Horatio McCulloch

Antique Scottish Oil on Canvas Painting Tantallon Castle Ruin East Lothian 1850

circa 1850

A fine & large antique oil on canvas painting by Bengt Nordenberg (1822-1902), Sweden, dated 1883. Nordenberg is recognized as one of Sweden's most celebrated 19th century artists, his work epitomizes Swedish Romanticism and this painting is a wonderful representation of that style. The painting depicts an interior scene of a mother holding an infant in front of an open heath, with a fire burning in the grate, above the fire there are racks of meat hanging and above that are hams hanging. The infant has evidently just woken from a nap and his cradle sits next to his mother's chair, his brother sitting on the floor with his monkey & the carrying case he transports the animal to beg for money, the monkey humorously sits with his begging plate outstretched to the boy's mother, much to her consternation! The painting is signed and dated lower left, it is in very good condition and is housed in the original gilded composition and limewood frame, Nordenberg's record for a painting at auction is over $91,500, this is a fine example of the artist's work and is ready to hang on your wall. Bloomsbury Fine Art & Antiques ship globally, very well packed & insured to ensure safe delivery. Bengt Nordenberg (1822-1902) was a master of Swedish Romanticism. He belonged to the Düsseldorf school of painting & is best known for his genre paintings with everyday life scenes from the Dalarna, Skåne and Blekinge areas of Sweden. He moved to Düsseldorf in the 1850s. Nordenberg was born at Jämshög in Blekinge County, Sweden, he was one of nine siblings born to Per Jönsson Nord (1785-1854) and his wife Sissa Bengtsdotter (b. 1792). He grew up in poverty and became an apprentice to a painter in Sölvesborg. In 1843 he studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm, In the autumn of 1851 he went to the Düsseldorf Academy, where first Theodor Hildebrandt and then later, Adolph Tidemand...

A fine antique French oil painting on canvas by Isidore Alexandre Augustin Pils (1815–1875), the painting depicting Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836) singing "La Marseillaise", circa 1849. Isidore Pils was an academic painter, very often painting military subjects. Claude Rouget de Lisle was a French army officer from the French Revolutionary Wars and famously wrote the words to "La Marseillaise" and first performed it to the Mayor of Strasbourg; Baron Philippe-Frederic de Dietrich. This painting dates to the middle of the 19th century and could be by the hand of Pils or possibly a talented copyist who was also a classically trained artist, the work appears to be unsigned. The painting is in excellent condition and is housed in a gilded frame. Isidore Pils produced a number of paintings with this famous scene and one such painting is housed in the collection of The Louvre in Paris. At sight without frame 26.50" x 22" Pils was born in Paris as the son of a soldier François Pils. At the age of twelve, he studied with Guillaume Guillon-Lethière for four years. In 1831 he became a student at the École des Beaux-Arts and studied under François-Édouard Picot. He competed for the Prix de Rome, which he won in 1838 for a history painting, St. Peter Healing a Lame Man at the Door of the Temple. Although in poor health, Pils then spent the customary three years at the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici, which then had Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres as its director. While in Italy he visited Naples, Venice, and Florence. Pils's earlier paintings have religious themes. In 1849 he completed his most famous work, Rouget de L'Isle Singing La Marseillaise, which now resides at the Musée historique de Strasbourg. After experiences travelling with French troops through the Crimea, his themes took on military and nationalistic subjects. He later produced many military scenes during the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Pils was appointed professor of painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1863 but left the same year for two years in Algeria. In 1868 he was elected to seat #14 of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Among his students were Adrien Moreau, Paul Adolphe Rajon, Julien Dupré, Luc-Olivier Merson, Ludovic Piette...