18th Century and Earlier Art

French Master (18th century) - Allegory of the Arts. 53 x 72 cm without frame, 63 x 83 cm with frame. Ancient oil painting on canvas, in a gilded wooden frame. Condition report: L...

olio su tela, 62 x 51 cm (senza cornice) Il dipinto è stato per lungo attribuito alla mano di Francesco Gessi, allievo di Guido Reni, come riporta un'iscrizione a matita datata 1945...

Oil on Canvas. The painting comes with expertise by art historian Dr. Giuseppe Sava. Protagonist of the scene of open-air market is a cherry seller, who wears a flashy straw hat and...

Lorenzo Pasinelli (Bologna, 1629 - 1700) Sermon of Saint John the Baptist Circa 1650. Oil on canvas 115 x 154 cm With frame 136 x 174 cm Provenance Milan, Porro 6 June 2006 ...

Two Mid 18th century hand coloured copper plate engravings of equestrian subjects by Johann Elias Ridinger. Initial signed 'in the plate' bottom right. Presented in fine gilt wood fr...

Pair of views of Rotterdam: The Stock Exchange building / View of the canal with the old port Eighteenth-century Vedutist painter oils on canvas 47 x 66 cm. - with frame 56 x 75 cm. This pleasant pair of paintings depict two glimpses of the city of Rotterdam, investigated here as vivid documentaries of the habits and customs from the public life of the wealthy Dutch port city, as well as one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company, is an excellent example of 18th century Vedutism We see, in particular, in the first work the monumental Palazzo della Borsa (defined as Il Beurs), designed by the architect Adriaen van der Werff in Westnieuwland, initially a place destined for legislation on trade, where merchant-bankers met periodically to exchange securities credit and enter into sales; it is located on the bank of the Nordblaak River and shot with the Gaapers Bridge in the foreground. The second work immortalizes the docking of the ancient port of Rotterdam, with the foreground view of the two city gates (the Wester Old Hoofdpoort on the left and the Ooster Oude Hoofdpoort on the right); in the background on the left the St. Laurenskerk (Church of San Lorenzo), also called the Great Church of Rotterdam, is the only medieval structure, while on the right the English Church. Very well executed, characterized by a marked brightness and a chromatic range with bright colors and highlighted by the contrast between lights and shadows, our canvases are a very interesting testimony of eighteenth-century Rotterdam, portraying two of the views that have historically influenced a lot on economic history of the city. We can attribute the authorship to an author of the full eighteenth century, inspired by the pictorial style of the Italian landscape painters and whose iconography was presumably drawn from the numerous prints with perspective views made through the optical cameras. In particular, these views of Rotterdam draw their iconographic origin from a collection of perspective prints of the most influential European cities, made by the engraver Johann Balthasar Probst (1732-1801), characterized by a remarkable refinement in the line, at the service of a sense of perspective of undoubted value, and above all characterized by a strong Nordic taste. Descendant of a large family of Augsburg engravers, Probst contributed to making his workshop an important European publishing center between the 17th and 18th centuries, among the major German print publishers in the first half of the 18th century. Despite his travels, including in Italy, between Venice, Rome and Naples, not all the cities he portrayed were drawn from life but taken from earlier prints and drawings and filtered through northern European clichés. Many of these engravings have been lost and are now difficult to find on the antiques market.

Circle of Cornelius Johnson Circa 1620’s Portrait of a Officer Oil on canvas Image size: 28 x 24 inches Period style hand made frame Provenance Private European Estate This striking portrait dates to around 1620, as you can see from the images of the sash the detail is very high. The sash is decorated with gold thread and would have cost a small fortune at the time. Sashes were originally developed for a military function (making officers more visible for their men during combat), but soon became a primarily male fashion...

Still Life Of Fruit, Wine, Bread & Nuts, 17th Century circle of FLORIS CLAESZ VAN DYCK (1575-1671) 17th century Dutch Still life of fruit, oil on panel. Excellent quality and condi...

Oil on canvas Image size: 30 x 35 inches (76.25 x 89 cm) Carved gilt frame A half-length portrait of a man turned slightly to the left, gazing at the spectator, standing, wearing st...

Antiveduto Gramatica (1569 – 1626) Title: Cryptoportrait of a lady as The Veronica Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 100 x 74.5 cm - 123.5 x 103.5 cm Ancient "cassetta...

Anonymous, 18th century Inspired by a painting by Petrus Staverenus (1610/1612 – 1654-07-28/1664-07-28) from a series of Five Senses 'Taste: A laughing man...

18th century French school in the manner of Simon-Mathurin Lantara. Seaside landscape with a vaporous and fine tone and a great lightness of touch. O...

Portrait of William Paget (1505–1563), 1st Baron Paget de Beaudesert, Court Of King Henry VIII, 17th Century school of Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) Large 17th Century Tudor...

Old master painting featuring a busy port city in the 17th century. Most likely Dutch and very close in style to the work of Thomas Heeremans. This is...

Pieter van der Aa (1659 - 1733), after David Loggan (1634 - 1692) King's College, Cambridge Engraving 12 x 16 cm An eighteenth-century view King's College, Cambridge, engraved by Pi...

Pieter van der Aa (1659 - 1733), after David Loggan (1634 - 1692) St Catharine's College, Cambridge Engraving 12 x 16 cm An eighteenth-century view of St Catharine's College, Cambri...

A fine impression with the address of the artist (Autore, Strada Felice) and the price (Paoli 2 1/2) as well as Hind Watermark no.3 (Fleur-de-lys-in-a-Double-Circle), all correspondi...

A romantic oil study depicting a couple resting on a woodland floor feeding each other fruit. The scene appears to be a play on the Four Seasons series by François Boucher where the...

Isaac and Rebecca had two sons: the twins Esau and Jacob. Esau was the first-born, giving him the birthright. Among Jews the birthright gave the eldest son authority over the family,...

Artist: Cornelius Nozeman (Dutch, 1720-1786) Title: "Larus, Cinereus (European Herring Gull)" (Plate 101) Portfolio: Nederlandsche Vogelen (Dutch Birds) Year: 1770-1829 Medium: Origi...

A dramatic 18th century engraving showing a brutal and bloody battle scene. The engraving is by Antoine de Marcenay de Ghuy, after Joseph Parrocel. There is an inscription at the low...

Il dipinto rientra nel corpus delle opere dell'importante paesaggista fiammingo Jan Frans Van Bloemen. I Van Bloemen erano una famiglia di artisti, fra essi Jan Frans nato ad Anvers...

Two oil on panel Old Master landscape paintings by Johannes Jakob Hartmann (Bohemian, 1680-1730) Bohemia, early 18th Century Panel: Height 73c...

Artist: Cornelius Nozeman (Dutch, 1720-1786) Title: "Corvus, Cornix (Hooded Crow)" (Plate 106) Portfolio: Nederlandsche Vogelen (Dutch Birds) Year: 1770-1829 Medium: Original Hand-Co...

Artist: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (French, 1707-1788) Title: "Atraphaxis (Shrub); Cabomba (Carolina Fanwort)" (Hexandrie, Digynie, Plate 265) Portfolio: Histoire Naturel...

The Hunting Party, 17th Century School of Simon KICK (1603-1652) Huge 17th Century Dutch Old Master interior of a hunting party after the hunt, oil on canvas. Excellent quality and condition that would signifcantly enhance with a light clean. Presented in an antique gilt frame. Exceptionally detailed and early interior hunting portrait...

Arrival To The The New World, 17th Century European School - Early historical depiction of 16th Century Europeans Large 17th Century scene of ...

John Downman 1750-1824 Portrait of a Lady in a White Dress Pencil, stump and watercolour, heightened with white chalk, signed and dated 1784 Imag...

Jacques Callot (1592-1635), The Bohemians, the set of four etchings touched with burin, 1621. Reference: Lieure 374 (second state of four); Lieure 375-77 (second state of two). In ve...

Catalan School of the 13th century. Bishop statue in polychrome wood. Large polychrome wooden statue representing a holy bishop carrying a crosier and ma...

A beautifully detailed late 17th or early 18th century Dutch or Flemish landscape with cows grazing in the water, goats, dogs, and other animals near the water’s edge, under the watchful eye of the herdsmen, on a backdrop of rolling hills and trees. Oil on wood panel, unsigned, and housed in a Rudolph...

In this finely executed pen and wash drawing, Jacobus Storck presents us with an imaginary view in an Italian port. The splendor of the buildings (the large sculpted fountain surmoun...

Magnificent large plate illustrating the Vatican Museum at the end of the eighteenth century by Vincenzo Feoli (1750 - 1831) after Miccinelli and Costa. The Pio-Clementino museum, n...

Family Portrait Of Mrs Spencer & Children, 18th Century circle of William BEECHEY (1753-1839) Huge 18th Century English School portrait of a lady trad...

Oil on panel, monogrammed mid left Image size: 15 x 12 1/4 inches (38 x 31 cm) Dutch ripple style frame Loeding was born in Leiden in around 1637 and was admitted into the Leiden Guild of St Luke in 1664. Like other Dutch cities, Leiden required membership in the guilds in order to sell wares falling under the various specifications. There is no record of his artistic training or influences, but he likely belonged to the circle of artists including Pieter de Ring and Gerrit Dou, who founded and maintained the Guild.  Loeding is last registered as a member in 1673. One of the most versatile genres that emerged from Dutch 17th Century artistic specialisms is that of 'pronkstilleven'; a laden table with a variety of rich textures, like ornate glassware, gilded goblets, exquisite nautilus cups...

A wonderful selection of hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Joha...

A Roman, Carrara marble sculpture of the mythological Greek god Pan as a fountain. Italy.

STUDIO OF RAFFAELLO SANZIO, called RAPHAEL (Urbino 1483 – Rome 1520) Title The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist Medium Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black ch...

Painting oil on canvas measuring 92 x 75 cm without frame and 102 x 87 cm with frame depicting a rich lady of the French school of the first half of the 18th century. In its formal ...

The Cards Game, 17th Century Dutch School after Theodoor Rombouts (1597-1637) Large 17th century Dutch Old Master Interior scene of a game of cards, oil on canvas. Excellent quali...

Matthijs Schoevaerdt (1663-1703) Genre scene Oil on canvas, 30 x 43 cm - Framed, 44 x 56 cm The present painting can be traced by stylistic and formal figures to the hand of the F...

Painting,Oil on panel, measuring 50 x 37 cm without frame and 67 x 57 cm with antique frame depicting the Assumption of the Virgin by the painter Francesco Mati ( Florence 1561 - 162...

Four magnificent copper engraved plates with hand-colour from "Hortus Eystettensis", one of the earliest and most famous works in the field. [Nuremberg and Eichstatt, 1640]. The Hortus Eystettensis is a pictorial record of the flowers grown in the greatest German garden of its time, that of Prince Bishop of Eichstatt, Johann Conrad von Gemmingen. The garden was begun by Joachim Camerarius in 1596 and, after his death in 1598, completed by Basil Besler...

PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED PRINT "Sammlung Verschiedenr Auslandischer und Selener Vogel", Nuremberg 1770-1773. Edited by Johann Michael Seligmann (1749 -1776): engravings with origina...

Le Daim is an artwork realized  by  Buvée l'Américain in 1771.   Etching B./W. print  on ivory paper. The artwork belongs to the suite "Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière...

Le Cerf De Corse is an artwork realized  by  Buvée l'Américain in 1771.   Etching B./W. print  on ivory paper. The artwork belongs to the suite "Histoire naturelle, générale et par...

Inscribed: front, brown ink, bottom left, F. Imperiali pinx…; bottom right, R. Rol..(?). Back, brown ink, top left, Roma, Gune(?) 1742 / F. Impeririali ping…;[illegible] R. deline..(...

French School 18th Century Portrait of a Young Man Charcoal and pastel on paper Image size: 11 x 7 inches Contemporary gilt frame

Johann Carl Loth (Munich, Germany, 1632 - Venice, Italy, 1698) Title: Saint Mark Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 65 × 72 cm - with frame 82.5 x 88 cm Expertise by Professor Dario Succi Publications: Lo studiolo...

Jean-Marc Nattier (Paris, 1685 - 1766) and his workshop Portrait of Charlotte de Hesse-Rheinfels Oil on canvas : h. 44.09 in, w. 38.19 in 18th century carved giltwood framed Fra...

Great Italian still life from the first half of the 17th century. Artwork oil on canvas depicting an amazing vase with flowers of excellent pictorial quality. Painting of exceptional...

This study presents a typical Roman countryside landscape: an ancient mausoleum in front of which a cart is passing by followed by two peasants. If the technique (a pen drawing on graphite lines, completed with a wash of brown and grey inks) and the signature inevitably evoke the art of Lorrain, we find on the verso of this drawing additional evidences that lead us to consider this unpublished drawing as a work by the master. The motif of the mausoleum has been taken up in pen on the verso in a technique that can be found in several other drawings by Lorrain. There is also a study of three characters, which can be considered as preparatory to Lorrain’s painting entitled The Port of Ostia with the Embarkation of Saint Paula, leading us to claim this attribution with a dating of around 1639. 1. Claude Lorrain or the perfection of classical landscape in Rome in the 17th century Claude Gellée was born in 1600 in Chamagne in Lorraine. Orphaned at the age of twelve, he spent a year with his brother in Freiburg, where the latter was a woodcarver. Claude Gellée then probably arrived in Rome in 1613, where he joined the workshop of Agostino Tassi (1580 - 1644) in 1617. Between 1619 and 1620 he studied for two years in Naples in the workshop of Goffredi Wals (who was himself a former pupil of Tassi). In 1625 he returned to Lorraine for two years where he worked alongside Claude Deruet. He then returned to Rome, a city he never left for the rest of his life (except for short trips to the surrounding countryside). From 1627 to 1650 he lived in Via Margutta. From 1635 onwards he became a renowned painter and commissions started to pour in. Considered during his lifetime as the most accomplished of the classical landscape painters, his reputation never faded. Between 1629 and 1635 Le Lorrain often went to the Roman countryside to draw with his friend Joachim von Sandrart (1606 - 1686). He became a member of the Academy of Saint Luke in 1633, while being closely acquainted with the Bentvueghels, this guild which brought together the young Nordic painters active in Rome. In 1643 he joined the Congregation of the Virtuosi. In 1650 he moved to Via Paolina where he lived until his death. Little is known of his intimate life. He seems to have had a daughter, Agnes, from an ancillary love affair. In 1657/ 1658 she moved in with him. Stricken with gout in 1663, he died in 1682. 2. Description of the drawing; the technique of nature studies Two peasants are walking behind a horse-drawn cart on a road that winds through ancient tombs. While a rectangular tomb with a columned facade can be seen in the distance, the cart passes an important ancient building. It has a circular shape and its partially ruined façade is decorated with columns. The start of a second floor can...

Le Petit is an etching realized by Jean Charles Baquoy in 1771. It belongs to the suite "Histoire Naturelle de Buffon". The Artist's signature is engraved lower right. Good condit...

Roman landscape painter of the eighteenth century - Entourage by Paolo Anesi (Rome 1697 - 1773) River landscape of the Lazio countryside, with the Tiber fl...

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) James Sinclair, 12th Earl of Caithness (1766-1823) Oil on Canvas 30 X 25 inches Unframed 37 X 32 inches framed Sir Henry Raeburn FRSE RA RSA (4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter and Scotland's first significant portrait painter since the Union to remain based in Scotland. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a former village now within the city of Edinburgh. He had an older brother, born in 1744, called William Raeburn. His ancestors were believed to have been soldiers, and may have taken the name "Raeburn" from a hill farm in Annandale, held by Sir Walter Scott's family. Orphaned, he was supported by William and placed in Heriot's Hospital, where he received an education. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the goldsmith James Gilliland of Edinburgh, and various pieces of jewellery, mourning rings and the like, adorned with minute drawings on ivory by his hand, still exist. Soon he took to the production of carefully finished portrait miniatures; meeting with success and patronage, he extended his practice to oil painting, at which he was self-taught. Gilliland watched the progress of his pupil with interest, and introduced him to David Martin, who had been the favourite assistant of Allan Ramsay the Latter, and was now the leading portrait painter in Edinburgh. Raeburn was especially aided by the loan of portraits to copy. Soon he had gained sufficient skill to make him decide to devote himself exclusively to painting. George Chalmers (1776; Dunfermline Town Hall) is his earliest known portrait. In his early twenties, Raeburn was asked to paint the portrait of a young lady he had noticed when he was sketching from nature in the fields. Ann was the daughter of Peter Edgar of Bridgelands, and widow of Count James Leslie of Deanhaugh. Fascinated by the handsome and intellectual young artist, she became his wife within a month, bringing him an ample fortune. The acquisition of wealth did not affect his enthusiasm or his industry, but spurred him on to acquire a thorough knowledge of his craft. It was usual for artists to visit Italy, and Raeburn set off with his wife. In London he was kindly received by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the president of the Royal Academy, who advised him on what to study in Rome, especially recommending the works of Michelangelo, and gave Raeburn letters of introduction for Italy. In Rome he met his fellow Scot Gavin Hamilton, Pompeo Girolamo Batoni and Byers, an antique dealer whose advice proved particularly useful, especially the recommendation that "he should never copy an object from memory, but, from the principal figure to the minutest accessory, have it placed before him." After two years of study in Italy he returned to Edinburgh in 1787, and began a successful career as a portrait painter. In that year he executed a seated portrait of the second Lord President Dundas. Examples of his earlier portraiture include a bust of Mrs Johnstone of Baldovie and a three-quarter-length of Dr James Hutton: works which, if somewhat timid and tentative in handling and not as confident as his later work, nevertheless have delicacy and character. The portraits of John Clerk, Lord Eldin, and of Principal Hill of St Andrews belong to a later period. Raeburn was fortunate in the time in which he practised portraiture. Sir Walter Scott, Hugh Blair, Henry Mackenzie, Lord Woodhouselee, William Robertson, John Home, Robert Fergusson, and Dugald Stewart were resident in Edinburgh, and were all painted by Raeburn. Mature works include his own portrait and that of the Rev. Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood, a bust of Dr Wardrop of Torbane Hill, two full-lengths of Adam Rolland of Gask, the remarkable paintings of Lord Newton and Dr Alexander Adam in the National Gallery of Scotland, and that of William Macdonald of St Martin's. Apart from himself, Raeburn painted only two artists, one of whom was Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, the most important and famous British sculptor of the first half of the 19th century. It has recently been revealed that Raeburn and Chantrey were close friends and that Raeburn took exceptional care over the execution of his portrait of the sculptor, one of the painter's mature bust-length masterpieces. It was commonly believed that Raeburn was less successful in painting female portraits, but the exquisite full-length of his wife, the smaller likeness of Mrs R. Scott Moncrieff in the National Gallery of Scotland, and that of Mrs Robert Bell, and others, argue against this. Raeburn spent his life in Edinburgh, rarely visiting London, and then only for brief periods, thus preserving his individuality. Although he, personally, may have lost advantages resulting from closer association with the leaders of English art, and from contact with a wider public, Scottish art gained much from his disinclination to leave his native land. He became the acknowledged chief of the school which was growing up in Scotland during the early 19th century, and his example and influence at a critical period were of major importance. So varied were his other interests that sitters used to say of him, "You would never take him for a painter till he seizes the brush and palette." In 1812 he was elected president of the Society of Artists in Edinburgh; and in 1814 associate, and in the following year full member, of the Royal Scottish Academy. On 29 August 1822 he was knighted by George IV and appointed His Majesty's limner for Scotland at the Earl of Hopetoun house. He died in Edinburgh. Raeburn had all the essential qualities of a popular and successful portrait painter. He was able to produce a telling and forcible likeness; his work is distinguished by powerful characterisation, stark realism, dramatic and unusual lighting effects, and swift and broad handling of the most resolute sort. David Wilkie recorded that, while travelling in Spain and studying the works of Diego Velázquez, the brushwork reminded him constantly of the "square touch" of Raeburn. Scottish physician and writer John Brown wrote that Raeburn "never fails in giving a likeness at once vivid, unmistakable and pleasing. He paints the truth, and he paints it with love". Raeburn has been described as a "famously intuitive"portrait painter. He was unusual amongst many of his contemporaries, such as Reynolds, in the extent of his philosophy of painting directly from life; he made no preliminary sketches. This attitude partly explains the often coarse modelling and clashing colour combinations he employed, in contrast to the more refined style of Thomas Gainsborough and Reynolds. However these qualities and those mentioned above anticipate many of the later developments in painting of the 19th century from romanticism to Impressionism. Sir Henry Raeburn died in St Bernard's House (17 St Bernards Crescent), Stockbridge, Edinburgh. He is buried in St. Cuthbert's churchyard against the east wall (the monument erected by Raeburn in advance) but also has a secondary memorial in the Church of St John the Evangelist, Edinburgh. James Sinclair, 12th Earl of Caithness was born at Barrogill Castle (Castle of Mey) on 31 May 1766. He was the son of Sir John Sinclair of Mey, Baronet who he succeeded in the baronetcy in 1774. He succeeded as 12th earl of Caithness in 1789. He was lord-lieutenant of the county of Caithness and lieutenant-colonel of the Ross-shire militia. He married at Thurso Castle on 2 January 1784 Jane, second daughter of Alexander Campbell...

Ducks On The Riverbank, 17th Century circle of MARMADUKE CRADOCK (1660-1717) Large 17th Century scene of Ducks on the riverbank while a hunt ensues on the distance, oil on canvas. ...

Louis Cretey (Lyon, France, 1635 - 1702) Title: Saint Sebastian Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: with frame 91 x 75 x 5 cm - without frame 77 x 60.5 cm With a "cassetta" frame in ...

Pieter van Bloemen (Antwerp, 1657–1720) – "Scene of a Gang of Robbers During a Raid" Medium: Oil on canvas Period: Late 17th – Early 18th Century Dimensions: [Include dimensions if a...