Ink Paintings

The Assumption of the Virgin Mary Italian School 18th Century sephia ink and pencil on artist paper, framed framed: 25 x 20.5 inches drawing: ...

Provenance: inscription on the verso "bought in Florence in 1810". Stamp of Count Jan Pieter van Suchtelen (Lugt 2332) on the lower right and stamp of the Ullmann collection on the v...

The attribution of this drawing to Pier Francesco Mola has been confirmed by Dr. Francesco Petrucci, an expert of the artist. This extraordinary study was executed around 1656 by Pier Francesco Mola, one of the masters of the Roman Baroque. With great technical virtuosity, Mola combines a preparatory drawing executed in red chalk and pen with washes of grey and brown inks and highlights of white lead. Although very different from the final outcome, it is probably an early thought for the fresco the artist painted in the gallery commissioned by Pope Alexander VII for the Quirinale Palace, a fresco which, according to the British art historian Ann Sutherland Harris, was "his largest single composition and probably the most prestigious commission of his career”. 1. Pier Francesco Mola, a painter of Baroque Rome Pier Francesco Mola was born in Coldrerio, Ticino, near Lugano, on 9 February 1612. His father Giovanni Battista was a well-known architect and the family moved to Rome in 1616, where Pier Francesco spent most of his career. Trained in the workshops of the Cavaliere d'Arpino (1568 - 1640) and Domenico Zampieri, known as Dominichino (1581 - 1641), Mola made two jouneys to northern Italy, one from 1633 to 1640, and the second from 1641 to 1647, which led him to stay in Bologna and Venice, before returning to settle permanently in Rome. He was also influenced by the classicism of Francesco Albani (1578 - 1660), whose workshop he frequented. While Joseph greeting his brothers is his main fresco, Pier Francesco Mola was also an important painter of easel paintings. A leading figure in the neo-Venetian movement in Rome, alongside Pietro Testa (1617 - 1650) and Andrea Sacchi (1599 - 1661), he sought to reconcile Bolognese aesthetics with Venetian colour. He sometimes collaborated with Gaspard Dughet, and at the end of his life (1660-1666) he also revealed himself as a great landscape painter. He was linked to the Franco-Roman classical milieu (Poussin, Lorrain and Dughet), giving his figures a realism close to Ribera’s. His graphic work has always been sought after, particularly across the Channel, as the early provenance of the sheet we are presenting demonstrates. It comes from one of the most prestigious collections formed in England in the second half of the 18th century, that of the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 - 1792), who was the first president of the Royal Academy from 1768 onwards. 2. Description of the artwork Pier Francesco Mola displays here all the facets of his talent, and in particular his very specific way of incorporating figures into a lush landscape. Our study focuses on the figures of Joseph and Benjamin, recounting the moment when the latter " fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept" (Genesis 45-14). This episode terminates the story of Joseph, who had been sold by his brothers to merchants who took him to Egypt, where he became Pharaoh's trusted man, interpreting his dreams. Thanks to him, Pharaoh built up stocks of food during the seven years of plenty, which enabled him to feed his people during the seven years of famine. Joseph's hungry brothers came to buy grain from him and returned a second time with Joseph's younger brother Benjamin at Joseph’s request. This is the moment that Joseph chooses to reveal his true identity to his brothers, showing special tenderness for Benjamin, his own mother's only other son. While Joseph rushes towards Benjamin with ardour, Benjamin seems more reserved as he advances towards Joseph, suggesting perhaps that it is the forgiver who must make the first move. "Benjamin wept upon his neck," adds the Genesis, and this weeping is evoked by his left arm being folded as if to hide his tears. The figures of Joseph and Benjamin were probably the main concern of the painter in this study. Their half-brothers are depicted in the background, massed to the left of the study. Their static silhouettes, sketched in a rather schematic manner, contrast with the dynamism of the encounter between Joseph and Benjamin, whose clothes flutter as if animated by a light wind. The complex technique of this study places it at the borderline between drawing and painting, thanks in particular to the white lead highlights that give life to the two main figures, and to the very fluid ink washes, as for example in the representation of the grove of trees on the right. Much of the charm of this drawing lies in the evocative description of the landscape - probably the banks of the Nile - in which the artist introduces an impression of depth by evoking the reflection of the trees in the water in the background of the composition. 3. A long maturation for the subject The gallery of the Palazzo del Quirinale is one of the great commissions of the pontificate of Alexander VII. It was entrusted to Pietro da Cortona in 1655, who was responsible for bringing together a group of artists to carry out this decorative programme. At the end of the gallery two scenes were executed by the two main painters who participated in this vast decorative programme: the Adoration of the Magi by Carlo Maratta and Joseph greeting his Brothers by Pier Francesco Mola. This arrangement takes up the idea of associating an Old Testament scene with a New Testament scene, and we can see in the story of Joseph who makes himself known to his brothers at the height of his power a counterpoint to the humility of the birth of Christ, recognised by the shepherds. Numerous preparatory drawings for this fresco have survived, reflecting the importance of this papal commission for Pier Francesco Mola. In his book published in 1972, Richard Cocke lists 12 known preparatory studies. Our drawing, which was kept in private collections at the time, has not yet been studied by art historians, but we shall see, by focusing on the evolution of the figure of Joseph, that it is most probably be a very early thought, executed before the one kept in the British Museum, which was considered by this art historian to be the oldest drawing in the series. In this composition (9th photo of the gallery), made on an inverted basis, we find the three figures formed by Joseph, who is represented in a manner very similar to that of our drawing, Benjamin, who has become a young adolescent, and one of the brothers whose arm balances, as in our drawing, that of Joseph. This brother is now depicted standing instead of sitting, giving the composition more dynamism. The group of the other brothers unfolds like an antique frieze in a mineral landscape in which vegetal references have disappeared. As in the drawing in the Musée Atget in Montpellier and as in our study, Mola presents Joseph running to greet Benjamin in an intimate and personal gesture that does not include his other brothers. The next stage in the evolution of the composition is presented to us in a study in the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf (10th photo of the gallery) in which Mola depicts Joseph with his arms open, including all his brothers in his greeting. Whereas in the first sketches Joseph was depicted as a bearded middle-aged man - which was consistent with the fact that he is around forty years old according to the Bible at the time of this meeting - Mola later rejuvenates him, as he looks closer in age to Benjamin. The following preparatory studies are entirely devoted to the complex arrangement of the group of brothers. In the final composition (last photo of the gallery), this group is now split into two parts: six of them are shown kneeling in a deferential position. Benjamin is shown standing with his arms folded in the background, in front of four other brothers who are also standing. It is also interesting to note that this final composition reintroduces the vegetal background, as we are now in a courtyard bordered by a balustrade beyond which lush gardens extend. Their trees look quite similar to those represented in the right of our study. 4. A prestigious provenance: Sir Josuah Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (Plympton 1723 - London 1792) can be considered as the leader of the English school of painting in the 18th century. Specialising in portraiture, he was the co-founder and first president of the Royal Academy. His youth was marked by a long journey to Italy between 1749 and 1752 and his favourite masters remained throughout his life Michelangelo, Raphael, the other Italians of the 16th century and Claude Gellée. He was the most discerning collector among the painters of his time. His eclecticism, constantly in search of the "great style", is evident both in his lectures at the Royal Academy and in the choice of his collections, to which he devoted a large part of his income. We don’t know whether he started buying some drawings in Italy or whether those were only purchased after his return to England. In his 8th lecture, Reynolds describes the charm that drawings held for him in terms that apply quite well to the drawing we are presenting: “From a slight, undetermined drawing, where the ideas of the composition and character are, as I may say, only just touched upon, the imagination supplies more than the painter himself, probably, could produce; and we accordingly often find that the finished work disappoints the expectation that was raised from the sketch. “ The bulk of his drawings were sold at auction on 26 May 1794 and again from 5 March 1798. The mark in the lower right corner of our drawing was inscribed by his executors on Reynolds' death. They marked the 1163 best drawings (of which our sheet was part) on the recto, while the inferior drawings were stamped on the verso. This drawing has since been kept in the UK. His last known owner was the writer Anthony Powell...

Old Masters Sanguine Drawing of Putti and a Lion 18th century 4 3/4 x 3 1/4 (8 5/8 x 7 1/4 frame) inches An utterly charming depiction in sanguine of 5 putti and a lion on a leash. Excellent details and condition. The innermost frame is period and probably original to the piece with the addition of a later frame added for style. Though the lion, known as the Marzocco, was the symbol of of a free Republic of Florence, it also carried many biblical meanings as well. As such, That a lion denotes the good of celestial love and the derivative truth, in its power, and also that in the opposite sense it denotes the evil of the love of self in its power, is evident from passages in the Word where a lion is mentioned. That it denotes the good of celestial love is evident in John:-- "Behold the lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath conquered to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof (Rev. 5:5);" Here the Lord is called a lion from the omnipotence belonging to His Divine love and the Divine truth thence derived. In other passages in the Word, Jehovah or the Lord is compared to a lion, as in Hosea:-- "They shall go after Jehovah; He shall roar like a lion; for Be shall roar, and the sons shall come with honor from the sea (Hosea 11:10)." Even more interesting still is the association with Cherubs (or perhaps Putti as they are closely related)... In Isaiah:-- "Thus said Jehovah unto me, Like as when the lion roareth, and the young lion over his prey, if a fulness of shepherds come running upon him, he is not dismayed at their voice, and is not afflicted by their tumult; so shall Jehovah Zebaoth come down to fight upon Mount Zion...

We wish to thank Mrs. Bożena Anna Kowalczyk who suggested this drawing be attributed to Giuseppe Bernardino Bison during a direct examination of the artwork. This drawing, perfectly representative of Giuseppe Bison's technique, represents an episode in Caesar's life that may have been inspired by his incursions on the Brittany coast. It is presented in an exceptional 18th...

Provenance: Dominique-Vivant Denon Collection (his stamp partly erased in the lower right corner). Denon sale on May 1er 1826 – part of lot 329 or lot 331 Marquet de Vasselot Collection - Sale of May 28-29 1891 - lot number 157 London private collection Laurin-Guilloux-Buffetaud sale of April 4, 1974 - lot number 25 Ader-Picard-Tajan sale June 7, 1989 Gilbert Butler Gallery - New York (from a label on the back) This drawing, which bears the signature "Fr Guardi", is included in the catalog raisonné of Guardi's drawings (Guardi - I designi) published by Antonio Morassi under number 435 (reproduction number 433). In this drawing, probably executed at the end of his life, Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) depicts a partly imaginary view of the villas located along the Brenta Canal. Those villas, set along the canal that connects Venice and Padua, were one of the traditional holiday destinations of Venetian aristocratic families. The long succession of sales in which this drawing appears allows us to trace it back to its first known owner, Dominique-Vivant Denon, who certainly bought it in Italy, either during his long stay in Venice (1786-1793), possibly from Guardi himself, or during the Napoleonic period. 1. Francesco Guardi, a protean artist Francesco Guardi was born into a family of artists: his father Domenico (1678 - 1716) was also a painter, as were his two brothers Gianantonio, known as Antonio (1699 - 1760) and Nicolò. His sister Cecilia married the painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Art historians estimate that Francesco Guardi painted his first vedute around 1755-1756; the painting of vedute heralded therefore the second stage in his life as a painter, as he was in his mid-forties. His first views of Venice were painted under the influence of Canaletto, whose studio he may have attended. In 1760, as he took over the family workshop on the death of his brother, who until then had run it focusing largely on the production of religious and historical scenes, allowed him to discover and flourish in this pictorial genre. His second son Giacomo (1764 - 1835) joined him and was the last painter of the family. Until his death Francesco remained a fertile painter who painted with extreme ease and speed, and this explains the large number of canvases (over a thousand) that constitute his corpus. The themes explored by Guardi in this second part of his life are multiple but can be classified in three broad categories, which are quite permeable: beside the views of Venice, which constitute the most well-known part of his drawn and painted work, Guardi was a great illustrator of the Venetian festivals and breathed new life into to the Caprice, a pictorial genre that mixes imaginary representations of architectural landscapes, often inspired by the sites of the lagoon and scenes de genre. In its Vedute, Guardi succeeds in the tour de force of radically renewing a genre in which Canaletto had excelled. Moving away from the descriptive reality of his predecessor, he created a new, magical vision. Reversing the general tendencies of European art marked by the advent of the neo-clacissism, during the last thirty years of his life, Guardi developed a more and more personal style, gradually freeing itself from the framework of strict figuration by privileging evocations rather than representations. In his Vedute, Guardi sometimes abandons the narrow frame of the lagoon for firm ground, as in 1778 at the time of his voyage to Trentino, or when carrying out a series of paintings representing Venetian villas which were accompanied by some drawings, following the request of John Strange, the British "Resident" in Venice. 2. Description of the artwork This drawing, recognized by Antonio Morassi as an autograph work by Francesco Guardi, is a unicum in the artist's corpus. Although it may be similar to other drawings of Venetian villas commissioned by John Strange, it is likely to be a later work, mixing real and imaginary elements. At a bend of the Brenta, on the right we can see an imposing Palladian villa and on the other bank two villas separated by a sort of nymphaeum. They are isolated from the road that runs along the canal by high walls in which three monumental portals open, one of which is decorated with statues. In the middle of the canal the Burchiello advances. It was a river boat with a large wooden cabin, finely painted and decorated and lit by windows on each side. This boat was used by the wealthiest Venetians to travel from Venice to their country villas. Boats like this were rowed from St. Mark's to Fusina, from where they were then pulled by horses to Padua. The absence of horses tells us that the boat is probably on its way down the canal to Venice. In an amusing detail at the far left of the drawing, Guardi has elliptically depicted a horse-drawn carriage, pulled by a single horse that seems to be at full gallop, as if trying to catch up with the Burchiello. The villa on the right has a majestic peristyle from which a flight of steps emerges. The composition seems largely fanciful since these steps stop on a balustrade located at mid-height and do not appear to give access to the garden below. The garden is embellished with kiosks, as if for a waterside party, with a circular fountain...

Studies of Horses Sebastien Leclerc (French 1637-1714) Pen and ink on paper Inscribed on verso “Sebastien LeClerc” 13 ¼ x 8 ¾ (18 x 15 ½ frame) inche...

Artist/ School: Circle of John Vanderbank (1694-1739) British Title: The Annunciation Medium: ink and wash drawing, framed Size: image: 9.5” x 7.5”...

This very pretty drawing from a private Parisian collection is typical of Oudry's first period during which he produced a very large number of portraits, at a time when he was still ...

Georg Philipp Rugendas I was a battle and military genre painter and engraver born in Augsburg, Germany in 1666. He was a pupil of Isaak Fisches, an historical painter. He formed his style from the study of various phases of the military profession. He continued his studies in Vienna and in 1692 studied with Antonio Molinari...

William Lock the Younger (Norbury 1767-1847 Mickleham) Study of a chariot Pen & ink on paper Drawing size - 20 x 33 cm Sold Unframed And William Lock the Younger (Norbury 1767-1847...

William Lock the Younger (Norbury 1767-1847 Mickleham) Portrait Sketch - Figurative study of a gentleman in a turban Pen & ink on paper Signed upper middle right Drawing size - 13 x ...