Late 19th Century Art

Francis JOURDAIN Melancolic Seascape with Sailboats, 1898 Original lithograph (Champenois workshop) Printed signature in the plate On vellum, 40 x 31 cm (c. 16 x 12 in) INFORMATION...

At the Buttes-Chaumont (Plate 169) is an 1899 lithograph of Jules Chéret's poster, printed at Imprimerie Chaix by Jules Chéret and included in the famed collection of Belle Époque po...

Irving Ramsay Wiles paints a view up a sidewalk with green trees and houses in the distance in his artwork entitled, “The Village Street.”

A sparse arrangement of delicate peaches and robust grapes hang casually over a fine china plate in this exquisitely rendered still life study. Although best known for her portraits,...

Paris: Sagot, 1898. Wood engraving on cream wove paper, 8 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches (216 x 158 mm), full margins. Signed and numbered 11/25 in pencil, lower right. With the blindstamp of t...

Nymphe dansante, decorative panel, two-color lithograph, 1899, signed in the stone. One corner defective but not affecting image. Ref: Berthon and Grasset p. No.5. The early works...

Up for sale is a beautiful original painting by Valentine Thomas GARLAND (1868-1914). Garland was a painter of animal and genre subjects, working in both oil and watercolor. He was ...

A delicate study of Windsor Castle in the afternoon sun. Ruskin Gallery label fixed to the reverse alongside Stanley W. Fisher label. Well presented in a gilt effect frame. Signed an...

A very attractive antique oil on canvas landscape painting by the French Post Impressionist artist Max Bouvet (1854-1942), the painting circa 1890. The painting depicts a pastoral sc...

Antique Italian painting signed Ernesto Fontana, dated 1893 and titled Tra i Due Litiganti Il Terzo Gode 1893, oil on canvas work depicting three children playing happily rolling amo...

One of three still-life paintings by the French flower painter Germain-Theodore Ribot.

English Native School, 19th Century, still life with fish Oil on canvas 54x63 cm frame included. Beautiful native English painting, representing an elegant still life of fish, cabba...

Harvest, Surrey England. Signed and titled antique gold leaf frame. John Horace Hooper was born in 1851-1906 England. Known for his captivati...

Marcantonio Raimondi, After by Amand Durand, Italian (1480 - 1534) - La paix, Year: 1875, Medium: Heliogravure, Size: 9.5 x 5 in. (24.13 x 12.7 cm), Printer: Amand Durand, Descrip...

Medium: original etching. This impression on cream laid paper is from the edition printed for "French Etchers", published in New York in 1884. Plate size: 6 3/8 x 9 1/8 inches (158 x...

Edward L. Custer (1837–1881) was an American painter known for his landscape paintings, genre scenes, and still lifes often imbued with a romantic and idyllic quality. Custer's paint...

Albrecht Durer, After by Amand Durand, German (1471 - 1528) - L'Enlevement d'Amymone, Year: 1873, Medium: Heliogravure, Size: 10.5 x 7.5 in. (26.67 x 19.05 cm), Printer: Amand Du...

Oil on canvas set to oval Signed and dated F. Bonvin 1876 in the center right Provenance: • France, private collection

Watercolour on paper, signed bottom left Image size: 13 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (35 x 24 cm) Mounted and framed The Generalife was a summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid rulers...

A beautifully painted study of a cherubic young boy, his golden haired head turned to the sun, his eyes closed as he feels its warmth. Pre-Raphaelite School, late 19th century Head...

Antique American modernist nocturnal street scene oil painting by Jerome Myers (1867 - 1940). Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Measuring 16 by 18 inches overall and 9 by 11 painting al...

GENTY Emmanuel (1830-1904) Portrait of an Elegant Lady Oil on canvas signed low right and dated 1897 Old Frame regilded with gold leaves Dim canvas : 100 x 81 cm Dim frame : 120 x 10...

Albert Besnard entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1866, studying with Alexandre Cabanel before making his debut at the Salon in 1868. Six years later he won the Prix de Rome with a ...

Lewis George Fry (1860 - 1933) Lewis George Fry was a British painter who was born in 1860 in Clifton, Bristol UK. This piece was created with mixed media and is in a gilt frame un...

Benoît Blanc (1812-1888), was a painter born in Marseille who was a pupil of Horace Vernet and signed as 'Benoni' upon his return from Italy in 1832. He w...

Shichirigahama, Sagami Province. A beauty in the foreground waves to her young companions, who run towards her on the beach. The beauty at left wears a western-style golden ring. We ...

Charles Jay Taylor American, 1855-1929 Ships in the Moonlight Oil on Canvas 32 ¼ by 42 in, w/ frame 36 ¾ by 46 ¾ in Signed lower left Charles Jay Taylor was born in New York in 185...

HARDY, DUDLEY (1867 – 1922) "A Gaiety Girl" Original lithograph from “Les Maitres de L’Affiche” series Printed by Imprimerie Chaix, Paris Bearing MDL stamp lower right, from issue #...

Charles Spencelayh British, (1865-1958) The Lantern Oil on canvas, signed Image size: 13.5 inches x 9.75 inches Size including frame: 20.25 inches ...

Étienne-Prosper Berne-Bellecour (June 29, 1838 - November 29, 1910) was a French painter, engraver and illustrator. He was known for his art of war. Berne-Bellecour was born on June ...

"From: Ilsée, Princess of Tripoli Recto: "Jaufre's Entrance" Verso: "Father Scolds Son" is an original color lithograph by Alphonse Mucha. Exquisite double-sided color lithographs f...

A rare late 19th century watercolour by the well listed Victorian artist Edward Neale (1833-1904). The scene depicts a skein of mallards landing on a body of water at dusk. Neale as ...

'1. 2. Helicopis acis 3. Zeonia chorinceus' Late 19th century colour lithograph of butterflies.

Wonderful original color lithograph by Paul Berthon (1872-1909). In excellent condition with great color. Unframed. Presents in a 2-Ply Museum Mat. Titled: "Lecon de Violon." Maitre ...

Jean Matet (French, 1870-1936) 'Beauty' - a mischievous terrier signed and dated ‘J. Matet' (lower left) and inscribed and dated 'BEAUTY. 1898’ (lower right) oil on canvas 13 x 9 ⅞ i...

Alfred Crowdy Lovett C.B.E (British, 1862-1919) Palm Tree & Coconut of Palm (in pencil on verso), single palm signed top right Watercolours on paper, mounted Single palm: Mount si...

MORIN Charles Camille (1846 – 1919) The Girl with goats by the river Oil on canvas signed low left Old frame gilded with leaves Dim canvas : 58 X 91 cm Dim Frame : 88 X 112 cm MORI...

"Shooting on the Prairie" is an original hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives. It depicts a hunter shooting at fowl in an open field. 8 1/2" x 12 1/2" art 20 1/4" x 23 3/4" frame Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

This rare and exquisite 1896 calendar by Swiss-born French illustrator Eugène Grasset, created for the Parisian department store La Belle Jardinière, is a masterpiece of Art Nouveau ...

Umewaka Shrine, from an untitled series of prints depicting Tokyo. A woman braces her umbrella against the rain and a man waits out the storm next to his jinriksha in this view of th...

Óleo sobre lienzo de Baldomer Gili Roig – Mujeres cosiendo, firmado, con marco ornamentado. Magnífica pintura al óleo sobre lienzo del reconocido artista catalán Baldomer Gili Roig ...

Olof Arborelius (1842‑1915). View from Capri with Vesuvius in the background. Monogram signed OA. Oil on canvas laid on cardboard, 31 x 46 cm. Certified on verso: "Painted by Olof A...

A dramatic, one of a kind oil study. Certainly not your run of the mill 19th Century portait! Depicted is a young man, whose face is brightly lit from what is likely is an open fire....

Charles Valton 1851-1918 French Tigre et Lion Bronze with brown patina Both item measure 13 1/2" high x 15" wide x 6 1/5" depth

A fine early 20th century watercolour by Henry Charles Brewer RI (1866-1950), depicting a country landscape with spinning windmill and church tower. Elegantly mounted in a gilt-effec...

A fine and picturesque study of a farmer and his horses in a sun-drenched field, capturing a moment of quiet industry beneath a wide, open sky. The artist's confident brushwork lends...

William Gale British 1823 - 1909 A Restful Moment signed with artist's monogram WG lower left oil on canvas Unframed: 30.6 by 41cm., 12 by 16¼in. Framed: 52 by 62cm., 20½ by 24½in. William Gale was a talented history and genre oil painter, born in London in 1823. He won many accolades as a student at Royal Academy Schools, and travelled to Italy in 1851 and the Middle East in 1862 and 1867. Due to his many influences , Gale's paintings are in an array of styles including sentimental, biblical, mythological subjects, portraits and orientalist pictures. Examples of his work are held by the Tate, Glasgow City Art Galleries and Museums and Art Gallery of New South Wales. William Gale was one of the many artists who, upon finishing his study at the Royal Academy Schools, set out to explore the east: namely North Africa, Algeria, Palestine and Syria. These remote countries at the crossroads of civilizations captivated his imagination, which he explored through his work. Following in the footsteps of the great Orientalists John Frederic Lewis and Jean Leon Gerome, William Gale evokes the Eastern Woman, the bright colors and delicate textures that can be found in the East. Using pure, rich glazes and extraordinary attention to detail, he renders the luxurious, beautifully embroidered headscarf. Eastern women kindled a curiosity in almost every Orientalist artist...

A virtuoso charcoal sketch by the Frech 19th Century master Gustave Jean Jacquet (1846-1904). It depicts a thoughtful woman (or woman in thought?) with her face resting on her hand...

April: Otsuyu of Yanagibashi in Wisteria Arbor at Kameido Color woodcut, 1880 From the series: "Pride of Tokyo's Twelve Months" (Tokyo jiman juni kagetsu) Signed and sealed lower rig...

If Vogue magazine existed in the late 19th century, this sitter could be on the cover. The depth of her feminine beauty and sweetness is mesmerizing. She looks at you. You look ...

Important pair of Japanese bronze birds in the form of geese masterfully crafted. One with a closed beak the other open, both with quirky expressi...

JAN WYSOCKI (Polish 1873-1960) Reclining Nude Woman with Mirror and Roses Oil on canvas 39 x 48 inches Signed lower right In a period gold leaf frame Jan Wysocki was born on Februar...

Peasants at work. Oil on canvas signed Garnier, signature to be identified. Superficial cracks and very small paint losses, good general condition. 32 x 40 cm.

Medium: original etching. This impression on wove paper was printed in 1885 for the Sylvester R. Koehler portfolio of etchings and published by Cassell & Company. Plate size: 8 1/2 x...

Here is a wonderful original watercolor and gouache depicting a scene from Emile Zola book “A Page of Love” by the American artist, Jean Leon Gerome Ferris....

François Clément SOMMIER, known as Henry SOMM Rouen 1844 - Paris 1907 Young Elegant woman in hat, nocturnal Watercolor Signed lower right 32 x 21 cm 50 x 40 cm framed Very good cond...

Incredible signed early American dog portrait painting. Oil on board. Signed. Housed in a period gold giltwood frame.

Picking Roses French School, late 19th century oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 22 x 18 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: good and sound condition

Theodore Roussel (1847-1926), The Gate, Chelsea; etching and drypoint, 1889-1890, signed on the tab and inscribed imp [also signed in the plate lowere right]. Reference: Hausberg 33, fourth state (of 4), from the total printing of about 43 impressions. In excellent condition, trimmed by the artist all around on the plate mark except for the tab, 8 1/8 x 6 1/2 inches. A fine impression, printed on a light cream wove paper with plate tone (wiped to brighten the gate and doorway area) and substantial burr in the drypoint work. According to Hausberg, “The gate and house behind it still stand today at No. 4 Cheyne Walk...

Signed lower right. A landscape and marine painter, William Ongley was born in England in 1836 and came to America with his family and settled in New York. His art studies took him ...