The Spanish Forger

A Courtly Scene with a Maiden Reading to a Prince and Princess

Provenance: Dr. George Hamilton, Massachusetts; and by descent. Private Collection, Ohio, until 2021. Exhibited: (Possibly) Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts (according to a handwritten inscription on the reverse). This drawing by an anonymous, 16th-century German hand presents a delightful scene of nymphs—mostly nude but some draped with cloth—making music in an outdoor setting. The composition is executed within a roundel and centers on the harpsichord played by the figure seen from behind. She is accompanied by a host of other instruments, including horns, a harp, and a lira da gamba played by figures gathered nearby, several of which are positioned along the curved edges of the visual field. Two satyrs observe the merrymaking—one leans on the harpsichord while the other holds aloft a cup, presumably of wine, adding a bacchic element to the revelry. The drawing was previously owned by Dr. George Hamilton, scholar of modern art and Director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown (1966–1977). Hamilton played...

Inscribed “159” in the upper right Provenance: (Possibly) The Van Goyen sketchbook which in 1845 belonged to Andrew Geddes, A.R.A. (1783-1844), London; his sale, Christie's, London,...

Provenance: Unidentified collector’s mark “D.G.R,” lower right (Lugt 757b) Wilhelm Suida (1877–1959), New York; by descent to: Robert L. and Bertina Suida Manning, New York, until 1996 Private Collection, USA This impressive drawing of the Assumption of the Virgin is the work of the Genoese artist Giovanni Battista Paggi. The son of a nobleman, Paggi received a humanist education and was a self-taught artist. According to Paggi’s first biographer, Raffaele Soprani, it was only after encountering Luca...

Provenance: Elsie de Woolfe, Lady Mendl, Paris; by whom given in 1950 to: Arlene Dahl, New York (until 2021) Inventive, whimsical, and fantastic; delightful, imaginative, and maca...

Provenance: Private Collection, UK After initial training under Justus Suttermans and Vincenzo Dandini, in 1673 Anton Domenico Gabbiani embar...

Provenance: Elsie de Woolfe, Lady Mendl, Paris; by whom given in 1950 to: Arlene Dahl, New York (until 2021) This delightful sheet is a newly rediscovered work by the eighteenth-ce...

FRANÇOIS MATHURIN ADALBERT, BARON DE COURCY (1805-1839) 'Le Negrito à l’ancre. Dans le port de la havanne' Indistinctly signed lower left Titled on the mount Pencil and watercolour, heightened with white, on paper, 24.8 x 34.6 cm Literature: The present watercolour will be illustrated in: - Prof. Manuel Garcia’s projected book on the disease and the slave trade provisionally titled “Fighting the Yellow Demon of Fever: The Struggle against Disease in the Illegal Slave Trade”. - Prof. Micael Zeuske’s forthcoming Global history of slave trade. Exhibited: Mexico City, 1998, Palacio Virreinal, El Barón de Courcy, illustrationes de un viaje, 1831-1833, no. 108 Note: Baron de Courcy was in the Caribbean in late 1832 and early 1833, following his tour of Mexico in 1832, on the last leg of his “Grand Voyage...

Black crayon and graphite with white heightening on blue handmade laid paper. Adhered at all four corners to a period support, on which the title and an illegible date (perhaps 1815) appear to be written in the artist's hand. ________ Aglio was born in Cremona is 1777 and his artistic talent was recognized early in his life. He was promised a place at the University in Milan by the Holy Roman Emperor, however, his formal education was upended before it even began by the invasion of Italy and Austria by Napoleon. Aglio joined the war effort and fought in a series of major battles near Venice before becoming seriously ill. At the age of about 23 he was released from duty, and traveled to Rome to focus on his health, and landscape painting. In Rome, Aglio studied with the renowned artist Campovecchio. At the invitation of well known British architect William Wilkins (designer of the National Gallery and University College London), Aglio relocated to London in 1803. He made London his permanent home, and married Letitia Clarke in 1805. He enjoyed a lucrative career painting frescoes in the interiors of high society townhouses, country manors, and major London concert halls and theaters. Most notably, Aglio painted multiple official portraits of Queen Victoria...

Speech is an original and unique drawing in ink on paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen, with sketches on the rear. The State of preservation is very good with the traces of time. ...

Tribuna della Basilica Labicana is an original old master artwork realized in 16th century by Giovanna Fontana. IIvory colored paper attached on an ivory colored sheet (cm 27 x 36.7...

France 18th Century, Pastorale (Arcadian Landscape) Black chalk and heightenings of white gouache on blue-grey paper 19 x 31 cm Framed : 34.5 x 46.5 cm The atmosphere and the subje...

Louis Lesueur (1746-1803) A Fantasy Landscape with ancient ruins, 1789, signed and dated "L Lesueur 1789" in the bottom centre Pen and ink and ink wash on paper 14.8 x 22 cm In goo...