Ubaldo Gandolfi

Study of Nude Man, a red chalk study by Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728 - 1781)

circa 1770

René-Paris Castaing, winner of the Grand Prix de Rome in 1924, left a large body of work, both sacred and secular. Many churches in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in South-West France still bear witness to the diversity of his talent. In 1942, he began a major decoration project for the Château de Diusse, in the north-east of the county, including an allegory of the four seasons. The vigorous pastel we are presenting here is a study for Spring, depicted as Flore undressing. This commission was a veritable swan song for the artist, who died a year later at the age of 47. 1. René-Marie Castaing, the great inter-war painter in Pau René-Marie Castaing was born in Pau on December 16th 1896. His father, Joseph Castaing, was also a painter: he was the official portraitist of Pau's high society, which was particularly cosmopolitan at the end of the century, when many rich foreigners spent the winter in Pau, taking advantage of the mild weather to enjoy an outdoor lifestyle punctuated by hunting, horse ridings and golf. René-Marie Castaing was admitted to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in April 1920 and entered the studio of Paul-Albert Laurens (1870-1934). In 1924, he was awarded the First Grand Prix de Rome for Painting, which earned him a stay at the Villa Médicis for more than three years. He then returned to Pau in 1928, where he lived until his death. Castaing's work is marked by the academic tradition, in which drawing plays as important a role as painting. Although his drawings are often sketches that help to set up large painted compositions, they stand as independent artworks in which the artist fully expresses the vivacity of his talent. Castaing was a fervent Christian and religious painting played an essential part in his work, as shown by the decorations he created for the churches of Bizanos, Borce, Bidache and Salies-de-Béarn. The painter also created several secular decorations, such as that for the dining room of the Villa Saint-Basil's in Pau in 1935, and the Hunting at the Albret’s time commissioned in 1940 by the Prefecture of Pau. The décor created in 1942-1943 for the Château de Diusse, a mansion located north-east of Pau, was his last large-scale décor, as the painter died shortly after its completion on December 8th 1943. 2. Description of the drawing Our pastel depicts an eminently secular theme: Spring is embodied by Flore, crouching on the ground with one knee touching the ground. She reveals her ample bosom by removing her shirt, her arms raised above her shoulders to undress. Given Castaing's classical training at the Beaux-Arts and the influence of ancient statuary...

We would like to thank Juliette Parmentier-Courreau of the Custodia Foundation for her welcome and support during the consultation of Glomy’s Journal des Ouvrages. This spectacularly large "feuille de desseins ajustés" commissioned by François Boucher from Jean-Baptiste Glomy is emblematic of the painter's art and mastery of rocaille. It is also fully representative of the taste of this period in the field of decorative arts. The largest of these three drawings, placed at the bottom of the composition, is particularly interesting: dating from around 1756, it constitutes a modello (apparently unpublished) for the frontispiece of the "Catalogue des tableaux de Monsieur de Julienne"), preserved in the Morgan Library in New York. 1. François Boucher, the master of French rocaille The extraordinary career of Francois Boucher was unmatched by his contemporaries in versatility, consistency and output. For many, particularly the writers and collectors who led the revival of interest in the French rococo during the last century, his sensuous beauties and plump cupids represent the French eighteenth century at its most typical. His facility with the brush, even when betraying the occasional superficiality of his art, enabled him to master every aspect of painting – history and mythology, portraiture, landscape, ordinary life and, as part of larger compositions, even still life. He had been trained as an engraver, and the skills of a draftsman, which he imbued in the studio of Jean-Francois Cars (1661 – 1738), stood him in good stead throughout his career; his delightful drawings are one of the most sought-after aspects of his oeuvre. As a student of Francois Lemoyne (1688 - 1737), he mastered the art of composition. The four years he spent in Italy, from 1727-1731, educated him in the works of the masters, classics and history, that his modest upbringing had denied him. On his return to Paris in 1734, he gained full membership of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture with his splendid Rinaldo and Armida (Paris, Musée du Louvre). Although, throughout his career, he occasionally painted subjects taken from the Bible, and would always have considered himself first as a history painter, his own repertoire of heroines, seductresses, flirtatious peasant girls and erotic beauties was better suited to a lighter, more decorative subject matter. His mastery of technique and composition enabled him to move from large scale tapestry...

This spectacular red chalk drawing depicts an elderly woman, her eyes bulging, her hand stretched out towards the sky. This disturbing character, who seems close to dementia, and the elongation of her arm with its Mannerist overtones, plunge us into the Florentine artistic milieu of the first half of the 17th century. The proximity of this drawing to some characters in the fresco in the Pitti Palace representing The Muses, Poets and Philosophers chased from Parnassus, the last masterpiece of Giovanni da San Giovanni, leads us to propose an attribution to this artist and a dating of around 1635-1636. 1. Giovanni da San Giovanni, the painter of contradiction We take here the title of the monography dedicated to the artist by Anna Banti in 1977, which remains the reference book for this artist. The son of a notary, Giovanni Mannozzi, known as Giovanni da San Giovanni, abandoned his studies to go to Florence at the age of sixteen, where he entered the studio of Matteo Rosselli (1578 - 1650) around 1609 and enrolled in the Academy of Drawing Arts in 1612. Around 1615 he produced his first known works, mainly frescoes for the city's tabernacles. He became famous in Florence for his originality, combining an obsessive application to the study of drawing and the reading of poetry and history with a disheveled appearance. Between 1619 and 1620 he decorated the facade of the Antella Palace in Piazza Santa Croce, a decoration that still partly survives today. The death of Cosimo II in 1621 put an end to the Florentine building activity and Giovanni da San Giovanni left for Rome to find other sponsors with the painter Francesco Furini...

This beautiful drawing, of great technical virtuosity, is one of the many studies made by Ingres for Astraea, one of the key characters in the Golden Age fresco he painted between 18...

In this lively and fresh drawing, probably taken from one of the artist's notebooks, Pajou presents us with a composition freely inspired by antiquity, as a souvenir of a visit to th...

This painting seduced us with its rich colors. Depicting Diana and her companions surprised by Actaeon, it was inspired by an engraving by Aegidius Sadeler II after a painting by Jos...

Figurative Sketches Italian School, mid 18th century circle of Pompeo Batoni (1707-1787) charcoal and pencil, heightened with white chalk, unframed...

Wasim Kapoor - Untitled - 24 x 24 inches ( unframed size ) Conte on Canvas. This work will be despatched in a roll form. Style : Wasim Kapoor is an artist possessed by the dark emo...

Wasim Kapoor - Untitled - 24 x 24 inches ( unframed size ) Conte on Canvas. This work will be despatched in a roll form. Style : Wasim Kapoor is an artist possessed by the dark emo...

This framed 20" x 14" painting in a surrealist style by artist Leonard Kaplan depicts three nude figures crowded together, sitting and standing with a white bird obscured by the dark shadows. Predominant colors are red, orange, black, and cream. The painting is on paper and masonite framed behind glass in a silver metal frame. Leonard Kalan is known for surrealism and figure paintings. He died in California in 2008. Leonard was born January 15, 1922 in New York City and won a scholarship in 1940 to study at the Art Student League under Reginald Marsh and William Pair. He won an art scholarship to New York University in the late 1930's. He studied art at the Henry Street...

French artist Georges Lucien Guyot (1885 - 1972) signed this charming woman nude study. This painting features a lovely design of a woman getting out of the bath and wiping with a towel. Only a few lines in charcoal and red chalk or sanguine mark the silhouette and posture and capture the model's expression. The red color emphasizes the color of the skin and imbues the lascivious movement. The sketches of the bath towel are only suggested, but it gives the whole thing a lot of softness and an incredible illusion of movement. Signed on the bottom left corner: Georges Lucien Guyot. The artist used a technique named "sanguine," or red chalk or crayon. The drawing has a blood-red, reddish, or flesh coloration. It has been popular for centuries for drawing employed by 15th and 16th Century artists such as the great masters like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The drawing is ornate with a contemporary wood frame with a red and yellow deep-textured pattern and an off-white matte with acrylic glass protection. Measurements: With Frame: 20.87 in. wide (53 cm) x 28.35 in. high (72 cm) x 1 in. deep (2.5 cm). View alone: 11.44 in. wide (29 cm) x 18.94 in. high (48 cm). About: Georges Lucien Guyot (born December 10, 1885, in Paris, where he died December 31, 1972) is a French artist, sculptor, and painter. From an early age, Georges Guyot showed artistic abilities, but the modest conditions of his parents did not allow him to study art. So he did his apprenticeship with a wood sculptor. Guyot excelled in copying works from the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries but rapidly showed an attraction for nature. This attraction led him to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, where he could study wild animals and translate his observations into sculptures and paintings. A familiar figure of Montmartre, Georges Guyot was the guest of the Bateau-Lavoir from the time of Cubism. In 1931, he joined the group of Twelve, created by François Pompon and Jane Poupelet...

Raphael DELORME (1886-1962) Study of a woman in profile Watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper Illegible annotation in the lower right corner 31 x 20 cm Small needle holes at the to...