Romantic Art

Pencils on paper mounted on panel Tomo Sakurai is a Japanese artist born in 1987 who lives & works in Tokyo, Japan. She had an awakening of her talent in pencil drawing as a teenage...

Pencil on paper Tomo Sakurai is a Japanese artist born in 1987 who lives & works in Tokyo, Japan. She had an awakening of her talent in pencil drawing as a teenager. It was the beau...

Alabaster temple with Corinthian capitals, palmette decoration runs along the rim. On the front, two swans are carved on the base, while there are five rosettes at the top. In the ce...

Author: Rosendo González Carbonell Title: Mother and Child Technique: Oil on canvas Style: Figurative with elements of Romanticism and Reali...

This remarkable painting by Swedish artist Per Wickenberg captures a serene Dutch winter scene at sunset, showcasing his mastery of atmospheric light and dramatic composition. Create...

JUST BEFORE SUNSET, Original Signed Contemporary Realist Landscape Painting 24" x 40" x 0.5" (HxWxD) Oil on Linen mounted on Gator Board Hand-signed by t...

Enrique SERRA AUQUE Barcelona, 1859 - Rome, 1918 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower left “ENRIQUE SERRA/ 1892 ” 40 x 33 cm (45 x 38 cm with frame) Nice old frame in wood Enrique S...

Grundy 36, published by R. Acherman. Inscribed in stone lower left: 'James Ward R.A. Pinxt et Delt. / Dogs of the Dalmation breed-from an original picture in the possession of Sir Jo...

Archival pigment print Signed and dated by the artist 16 x 20 - edition of 10 20 x 30 - edition of 5 Flickering in the Midday Silver Beyond the pane a glimmer, barely perceived...

Wright Barker (British School 1864-1931) Barker was a well-known painter of equestrian and highland scenes, though landscape and genre subjects are known. ...

'Flower maidens,' a large oil-on-canvas painting by Émile Eisman-Semenowsky French/Polish, Late 19th Century Frame: height 72.5cm, width 111cm, depth 9cm Canvas: height 54cm, width 9...

Beautiful Orientalist painting - The Framed size: 47 inches x 34.5 inches. Magnificent ornate Frame The paint surface looks like the style of William-Adolphe Bouguereau Signed lower right. Provenance: Gallery Label with inventory number: Size on label is in centimeters, which indicates the painting came from a United Kingdom art gallery. Subsequently, Robert Funk Fine Art...

The technique and subject matter work well together in this loosely but masterfully rendered World War 1 romantic illustration of a Soldier and a Parisian woman. Even though this wo...

A Venetian scene of the Palazzo Dario by F. R. Unterberger Austrian, c.1898-1900 Frame: height 97cm, width 85cm, depth 7cm Canvas: 83cm, width 70cm, depth...

"The green tree, monumental landscape" in Romantic style by English artist Sheila Querre. Dimension art cm: 60 W x 81 H Dimension frame cm: 78 W x...

Portrait of a Girl holding a Posy. Oil on Panel 17 1/2 x 13 inches 44.4 x 33 cm ABOUT THE ARTIST:  Jacques d'Agar  was a French portrait painter born i...

Artist: Alvar Title: Woman with Birds Year: c.1980 Medium: Color lithograph Paper: Wove Image size: 18.5 x 24.5 inches Framed size: 26.5 x 32.65 inc...

Egron Sellif Lundgren (1815–1875) Sweden Resting Dromedar, 1861 watercolour heightened with white unframed 21 x 29.2 cm (8 ¼ x 11 ½ in.) framed 40 x 48 cm (15 ¾ x 18 ⅞ in.) Proven...

A substantial, mid-to-late 19th century American School nocturnal landscape showing a view of three children, accompanied by their terrier, fishing by lamp-light and startled by the ...

This stunning large-format gallery-wrapped giclée captures internationally acclaimed Count Bernard de Claviere’s last Borzoi painting, "Rendez-vous o...

Ella Waldenström (1863–1955) Sweden A Sewing Woman, 1900 watercolor on paper signed and dated E.W 23/2 1900 visible image 21 x 12 cm (8 ¼ x 4 ¾ in.) framed 29 x 20 cm (11 ½ x 7 ¾ ...

Archival pigment print Signed and dated by the artist 16 x 20 - edition of 10 20 x 30 - edition of 5 Flickering in the Midday Silver Beyond the pane a glimmer, barely perceived...

Archival pigment print Hand printed by Sarah Hadley on Canson Baryta Photo paper From the series In Between Days Sarah Hadley is a Los Angeles based artist whose narrative work focuses on issues of female identity and memory. Hadley's photographs have been exhibited at the Milan Photo...

Eugène Devéria (1805-1865) The children of the painter Portrait in an oval, study for a portrait Black pencil on paper 23 x 19 cm Stamp of the worksh...

JOAQUÍN DOMÍNGUEZ BÉCQUER Spanish, 1817 - 1879 DANCERS IN A COURTYARD signed, located & dated "Joaq. D. Becquer. Sevilla 1849." (lower right)...

French school of the 19th century Monks excavate and find ancient relics Oil on canvas56 x 46.5 cm (68 x 57.5 cm with the frame) Beautiful period frame in gilded wood Good condition ...

These images are available as hand-pulled polymer photogravures, made with bone black and warm sepia inks on Hahnemühle Copperplate paper. Edition of 109 7 x 9 photopolymer gravure Signed numbered and dated by the artist. The photographs and poem that evolved into this series of photographs and the accompanying book “Yesterday” were made during the summer of 2020. Although much of the country was in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic, on this remote island off the coast of Maine, we still felt free from much of the toll that Covid was taking. Able to spend time outside, in nature, we had the illusion of safety, of normalcy almost, whilst at the same time being painfully aware of how the virus was increasingly touching everyone's lives. By then we all knew of people who had died, or become ill and we were managing the stress of futures shifting and plans that had been derailed, fearing what would come with the change of the seasons. That summer represented a pause in time, a moment where life could feel normal, when we were still holding on to a world of yesterdays. Maine-based photographic artist and writer Sal Taylor Kydd uses various photographic media in a personal narrative that explores themes around memory and belonging; combining her poetry with alternative processes of photography and object-making. Taylor Kydd’s fine art photographs have been exhibited throughout the country and internationally, including Barcelona, San Miguel De Allende, Portland, Boston and Los Angeles; and she has been featured in numerous publications, including Shots Magazine, Don’t Take Pictures Magazine, Lenscratch, Diffusion Annual and The Hand magazine. She has self-published a number of books combining her poetry with her photographs. Her books are in private and museum collections throughout the country including The Getty Museum, Bowdoin College, The Peabody Essex Museum and the Maine Women Writer’s Collection at the University of New England. Taylor Kydd’s latest book “Yesterday”, produced by Datz Press, is a limited edition book of poems and photographs that explores our sense of loss around the pandemic of 2020. Taylor Kydd is also a veteran workshop leader and educator and has led workshops and conducted portfolio reviews throughout the country and internationally with Maine Media, Santa Fe Workshops, Palm Beach Photography...

These images are available as hand-pulled polymer photogravures, made with bone black and warm sepia inks on Hahnemühle Copperplate paper. Edition of 109 7 x 9 photopolymer gravure Signed numbered and dated by the artist Framing options available The photographs and poem that evolved into this series of photographs and the accompanying book “Yesterday” were made during the summer of 2020. Although much of the country was in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic, on this remote island off the coast of Maine, we still felt free from much of the toll that Covid was taking. Able to spend time outside, in nature, we had the illusion of safety, of normalcy almost, whilst at the same time being painfully aware of how the virus was increasingly touching everyone's lives. By then we all knew of people who had died, or become ill and we were managing the stress of futures shifting and plans that had been derailed, fearing what would come with the change of the seasons. That summer represented a pause in time, a moment where life could feel normal, when we were still holding on to a world of yesterdays. Maine-based photographic artist and writer Sal Taylor Kydd uses various photographic media in a personal narrative that explores themes around memory and belonging; combining her poetry with alternative processes of photography and object-making. Taylor Kydd’s fine art photographs have been exhibited throughout the country and internationally, including Barcelona, San Miguel De Allende, Portland, Boston and Los Angeles; and she has been featured in numerous publications, including Shots Magazine, Don’t Take Pictures Magazine, Lenscratch, Diffusion Annual and The Hand magazine. She has self-published a number of books combining her poetry with her photographs. Her books are in private and museum collections throughout the country including The Getty Museum, Bowdoin College, The Peabody Essex Museum and the Maine Women Writer’s Collection at the University of New England. Taylor Kydd’s latest book “Yesterday”, produced by Datz Press, is a limited edition book of poems and photographs that explores our sense of loss around the pandemic of 2020. Taylor Kydd is also a veteran workshop leader and educator and has led workshops and conducted portfolio reviews throughout the country and internationally with Maine Media, Santa Fe Workshops, Palm Beach Photography...

Marble-based bronze statuette depicting Cupid, holding an arrow in his hand, walking caressing a lion's mane, lowered in the act of affectionately licking his little foot. The subjec...

Painted from life in Ogunquit, Maine. A sandy beach crowded with figures sitting beneath umbrellas. Shadows are cast and depicted with rich purples and blues. This work is currently unframed. Signed: Angel Ramiro Sanchez Angel Ramiro Sanchez was born in 1974 in Maracaibo, Venezuela. At age six was accepted with full scholarship into the Instituto the Niños Cantores del Zulia, school for musically gifted children. At age fourteen he began five years of apprenticeship with the realist painter, Abdon J. Romero, an eminent specialist in murals for churches and public buildings. In 1993, a study grant from Mgr. Gustavo Ocando Yamarte, Founder the Niños Cantores, enabled him to travel to Florence, Italy, where he studied at the renowned Accademia di Belle Arti, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1997. At the same time, he was enrolled at The Florence Academy of Art,founded by painter Daniel Graves, where he received a diploma in Painting. Ramiro was appointed senior painting instructor at The Florence Academy of Art in 1997, and is currently Director of the Advanced Painting Program. Ramiro paints only from life, searching for accuracy beyond physical appearance to reach the psychological state of his subject. He believes the painter must draw his information from "all five senses" to tell the complete human story. Ramiros work is predominantly represented by th e Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor, New York, but also Scriba Gallery, venice, Italy, Jack Meier Gallery, Houston, Tx. Ramiros works can be found in numerous private collections in Europe, The United States and South America. Public collections include: The Fondazione Stelline, Milan, Italy. The Fremantle Foundation for Foreing Artist in Tuscany at Villa Peyron, Florence, Italy and The Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA. USA. He shares his life and passion for art with his wife, the artist Melissa Franklin-Sanchez. Education 1993-1997 Florence Academy of Art, directed by Daniel Graves, Florence, Italy. 1993-1997 Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze Graduated Magna Cum Laude, Thesis: Historic and Technical Notes of Academic Realism Today. 1995 Florence, Italy: Michael John Angel...

The subject illustrated here is one of the moments that mark the centuries-long history of Genoa's glorious Maritime Republic, when the ashes of St. John the Baptist, one of the city...

Ornate, decorative oil painting. Illustration of Marie Potonie (born Sievers). Marie was the daughter of the royal Prussian court painter Johannes Sievers. Extremely fine painting....

Pair of antique Orientalist oil paintings by de Hagemann French, 19th Century Canvas: Height 44cm, width 29.5cm, depth 2cm Frames: Height 64cm, w...

Story illustration for Saturday Evening Post magazine, 1928. Image of woman seated on balcony, older man looking on. "I feel immensely flattered that you'...

Antique Horse Study "Heads, Hooves and Rump, 1838" Wouterus Verschuur (Dutch, 1812-1874) Pencil on paper Signed and Dated "W Verschuuur 1838" 10 x 6 1/2 (17 1/2 x 14 frame) inches In his time Wouterus Verschuur was an acclaimed and celebrated painter of horses. Through careful observation he learned to capture their physique and movement to perfection. As a true-born romanticist he was also interested in their character, thereby painting powerful carthorses in their stable, thoroughbred saddled horses during an afternoon ride or harnessed horses in action. He was born to an Amsterdam jeweler and received his training from the landscape and cattle painters Pieter Gerardus van Os and Cornelis Steffelaar. As part of this education Verschuur had to copy works by the 17th century painter Philips Wouwerman. Like Wouwerman, Verschuur's subjects consist mostly of stable scenes, landscapes with horses and coastal landscape. These works reflect the enduring influence of the northern Baroque masters on nineteenth century art, revealing the artist's close study of his Dutch and Flemish predecessors harking back to Peter Paul Rubens. Showing talent from a very early age, at 15 Verschuur had a painting exhibited at the "Exhibition of Living Masters" at Amsterdam in 1828. In 1832 and 1833 he won the gold medal at the annual exhibition at Felix Meritis. In 1833 he was appointed a member of the Royal Academy in Amsterdam. In 1839 he joined the artists' society, Arti et Amicitiae. His reputation was also considerable abroad. He was often featured in the annual exhibitions which travelled the large European cities at that time. In 1855 Napoleon III purchased one of his paintings at the Exposition Universelle* in Paris. The Verschuur horse revels in its physicality, like a quintessential Baroque horse...

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

Oil on board 9 1/4 x 13 inches (23.5 x 33 cm) Framed: 19 1/4 x 23 inches (48.9 x 58.4 cm) Signed lower right: Blommers Provenance: Jacques Goudstikker, The Netherlands Acquired from...

Ecole de Paris, mid century oil on canvas portrait of a mother and child by Guy Cambier. The painting is signed bottom left and there is a very faint chalk inscription with date to the back of the canvas. Presented in a fine custom gilt wood frame. This exquisite painting captures a tender, timeless moment between a mother and child, rendered with soft, evocative brushstrokes. The palette of muted earth tones with hints of blue and lavender imbues the scene with warmth and serenity. The mother, adorned in flowing robes, gazes downward with a gentle, contemplative expression, while the child's innocent face exudes calm and trust, resting securely in her embrace. The textured background, a blend of abstract patterns, contrasts with the smooth rendering of the figures, enhancing the ethereal atmosphere. The intricate gold frame adds a classic touch, emphasizing the painting's traditional elegance. This piece masterfully balances realism with expressive elements, capturing the universal essence of maternal love and protection. Its timeless appeal invites the viewer to reflect on the enduring bond depicted with grace and sensitivity. Guy Cambier (1923-2008) was born in Uccle-lez-Bruxelles, Belgium in 1923. He was part of the Post War School of Paris, Ecole De Paris, that included Andre Hambourg, Jean Carzou, Marcel Gromaire and Yolande Ardissone. At the age of nine years old, he lost the use of his legs caused by a tragic accident. An autodidact he studied the techniques and works of those artists he emulated, Corot and Watteau. Cambier started to exhibit in 1942, first in Belgium and afterwards in France on the Cote d’Azur as well as in the United States and in Paris at the Salon des Peintres Temoins de Leur Temps. In 1957, he received the Parisian award, “Le Prix de la Jeune Peintre”. He moved to the South of France in 1950 and resided in Grasse, where he spent most of the rest of his life as did so many famous painters at that time. Cambier became a favourite portrait artist of several celebrities and painted such dignitaries as Princess Grace of Monaco, Winston Churchill, Ingrid Bergman and Edward G Robinson...

Title Page-An Encampment in Ethiopia Original gold toned albumin photograph, c. 1862 Unsigned as is usual From: Upper Egypt and Ethiopia, c. 1862, Vol 3, (36 plates) Published by Wil...

"Muses of the Universe" is a visual poem about the profound unity of the elements and feminine energy. The images are interconnected and unified in a Single Circle of Power: a self-s...

The Condition is fair. work has been slightly over-cleaned. A heavy layer of glossy varnish. The surface of the canvas is undulated and most apparent from extreme side view . Yet in...

VICNTE PALMAROLI y GONZÁLEZ Spanish, 1834 - 1896 PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK signed "V. Palmaroli" (lower right) oil on mahogany panel 17-3/4 x 13-1/2 inches (45 X 34 cm.) framed: 25-1/4 X 21-1/4 inches (64 X 53.7 cm.) PROVENANCE Leslie Hindman Inc., Auctionners Private Collector, Madrid Oil on table by Vicente Palmaroli...

German or Swiss School, probably Circle of Christoph Nathe (1753-1808)), around 1800; beautiful old master drawing/ aquatint, inscribed "P 50/ 1871 gekauf...

Beautiful drawing by Jean-Baptiste Valadie, hand-signed, museum frame

Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA 1769-1830 Portrait of a Young Officer Pastel with touches of black chalk on paper Signed and inscribed on an old label verso: "Be pleased to keep away / from the Damp & from dust / T Lawrence AE 13. / 1783." Wash mount and gilt frame Provenance W.E. Spooner; Anonymous sale, Phillips London, 17 April 2000 lot 196 Sothebys, Old Master & Early British Paintings, 14 April 2011 • London Lot 246 Old label verso describes how this was drawn in 1783 at the age of 14! This is a portrait of an officer from the Irish Volunteers. The Irish Volunteers was a part-time military force raised by local initiative in Ireland in 1778. Their original purpose was to guard against invasion and to preserve law and order at a time when British soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to fight abroad during the American Revolutionary War. As a young boy Thomas Lawrence lived with his parents who ran a coaching inn near Bath. Clearly talented from this young age, he drew the passing travellers who stopped at the inn and this soldier may have been one such sitter. Lawrence was only 13 years old when he drew this work. To capitalise upon their son's talents, the family later moved to Bath and sent Lawrence to London in 1787 where he entered the Royal Academy schools at the earliest possible age. Works from such an early period of Lawrence's creativity are rarely to be found today. This rare early portrait drawn in Bath shows the level of technical skill that Lawrence had reached at 14 years old. His use of colour and tone to depict flesh and all the subtle variations in the texture and pigmentation of his sitter’s face, powdered hair and clothes show how Lawrence conceived pastel as a form of painting and partly explains how he could have made the smooth transition to oil painting so soon afterwards. When he arrived in Bath from Devizes in 1780, eleven-year-old Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) was promoted as a natural-born genius like his Renaissance predecessor Raphael. The local press announced the arrival of the boy wonder and his ‘Striking Sketches’, inviting the ‘Nobility and Gentry’ to sit for their portraits. Thomas Lawrence was a prodigious portraitist from the age of just eight, when he began to draw his first portraits in pencil...

Limited edition Heine Hartwig print from a painting by the same artist, signed & numbered in gold in the lower right, 722/800. This beautiful, colorful a...

Ventura A. Pérez (1992) is one of the most seductive artists on the contemporary Spanish scene. After earning a doctorate in contemporary art from the University of Vigo, he moved to...

Female figural bronze by Etienne Henry Dumaige (1830-1888) of Psyche with lit Oil Lamp, perched on a stump. Her gaze is incredibly striking, commanding the eye of the viewer. The lam...

Tanvi Pathare Luna Contemporary Florence Portrait painting Ø 80 cm oil on linen (frame included in price) size with frame: Ø 100 cm Tanvi Pathare from India attended the Florence A...

Fine drawing in pencil, oval format. Circle of Angelika Kauffmann. The subject is not clear. It is Amor with his arrows and perhaps Venus with a sp...

Chester Cathedral - Drypoint Etching in Ink on Paper Dramatic drypoint etching by J. Alphege Brewer (British, 1881-1946). This composition shows the interior of Chester Cathedral in Brewer's characteristic style - highly detailed and with strong contrast. The scene encompasses the cathedral from floor to ceiling, capturing the immense size of the building. There are several people in the scene which contribute to the sense of scale. Signed by hand "J. Alphege Brewer" in the lower right corner. Titled "Chester Cathedral" in plate, lower left corner. Includes original card with artist's name. Presented in a new black mat with foamcore backing. Mat size: 16"H x 12"W Paper size: 10.75"H x 7.75"W James Alphege Brewer was well known in the early 20th century as a producer of color etchings of European cathedrals and other scenes of church, college, and community. He was born July 24, 1881, in the Kensington section of London, England, the son of Henry W. Brewer, noted artist of historical architecture and prominent convert to the Catholic Church, and the grandson of John Sherren Brewer, Jr., “the brilliant editor of the Calendar of Letters of Henry VIII.” His great uncle was E. Cobham Brewer, the polymath who compiled Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Among his older siblings were the artist Henry C. Brewer and the organist and writer John Francis Brewer. Brewer attended the Westminster School of Art in London, where his brother Henry also trained. In 1910, he married Florence Emma Lucas, an accomplished painter in oil and watercolor, whose father was the noted landscape artist George Lucas and whose great uncle was David Lucas, the famous engraver for John Constable. Florence's brothers Edwin and George assisted Brewer in the printing of Brewer's etchings. Brewer exhibited at the Royal Academy (RA) and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour (RI), at the Paris Salon of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and in the shows of the Royal Cambrian Academy (RCA). He became an associate of the Royal Cambrian Academy in 1929 and a full member in the last two years of his life. He was also a member of the Hampstead Society of Artists, the Society of Graphic Art, and the Ealing Arts Club, where he was first Honorary Art Secretary and then Honorary Art Chairman. Most of Brewer's larger etchings were published by Alfred Bell...

Early 20th Century oil on canvas still life of oranges, hops and flowers signed E Pritchard and dated 1904 bottom left, presented in period gilt ...

Luigi Lucioni, American (1900 - 1988) - Stony Pasture, Year: 1943, Medium: Etching, signed in pencil, Image Size: 7.75 x 11 inches, Frame Size: 15.75 x 18.5 inches

Unknown Artist, French School 18th Century, Circle of Mallet? Scene taken from the Decamerone. Old Master Drawing

JOAQUÍN DOMÍNGUEZ BÉCQUER Spanish, 1817 - 1879 OUTSIDE THE TAVERN signed, located & dated "Joaq. D. Becquer. Sevilla 1849." (lower right) oil...

Italian Peasant Girl with Coral Necklace and Man with Ciocie Shoes, 19th Century Dimensions: H 65 cm x W 51 cm Period: 19th century Technique: Oil on canvas This rural scene depic...

The present print is one of several examples produced for Nathaniel Currier by his longtime collaborator Frances F. "Fanny" Palmer. Harry T. Peters wrote of her: "There is no more interesting and appealing character among the group of artists who worked for Currier & Ives than Fanny Palmer. In an age when women, well-bred women in particular, did not generally work for a living Fanny Palmer for years did exacting, full-time work in order to support a large and dependent family ... Her work ... had great charm, homeliness, and a conscientious attention to detail." One of a series of four prints showing American country life in different seasons, the image presents the viewer with a picturesque view of a successful American farm. In the foreground, a gentleman rides a horse with a young boy before a respectable Italianate country house. Two women and a young girl pick flowers in the garden and several farm workers attend to their duties. Beyond are other homes and a city on the coast. 16.63 x 23.75 inches, artwork 28.13 x 33.38 inches, frame Entitled bottom center "American Country Life - May Morning" Signed in the stone, lower left "F.F. Palmer, Del." Signed in the stone, lower right "Lith. by N. Currier" Copyrighted lower center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." Inscribed bottom center "New York, Published by N. Currier 152 Nassau Street" Framed to conservation standards using silk-lined 100 percent rag matting and Museum Glass with a gold gilded liner, all housed in a stained wood moulding. 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...

One of a Kind oil on canvas, signed, dated 1880 and located in Rome, work of José Alcázar Tejedor. It depicts a mace-bearer, the absolute protagonist of the scene, which derives from...

Antique Horse Study "Legs and Rumps, 1838" Wouterus Verschuur l (Dutch, 1812-1874) Pencil on paper Signed and Dated "W Verschuur 1838" 10 x 6 1/2 (17 1/2 x 14 frame) inches In his time Wouterus Verschuur was an acclaimed and celebrated painter of horses. Through careful observation he learned to capture their physique and movement to perfection. As a true-born romanticist he was also interested in their character, thereby painting powerful carthorses in their stable, thoroughbred saddled horses during an afternoon ride or harnessed horses in action. He was born to an Amsterdam jeweler and received his training from the landscape and cattle painters Pieter Gerardus van Os and Cornelis Steffelaar. As part of this education Verschuur had to copy works by the 17th century painter Philips Wouwerman. Like Wouwerman, Verschuur's subjects consist mostly of stable scenes, landscapes with horses and coastal landscape. These works reflect the enduring influence of the northern Baroque masters on nineteenth century art, revealing the artist's close study of his Dutch and Flemish predecessors harking back to Peter Paul Rubens. Showing talent from a very early age, at 15 Verschuur had a painting exhibited at the "Exhibition of Living Masters" at Amsterdam in 1828. In 1832 and 1833 he won the gold medal at the annual exhibition at Felix Meritis. In 1833 he was appointed a member of the Royal Academy in Amsterdam. In 1839 he joined the artists' society, Arti et Amicitiae. His reputation was also considerable abroad. He was often featured in the annual exhibitions which travelled the large European cities at that time. In 1855 Napoleon III purchased one of his paintings at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. The Verschuur horse revels in its physicality, like a quintessential Baroque horse...

JOAQUÍN DOMÍNGUEZ BÉCQUER Spanish, 1817 - 1879 THE CARD GAME signed, located & dated "Joaq. D. Becquer. Sevilla - 1849." (lower left) oil on ...