and he made his living illustrating many books of the time. In the market today this is most of what circulates and comes to light by the artist. He was ultimately made a professor of Drawings at L’Institut. However, Gorguet was also a Symbolist artist and did works aligned with the Art Nouveau movement. Many of these works are quite impressive but rarely have surfaced in the art market. Jupiter and Mercury Received by Philemon and Baucis is more of an Allegorical work and Gorguet switched gears to do a painting which would garner International attention at the important Concourse du Prix de Rome competition. 1891 was a year where the competition would be stiff and he knew he had to do an impressive painting with a compelling historical or allegorical content. In this painting, Gorguet is depicting their Jupiter and Mercury’s arrival at their home and the indication that Philemon and Baucis will share what they have with them despite their poverty-stricken means. The technical execution of this work is exceptional as the figurative work is done masterfully and any small detail within the canvas demonstrates tremendous attention of subtlety of tone and modeling. An example is the strand of cloth that crosses Jupiters chest and the delicate shades of pink and gray and how it is modeled. More than ever, the academic artists of this period are to be appreciated for the quality and creativeness of their work. And the timelessness of these classical allegories are still applicable to our lives today. So we predict a turn back toward work like this as qualitatively we know it will never be done again. Story of Jupiter and Mercury Visiting Philemon and Baucis (one interpretation) According to ancient Roman mythology and Ovid's Metamorphoses (8.631, 8.720.), Philemon and Baucis had lived out their long lives nobly, but in poverty. Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods, had heard of the virtuous couple, but based on all his previous experiences with humans, he had serious doubts as to their goodness. Jupiter was about to destroy mankind but was willing to give it one final chance before starting over again. So, in the company of his son Mercury, the wing-footed messenger god, Jupiter went about, disguised as a worn and weary traveler, from house to house among the neighbors of Philemon and Baucis. As Jupiter feared and expected, the neighbors turned him and Mercury away rudely. Then the two gods went to the last house...

Highly respected American painter Warren Sheppard depicts the fishing boats of Venice with their colorful sails along the still waters of the Adriatic Sea. Sheppard is famous for his...

A grand, elegant and Classic French still life of flowers! Can hold an entire room and long length of wall. Beautiful, opulent color tones so extra lighting is not necessary. Great presentation in the Empire style frame, 22 Karat. Undoubtedly Perrachon’s most ambitious canvas, it still has all of the qualities of his smaller rose paintings which gained him great recognition. As with any of the Lyon trained flower painters, Perrachon’s painting displays sound draughtsmanship, luminous colors and clever composition. This particular painting was exhibited at the Lyon Salon in 1898. Chez la Marchande de Fleurs presents a stunning array of blooms, among them roses and lilacs, set against a richly-textured ground. Perrachon creates a brilliant play of light against the baskets and pots of flowers, skillfully rendering highlight and shadow in order to create a sumptuous and beautiful composition. A flower and still life painter, André Perrachon was a student of Lepage at the Ecole des Beaux Arts of Lyon. Lyon produced an important and remarkable school of flower painters in the 19th century of which Perrachon is an excellent exponent. Perrachon debuted in the Paris salon in 1850 and won honorable mentions in both 1859 and 1863, continuing afterwards to exhibit regularly in the Paris and Lyon Salons. Perrachon was also a most popular art...

Antoine-Louis Barye was acclaimed as the finest sculptor of the French Animaliers School. As a 19th century sculptor he was an advocate for both naturalism and romanticism. This rear...

Max Kalish was an important and highly collected American sculptor desired for his depictions of the working man. Here we see a miner taking a break. Kalish was adept at conveying ...

In the 1950’s Donald Purdy embraced an abstract style of painting which was pervasive at the time. This painting is a perfect compliment to a room with mide modern furniture. In Ci...

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A large and very elegant portrait of a British lady thought to be Dame Anna Neagle, the British actress and singer. English School, 20th Century Portrait of a society lady thought t...

Oil on canvas Image size: 30 1/4 x 25 inches (77 x 63 cm) Original hand carved gilt frame Provenance Private Estate, England This is a very fine example of Kneller's work in the early 18th century. Here, the emphasis is placed directly on the sitter's alluring femininity, with this being enhanced by the falling hair around her shoulder. This looseness of focus is created with a free fluidity of brushstrokes. He has used a Rembrandt-esque technique of subtle tones in the face, and we can see how Kneller often allowed the bluer ground layer to show through when suggesting the darker flesh tones.The painterly technique seen here is an excellent demonstration of Kneller’s style. The bold handling of the flesh tones is Kneller at his most emphatic, while the sizeable areas of dark grey ground we see are indicative of his method of painting quickly, developed by this stage in his career to cope with the many demands of a large circle of patrons. The same effect is used for the shadows in the face: rather than paint darker colours on top of the pink flesh tones, as most artists would have done, Kneller instead painted in the reverse order, using the ground layer for his dark shadows, and then painting the lighter colours on top. Often he worked with an almost dry brush in strong firm strokes. Here the flesh tones have been rapidly, almost roughly painted, with bold areas of impasto giving way to areas where almost no paint has been applied at all, a trick that allowed Kneller to use the blue-grey ground layer to show darker flesh tones. Godfrey Kneller...

The art world today does not value traditional academic skills in portrait painting. If it did, this portrait would replace the childlike student-level art that is now achieving two...