18th Century More Art

This magnificent and exceptionally decorative portrait of a young woman is one of those early Georgian images in which likeness, sumptuous colour and symbolic meaning combine to unus...

Salla Alla Muhammad An-Nabi - Arabic Calligraphy is a beautiful and precious manuscript with Islamic Sacred Verses in an ancient calligraphy style. One page, one-sided, in Arabic, ...

Portrait of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (1754–1801), later Emperor Paul I of Russia After Alexander Roslin (1718–1793) Oil on canvas, oval, late 18th century This is an exceptionally handsome and historically resonant eighteenth-century portrait, uniting the immediacy of an intimate likeness with the authority of one of the defining dynastic images of Imperial Russia. Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, the future Emperor Paul I, turns towards the spectator with a composed, almost conversational expression, his youthful face emerging softly from the restrained brown background. The rich scarlet of his coat, the deep blue of the sash and the flashes of gold, lace and jewelled decoration give the picture remarkable visual distinction, while the oval format concentrates attention upon the sitter’s face and magnificent ceremonial attire. Painted during the eighteenth century, the present work is a contemporary reduced version of Alexander Roslin’s monumental state portrait of 1777, now in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Roslin’s full-length original measures approximately 265 by 168 centimetres; here, its essential elements have been reformulated as a more intimate portrait suitable for display within an aristocratic residence, diplomatic household or private cabinet. Pavel is dressed in the height of European court fashion of the later 1770s. His scarlet habit à la française comprises a close-fitting coat and elaborately embroidered waistcoat, enriched with scrolling metallic ornament, floral motifs and a sequence of large decorative buttons. The shoulder is finished with a densely worked epaulette-like band, while a white linen stock and delicate lace jabot frame the face. His powdered hair is dressed in the fashionable bag-wig, drawn back and tied with a broad black silk ribbon. Although the costume is unmistakably Russian in its dynastic significance, its cut and ornament belong to the international language of court dress then prevailing from Versailles and Vienna to Stockholm and St Petersburg. In Roslin’s original full-length composition, the costume was completed by matching scarlet breeches, silk stockings, buckled shoes, a sword and a plumed tricorne, all identifying Pavel as both a prince of the blood and a cultivated participant in the ceremonial life of Europe’s great courts. Across his breast passes the broad blue watered-silk sash of the Imperial Order of St Andrew the First-Called, the senior Russian order of chivalry established by Peter the Great. The sash, conventionally worn from the right shoulder towards the left hip, proclaimed the sitter’s position at the summit of the imperial hierarchy. Superimposed upon it is the red-enamelled cross of the Order of St Anna, surrounded in the portrait by scintillating, jewel-like highlights. The cross had a particular dynastic resonance: the order had been founded by Pavel’s paternal grandfather, Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp, in memory of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. Pavel’s display of the two orders therefore asserted not only rank and honour, but his descent from the founder of Imperial Russia and his inheritance through the Romanov and Holstein-Gottorp lines. Contemporary portraits similarly identify Pavel through the blue sash and star of St Andrew and the red cross of St Anna. Born in St Petersburg in 1754, Pavel Petrovich was the only son of Grand Duke Peter Fyodorovich, later Emperor Peter III, and Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeyevna, the future Catherine the Great. Through his father he was a great-grandson of Peter the Great and inherited the Romanov and Holstein-Gottorp bloodlines; through his mother, born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, he was connected to the extensive network of German princely houses that shaped eighteenth-century European dynastic politics. His childhood was dominated by the uncertainties of imperial succession. Soon after his birth, the Empress Elizabeth removed him to her own household and assumed control of his upbringing. Educated under the statesman Nikita Panin, Pavel studied history, geography and mathematics and became fluent in Russian, French and German. He was eight when his father ascended the throne in 1762, only to be deposed by Catherine within months and to die shortly afterwards in confinement. Although Pavel remained the acknowledged heir, Catherine ruled for another thirty-four years and excluded him from meaningful political authority. He was therefore publicly honoured as the future sovereign while being denied the practical experience of government. In 1773 he married Princess Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, who converted to Orthodoxy as Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna. She died in April 1776 after a prolonged labour, together with her stillborn child, leaving Pavel widowed and the succession unsecured. A second marriage was arranged within months. His new bride was Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, daughter of Friedrich Eugen, later Duke of Württemberg, and Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Raised at Montbéliard in a cultivated German princely household, she converted to Orthodoxy as Maria Feodorovna and married Pavel in October 1776. The union strengthened Russia’s links with Württemberg and Brandenburg-Prussia, but also became an enduring domestic and cultural partnership. Maria was intelligent and artistically gifted, practising drawing, embroidery, ivory carving and hardstone work, while collecting books and decorative art and later supporting charitable and educational institutions. The couple had ten children, nine of whom survived childhood. Their eldest son, Alexander, succeeded Pavel as Emperor Alexander I and ruled during the Napoleonic era; their younger son Nicholas later became Emperor Nicholas I. Constantine Pavlovich became a prominent military figure and briefly stood at the centre of the succession crisis of 1825. Their daughters married into leading European dynasties: Alexandra into the Austrian imperial family, Elena into Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Maria into Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Catherine into Württemberg and Anna into the Dutch royal house. Through their children, Pavel and Maria extended Romanov influence across much of Europe. The birth of Alexander in 1777 secured the succession and prompted Catherine to give the couple the estate that became Pavlovsk, south of St Petersburg. Its Neoclassical palace, begun by Charles Cameron in the early 1780s, became closely associated with Maria’s artistic interests, family life and refined sociability. Gatchina, by contrast, reflected Pavel’s more martial character. There he developed his own court and pursued his interests in military organisation, ceremony and administrative discipline. In 1781–82 Pavel and Maria travelled through Europe as the Count and Countess of the North, visiting royal courts, artists, manufactories and antiquities collections. They acquired paintings, furniture, bronzes, sculpture, textiles and porcelain, helping to make Pavlovsk one of Russia’s most sophisticated expressions of international Neoclassical taste. Yet Catherine continued to restrict their independence, taking charge of the upbringing of Alexander and Constantine just as Empress Elizabeth had once removed Pavel from his own parents. This repetition deepened the estrangement between mother and son. Pavel finally succeeded Catherine in 1796, aged forty-two. His reign lasted little more than four years, but his Act of Succession of 1797 established male-line primogeniture and ended much of the uncertainty surrounding the Russian imperial succession. His attempts to regulate the court, army and administration, and to reverse elements of Catherine’s policies, alienated powerful members of the nobility and officer corps. In March 1801 he was assassinated during a palace coup at the Mikhailovsky Castle and was succeeded by Alexander. This knowledge lends the portrait particular poignancy: Pavel appears not as the embattled emperor of his final years, but as the elegant young heir at a moment when marriage, dynasty and the anticipated birth of a son seemed to promise stability and renewal. Roslin’s portrait should be understood within this urgent dynastic context. The Swedish painter had travelled to St Petersburg in 1775 at the personal invitation of Catherine II and was commissioned to paint monumental state portraits of the Empress, Pavel and Maria Feodorovna. The pendant portraits of the young couple presented the heir and his new wife as the polished, fertile and internationally connected future of the Romanov dynasty. Roslin recorded in 1777 that the ruling family had ordered multiple copies. At least six versions of Pavel’s portrait and twelve of Maria’s are known, and such replicas were distributed as courtly and diplomatic gifts. A pair was presented to James Harris, later First Earl of Malmesbury, then the British ambassador to Russia. The existence of numerous eighteenth-century replicas was therefore not accidental or merely commercial: repetition was integral to the commission’s political purpose. Each version extended the official image of succession from the imperial palace into allied courts, embassies and aristocratic collections. The present portrait belongs to that wider culture of dynastic dissemination. Rather than reproducing Roslin’s entire monumental setting, with its architectural balustrade, extensive Neva prospect, sword, hat and full ceremonial costume, the painter has selected the head and upper body and adapted them to an oval. This transformation changes the character of the image. The grandeur of the original remains legible in the orders, costume and confident turn of the figure, but the reduced composition produces a greater sense of proximity to Pavel himself. The face becomes dominant, and the future emperor appears less as a remote emblem of state than as a recognisable young man. The type also circulated through prints: an oval engraved version published in 1781 and now represented in the British Museum demonstrates how rapidly Roslin’s conception entered the broader visual culture of late-eighteenth-century Europe. The artistic economy in which the portrait was created differed substantially from the modern open market. In Catherine’s Russia, the most prestigious portrait production was sustained by imperial commissions, aristocratic patronage and diplomatic gift-giving. Roslin’s success was extraordinary: during approximately two years in Russia he received around seventy-five commissions, many of which had to be completed after his return west. The appetite for his work reflected both the wealth of the Russian court and its determination to present itself through the most polished international style available. Alongside imported masters such as Roslin, Russia was developing its own institutional artistic culture. The Academy of the Three Noble Arts had been founded in St Petersburg in 1757 and was elevated by Catherine in 1764 to the Imperial Academy of Arts. It recruited European teachers, trained Russian...

This marble bust unites worldly refinement and death in a single figure. The carefully carved costume and jewelry suggest social status and personal identity, while the skull replace...

Melanie Sherman Vintage Moth X (Wall Piece/Dish (hand-painted) Porcelain, Glaze, Overglaze, Chinapaints, 24k German Gold Luster, Brass Wire (for hanging, can be removed) Year: 2025 S...

18th century silk embroidered art work. Depicting children and fairy tales. It is very rare for works from this time period to depict a black...

Portrait of a Young Lady, probably British c.1730–1740 Attributed to Jeremiah Davison (c. 1695–1745) What makes this portrait immediately compelling is its directness: the sitter’s ...

Francesco Piranesi (Italian, 1758-1810) Topographical Map of Pompeii Originally executed 1785, modern reprint (likely 20th Century) Engraving Framed: 4...

Depicted standing and shown frontally, the skeletal figure is largely concealed by a long, cinctured monastic habit. The hooded skull is inclined slightly to one side, and the figure...

A large marine painting probably depicting a British East Indiaman ship returning from a voyage to the East, attributed to British artist Francis Holman ...

Georgian or early Victorian Marine Oil on Panel of busy shipping scene with figures on Harbour, possibly the Isle of Wight Oil on wooden panel housed in a handmade gold frame. A ra...

Eighteenth Century English Country Inn Scene with Rustic Figures and Dog, drinking and talking in the Village Pub A signed Oil on Canvas mounted on stretchers and Framed in a Morland...

Tempera on board. The large icon depicts three figures of saints, perhaps three apostles (who cannot be identified because the inscriptions with their names are (almost completely e...

Greek icon Oil on wood, gold background 18th / 19th century

A delicate George III embroidery depicting a bouquet of flowers. Well presented in a gilt-effect frame with a brown mount. On silk.

A charming George III framed needlepoint sampler by Catharine Mouds, aged 10. Dated, 1797.The sampler displays alphabet numbers and a biblical verse with floral detail to bottom edge...

A delightful 18th-century embroidery depicting three sisters and their mother gathering corn. The artist has expertly employed an array of different stitches such as French knots and...

Not signed The hand-colored etching plates by Johann Wilhelm Weinmann, from Phytanthoza Iconographia (1737–45), present carrot and primrose with a detailed balance of structure and v...

18th Century Antique Frame Antique Gilt Barbizon Frame Frame Size: Width: 31″ X Height: 43″ Thickness: 6.50″ Picture Size: Width: 18″ X Height: 30″ Bin Code 540

On offer is a classic Verdure tapestry, popular in the 17th and 18th centuries for its lush nature scenes. "Verdure" comes from the French word for greenery, focusing on forest and g...

This exceptionally handsome and imposing portrait is a particularly accomplished example of British grand-manner portraiture of the early Georgian period. Preserved in excellent over...

Fables is an original Modern Rare book engraved by Sir William Blake (London, 1757 - London, 1827) and written by John Gay (Barnstaple, 1685 – London, 1732) in 1793. Full title: "Fa...

A charming George II sampler, hand embroidered by Ann Baker in 1747, aged 13. The sampler depicts numerous alphabets above a moralistic verse and a pair of birds beside a tree. Well ...

A delightful 1767 sampler depicting the alphabet and floral motif. Signed and dated. Presented in a dark wooden frame. On cotton.

A Pair of Italian Carved Gilt Wood Antique Frames , Mirror not included. Circa 1755. Frame Size: Width: 20.25″ X Height: 23.75″ Thickness: 4″ Pict...

1870’s Antique American Gilt Frame Antique Painting Frame Frame Size: Width: 21″ X Height: 25″ Thickness: 5.65″ Picture Size: Width: 10.25...

3 volumes. Engraved title vignettes, 78 engraved plates and maps by Giuseppe Pazzi (including engraved frontispiece, 20 folding maps, 19 maps, 35 plates, 3 folding views). Half-title...

Ceramic Plaque: 11.5 x 11.5 inches Solid Wood Frame: 15.5 x 15.5 inches An exquisite Castelli Maiolica plaque, featuring a richly detailed scene of the Italian Renaissance. The cera...

This beautiful polychrome and highly expressive statue 18th C statue represents Mary Magdalene in prayer, hands joined, eyes raised to the sky.It's of German origin

Classic c1780 engraving of topiary gardens overlooking Geneve, Switz. Provenance: a Newport, RI estate Image Sz: 12 1/8"H x 20 7/8"W Frame Sz: 16"H x 24"W w/ gilt wood period frame

James Monroe Letter from James Monroe, 1796 Signed lower right, dated upper right Ink on paper 5 x 8 inches Provenance Edward Bomsey Autographs, 1993 Considered the last “Founding...

English Double Handle Footman, 18th Century Brass 12 x 18 x 17 inches

ARTIST - Frankenthal Porcelain Manufactory // PERIOD - 18th century, second half // ORIGIN - Germany, Electoral Palatinate // MEDIUM - Hard-Paste Porcelain, Polychrome Painted Decora...

Arabic Calligraphy of praying is a precious manuscript reporting Islamic Sacred Verses in an ancient calligraphy style. One page, one-sided, in Ara...

Rare and impressive pair of 18th century Dutch Delft tile grouping displaying their unique architectural subjects and distinctive alluring blue and white palette. Presenting five in ...

Modern Masters Tapestries INC. in Manhattan was specializing in limited edition tapestries, handwoven in silk or wool by world famous artists. Signature on the back with trademark R...

Melanie Sherman Vintage Moth II (Hand-Painted, Gold Luster, Vintage Imagery) Porcelain, Glaze, Overglaze, Chinapaints, 24k German Gold Luster Year: 2025 Size: 4.5 x 6 x 0.5 inches Si...

First edition of this rare and important work by the spanish Abbot Vincente Requeno (1743-1811) on the importance of hand signs and positions in communications. Dedication of the Ed...

Provenance: Manuel Ortíz de Zevallos y García, Peru; and by descent in the family to: Private Collection, New York. This impressive baptismal dish is an example of eighteenth-cent...

Islamic Verses in Calligraphy style is a wonderful original manuscript. One page, one-sided, in Arabic, the original sheet (cm 17 x 11) is in excellent condition and under plexiglas...

Arabic Calligraphy is a precious manuscript with Islamic sacred verses in an ancient calligraphy style. One page, one-sided, in Arabic, the original sheet (cm 17 x 11). In good cond...

Night Thoughts is an original Modern Rare book written by Edward Young (1683 – 1765) and engraved by Sir William Blake (London, 1757 - London, 1827) in 1797. It includes a suite of ...

Jean-Baptiste Massé (designer) and Jacques Nicolas Tardieu (engraver) after Charles Le Brun, L'Espagne Cintre du Salon de la Paix sur l'Arcade de la Galerie (pl 47), published 1752

Asia SENEX, John. Asia Corrected from the Observations communicated to the Royal Society at London and the Royal Academy at Paris. By John Senex F.R.S. To The Honorable Sr. George...

Calcography on frontispiece, 20 engraved sanguine tables and 20 text pages in Dutch, French and English with some minor ancient restoration. Tables in excellent conditions. Half leat...

The History of Japan. Giving an Account of the Ancient and Present State and Government of that Empire; of its Temples, Palaces, Castles and other Buildings...

Etching and engraving, circa 1770. Coat-of-arms with an eagle watermark. The sheet overall in good condition with narrow to thread margins.

South America SENEX, John. South America Corrected from the Observations Communicated to the Royal Society’s of London & Paris. By John Senex. To Edmund Halley. LLD. Savilian Professor of Geometry in Oxford and Fellow of the Royal Society. This Map corrected from His own Discoveries In gratefull Acknowledgement of his Ready assistance to Encourage this Designe is Humbly Dedicated. John Senex, at the Globe against St Dunstans Church, Fleetstreet, London 1710 [-1728]. John Senex (1678-1740) was one of the foremost mapmakers in England in the early eighteenth century. He was also a surveyor, globemaker, and geographer. As a young man, he was apprenticed to Robert Clavell, a bookseller. He worked with several mapmakers over the course of his career, including Jeremiah Seller and Charles...

Few portraits of this period combine such commanding scale, unusually secure sitter identification and such evocative links with one of England’s great landed dynasties. Painted when...

Etching and burnished aquatint on laid paper, circa 1824. From the four additional plates for Los Proverbios. Sheet size 11.5 x 16.75 inches. Framed dimension 17 x 21 inches. Prove...

G. B. Piranesi in his fifties was interested in archaeology and studied in Southern Italy where he produced drawings of Greek architecture

Iroha Two six-panel folding screens (byôbu), featuring the famous Iroha poem by Kûkai (Kôbô Daishi, 774–835) written in the cursive Sôsho style. Inscribed/signed: Shôbô fude-ryû ri...

Call for tenders for the Lotto Game contract in Rome, realized in 1725 ca. Pope Benedict XIII renewed the ban of Pope Innocent XI against the lottery game, considered immoral, with ...

Etching. Signed in the plate lower right. From the fourth state, of six, a late 18th / early 19th century impression; first Paris edition. From the Vedute di Rome series. Overall...

Willem Muys was a Dutch, 18th-century painter of history pieces, portraits and cabinet pieces. Above all, he appears to have been active as a painter of ‘wallpaper’. Until the mid-18th century, ‘wallpaper’ was not painted on paper but on coarsely woven linen. Wealthy citizens had their mansions or country estates adorned with ‘wallpaper’ with landscapes, exotic birds or chinoiseries. Willem Muys mainly painted ‘wallpaper’, which means that few of his works have been preserved. They are hardly represented in public collections. The works of his sons, Nicolaas en Robbert, both painters, are a little less rare. The painting with Rebecca and Eliezer...

To see our other views and maps of England - including London, Oxford and Cambridge, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or send...

Although the 18th century, the period of the Enlightenment in France, spawned thinkers who criticized the privileges of the clergy and the truthfulness of certain dogmas, the Roman Catholic faith was very much present in everyday life. Since king Louis XIV had issued the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, Protestantism was banned from the country. This Madonna with child illustrates the daily practice of faith. Like many 18th-century Madonna statues...

Great Britain SENEX, John. A New Map of Great Britain Corrected from the Observations communicated to the Royal Society at London. By John Senex F.R.S. To the Right Hono[ra]ble William Connelly ESQ. One of the Commissioners of His Maj[es]ties Revenue, Speakerof the Hono[a]ble House of Commons, and one of His Maj[es]ties most Hono[ra]ble Privy Council for Ye Kingdom of Ireland. This Map is dedicated by John Senex. John Senex F.R.S. 1710 [-1728]. John Senex (1678-1740) was one of the foremost mapmakers in England in the early eighteenth century. He was also a surveyor, globemaker, and geographer. As a young man, he was apprenticed to Robert Clavell, a bookseller. He worked with several mapmakers over the course of his career, including Jeremiah Seller and Charles Price...

Glazed Delft Pottery Diameter: 8 1/2 inches (22cm) Height: 3 3/4 inches 9.5cm A small delftware bowl from 18th century England, painted in blue on the...

To see our other views and maps of England - including London, Oxford and Cambridge, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or send...