Mstislav Dobuzhinsky

Study for a Stage Design

Early 20th Century

Italian School, 16th Century Provenance: Private Collection, New York This intriguing drawing is a study by an anonymous 16th-century Italian artist after a vignette in Michelangelo’s fresco of The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. The altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was already richly decorated when Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint his Last Judgment...

Florentine, Probably Seventeenth Century Titled L’ultime parti note nel Indie occidentali Dated on the edge of the cartouche: “M.D. LXIII. M.AG” [1564…the month of August] In the 1560s Cosimo I de’Medici, the powerful Duke of Florence, undertook a major renovation of the Palazzo Vecchio, the venerable palace that to this day dominates the city at the Piazza della Signoria. For the Sala della Guardaroba, literally the wardrobe room, but in fact the storeroom of the Duke’s most precious holdings, Cosimo conceived of a grand decorative project that was to reflect in one space the entire cosmos --both an indication of the Duke’s ambition and an allusion to his name. The plan, supervised by Giorgio Vasari, involved the construction of walnut cabinets to contain the Medici treasures, on the outside doors of which were to be placed large hand-painted maps specially commissioned to document and illustrate the current knowledge of the world. Portraits of famous men were to decorate the tops of the cabinets and two large globes –one representing the terrestrial world, the other celestial—were to descend from openings in the ceiling. The commission for the maps, inspired by Ptolemy’s Geographia, was given to the celebrated mathematician and cosmographer, Fra Egnazio Danti (Perugia 1536-1585 Alatri). Fifty-three maps were ultimately created. Thirty were conceived and executed by Danti between 1563 and 1575. The remaining twenty-three were completed by Stefano Bonsignori between 1576 and 1686. They remain in place in Florence in the room for which they were created. The present work is an exact-size painted, drawn and inscribed copy of Danti’s map of California...

Signed and inscribed on a label on the verso: No. 1/ The Argument/ W. Cave Thomas/ 203 Camden Rd/ NW Provenance: Christie’s, London, 6 November 1995, lot 88. Private Collection, London. This powerful watercolor is a mature work by the little-known Victorian painter William Cave Thomas...

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,...

Signed, dated, and inscribed on the verso: Malvina Hoffman/ Den Pasar/ “Nipolog”-/ © 1932/ Bali Provenance: The artist; her estate. Literature: Mal...

Signed and inscribed, lower center: Joseph / Ramanankamonjy / Madagascar / Petite fille / “aquarelle sur soie” Provenance: Private Collection, Paris Private Collection, Florida Som...

An original mixed media drawing by American artist A.J. Fries.

"The Dance" by Ludovico Lipparini is a beautifully rendered work on paper in the classical tradition using graphite and gouache and created in the f...

Delicate kimono by Patricia A. Pearce (American, b. 1948). This piece has an iridescent quality to the coloration. This piece is unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of other...

Sketch for Minoff's painting October 3:30 PM.

Signed lower left, 'A. Manganaro' for 'Antonio Manganaro (Italian, 20th Century), and titled lower center, 'Ability of the Working Classes to Enjoy Meals Under Humble Surroundings'. ...

Signed lower right, 'C.A. Bartels' for Cornelius Anton Bartels (Dutch, born 1890) and painted circa 1945. A still-life with a sculpture of the Daoist immortal, Liu Haichan...