Paper Drawings

Antique Original Charcoal and Chalk Study Depicting a Girl and her Dog An extremely charming portrait study which is sensitively and skillfully executed. Framed and glazed in its o...

Rare and beautiful painted work by Fortunato Depero from 1948. The work bears the Signature in the lower left-hand corner. Work archived at the Archivio Unico per il catalogo delle o...

William P. Katz, American (1926-2003). "The Lady of the Forest", mixed media gouache and pastel on paper, 1991. Signed/dated "W.P. Katz '91" bottom right, inscribed on verso: "To Ruthie 4/6/92; Happy birthday from 'The Lady of the Forest'". Presented in a gold-painted wooden frame. A lovely and whimsical painting in pastel colors by respected sculptor/artist William P. Katz, depicting the face of a woman...

Charcoal portrait drawing of a man, framed, dated 2016. Thought to be of either Mexican or Uruguayan origin.

An extremely rare and original design drawing of the world renowned and much loved Concorde Aircraft. Concorde memorabilia is becoming more and mo...

BIC blue colored pen on paper. Serie "The Italian Dream" Nº2 Ed 50/75, 2009 Juan Francisco Casas Ruiz 1976: He has had numerous individual exhibi...

R. S. MACDONALD (Unknown/Unidentified Artist) - 'Raven Stealing the Sun' - Aboriginal colored pencil drawing on paper - original metal frame with single matte board and glass - title...

Lucio Fontana. "Concepto spaziale", 1965. China ink on paper. Dimensions: 30 x 20 cm. With certificate. This is a preparatory work that is re...

Drawing done of a nude male in 1898. 450 each.

Beautiful drawing by Gustave Wertheimer (1847-1904) in pencil, gouache and watercolour. Signed and dated 1881 and dedicated in 1882. Dimensions in cm : 49.4 x 37.6 Very good condition. Passe-partout cardboard frame glued to outer edges. Secure shipping. Gustave Wertheimer was born in 1847 in Vienna and died in Paris in 1904. A respected artist in his own day, he was particularly known as a history painter specialising in genre scenes and portraiture, his pictures often embodied fantasy and dreamlike qualities. He studied under Joseph Führich at the Viennese Academy before continuing his studies in Munich and then Paris, where he arrived in 1882. It was during his time in Paris that Wertheimer obtained widespread recognition and success after exhibiting his painting, Le repas des lions chez Pezon, at the Salon of 1886. He exhibited frequently at the Salon and participated in many of the great exhibitions of the period, receiving medals at Amsterdam, London, New Orleans and Paris. He also received an honourable mention at L’ Exposition Universelle 1889...

An Art Nouveau inspired color aquatint etching on paper depicting a female nude with botanical flowers by Polish artist Barbara Rosiak. Hand signed in pencil on the bottom right with an annotation of 8/30. Titled bottom left. Taking inspiration from modern artists like Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha, organic lines and forms found in nature create a powerful feminine aesthetic. From the personal collection of famed artist, Dominic Pangborn. Dimensions: 24.75"w x 1.25"d x 31"h. In very good vintage condition. Barbara Rosiak is a Polish painter...

Graphite and wash drawing, study of a pair of female nudes. Pencil signed lower right. Two heavy set female nudes with their hair up in a pretty peach tone wash. Full paper 20 x 1...

Italy, circa 1750 A mid eighteenth century drawing of a winged putto with arms outstretched, in the manner of Michelangelo. Executed in b...

Circa 1930's ink wash on thin paper study of bearded man. Unsigned, age toning, tape residue along edges, some cockling to paper.

Wonderful charcoal portrait of a girl. By a very good victorian artist, William Wardlaw Laing* Sitter unknown. Signed lower left Presented in an antique bleached tropical hardw...

Red chalk drawing of a reclining Female nude Signed and dated by Frank Dobson This drawing, never before on the market, comes from an important European private collection and is beautified by an antique frame in gilded wood, in almost perfect condition. The painting is also protected by glass Dimensions whit frame cm 71 x 58.5 Every item of our Gallery, upon request, is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Sabrina Egidi official Expert in Italian furniture for the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and for the Rome Civil Courts. Frank Owen Dobson (London 1886 – 1963) was a British artist and sculptor. Dobson began as a painter, and his early work was influenced by cubism, vorticism, and futurism. After World War I, however, he turned increasingly toward sculpture in a more or less realist style. Throughout the 1920s and the early 1930s he built a reputation as an outstanding sculptor and was among the first in Britain to prefer direct carving of the material rather than modelling a maquette first. The simplified forms and flowing lines of much of his sculptures, particularly his female nudes, showed the influence of African art. From 1946 to 1953 Dobson was Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1953. While Dobson was one of the most esteemed artists of his time, is now seen as one of the most important British sculptors of the 20th century. Dobson grew up in Clerkenwell where attended school in Forest Gate. After eighteen months in Reynolds-Stephen's studio, Dobson moved to Devon and then to Cornwall where he lived, for two years, by selling landscape paintings. In 1906 he obtained a scholarship to study at the art institute in Hospitalfield House in Arbroath and studied there for four years. From 1910 to 1912 Dobson attended the City and Guilds of London Art School in Kennington, after which he returned to Cornwall. In Newlyn, he met Augustus John who used his influence and contacts and in, or around, 1915 Dobson created his first sculpture, a small piece in wood. In 1915, during the First World War, Dobson enlisted in The Artists Rifles and served in France from October 1916. In April 1918 he married Cordelia Clara Tregurtha. Dobson was formally invalided out of the Army in November 1918 and by then had already submitted several drawings to the British War Memorials Committee. Dobson set up a studio in the Tregurtha family home in Newlyn but towards the end of the war he took a studio in Manresa Road in Chelsea and would live there until the start of the Second World War. Throughout the 1920s Dobson focused increasingly on sculpture, exhibited work in several influential exhibitions and played a leading role in a number of artistic groups. He was the only sculptor to take part in the 1920 Group X exhibition. Dobson was a founding member of the London Artists Association and spent three years as President of the London Group between 1923 and 1927. He made bronze portraits of several public figures. At the Group X exhibition he exhibited two sculptures and studies of Ben Nicholson and his bronze head of H. H. Asquith was shown at the Leicester Galleries in late 1921. Other subjects included Osbert Sitwell, Lydia Lopokova and Tallulah Bankhead. Dobson exhibited at the Venice Biennale in both 1924 and in 1926, was featured in the 1925 Tri-National Exhibition which visited London, Paris and New York and was also included in the 1926 European artists exhibition that toured America and Canada. In March 1927 he had his first major one-man exhibition when the Leicester Galleries exhibited twenty-three of his sculptures and several bronzes. In 1930 the Tate purchased a larger-than-life sculpture from Dobson and erected it outside the gallery on Millbank. During the early 1930s Dobson continued to receive portrait commissions, most notably for Sir Edward Marsh and the actress Margaret Rawlings. Dobson worked in other media including textiles and silver, as well. His silver gilt cup, Calix Majestatis, to mark the coronation of George VI and Queen Elizabeth is now in the Royal Collection. During 1933 Dobson fractured his left arm which greatly limited his ability for heavy carving and his last monumental stone carving was to be Pax, which was first shown at the London Group in 1935. At the start of World War Two, Dobson and his second wife [Caroline] Mary Bussell, whom he had married in 1931, moved to Bristol, where a large retrospective of his work was held in March 1940. Dobson lived in the city throughout the Bristol Blitz and like several other artists painted the ruins of churches destroyed in the bombing. Dobson contacted the War Artists' Advisory Committee and offered his services as both a painter and sculptor. WAAC were reluctant to offer sculpture commissions but eventually did offer Dobson a short-term contract for two portrait busts of Naval personal. Later WAAC commissioned some paintings, including one of workers arriving for work at a factory that had been relocated to a tunnel. Dobson was appointed head of sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 1946, a post he held until his retirement in 1953. For the Festival of Britain site on the South Bank of the Thames in 1951, Dobson created London Pride. The sculpture was originally exhibited as a plaster cast but was later, after Dobson died, cast as a bronze and placed in front of the Royal National Theatre in 1987. Among his last commissions were a bronze head of Sir Thomas Lipton and the zodiac clock...

Miniature signed and framed watercolor Portrait of a woman.

1995 Byron Gálvez Abstract Modernism Artwork Pencil on White Paper MEXICO Signed art Measures: 8.5 x 11. Preowned original art vintage condition ...

1930s colored drawing inscribed on the back "Promenade" This important drawing we can very likely attribute to the Italian master Carlo Carrà. The beauti...

A stunning vintage boho original pencil sketch of man. An amazing 1935 rendering with incredible attention to detail. Acquired from a Palm Beach estate.

Intriguing painting of a sea view. Wonderful approach to water and sky. It is a gouache on paper, framed in a wooden gilded frame behind glass. Atm...

The Root of Kings Evil, 1835 This dark image is in reference to an incident which occurred in the winter of 1821. Great Britain, struggling with economic distress after the strain of the Napoleonic Wars, was thrown into a period of intense social unrest. The middle class, who bore the brunt of the cost of the victory against France, was struggling under the newly imposed Corn Laws. Periods of famine ensued, and unemployment soared as soldiers returned from the continent looking for work. One such soldier was Arthur Thistlewood. In January of 1820, King George III died unexpectedly, precipitating a constitutional crisis, and creating the necessity of a general election. Thistlewood, aggrieved by the erratic behavior of the now dead King, and affronted by the lavish lifestyle of the prince regent, took advantage of the wave of national instability, and organized a group of 12 men to overthrow the government. They called themselves The Spenceans Philanthropists, after Thomas Spence, a schoolteacher who had been imprisoned for selling “radical” books. Now known as the Cato Street Conspiracy (named after the address of the conspirator’s den), the incident is primarily well known for having gone famously wrong, and it being the last major insurrection in Great Britain. Almost absurdly, the Spenceans planned to murder the entire cabinet, and Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, while they were all in attendance at a dinner in Grosvenor Square. Unfortunately for Thistlewood, along with his cronies, he was informed upon, and the group was arrested on their way to the Cato Street meeting place. The group was reportedly confronted with bags in their hands, which they had brought to carry the heads of the men they intended to assassinate. Thistlewood, along with co-conspirators Thomas Preston, John Hopper, and James Watson, was convicted of High Treason, and was publicly hanged and beheaded. The other conspirators were sent to Australia. In this ghoulish image by George Cruikshank, an apparition of a demon appears to King George III from the well of a censer, as he sits in his study, reading on the subject of the history of rebellion, and specifically, the etymology of the word “Radical.” Growing from a mangled root, the demon holds lances in both hands, one run through the Holy Bible, with the severed head of the Archbishop of Canterbury impaled upon its blade, the other run through the Magna Carta...

Vintage Original Drawing Depicting a Life Drawing Class An accomplished work that successfully brings out the character of both the sitters and artists in a life drawing class. Exe...

Vintage 1967 original Etching titled, dated, signed and numbered "St. Petersburg" #6/6 H. Valoff 1967. 1967 Original Etching by Artist H. Valoff is framed and ready to hang. St. ...

Paul Wightman Williams, American (20th century). This diminutive mixed-media watercolor, pastel, and ink on paper depicts a haunting abstracted face. It is float-mounted in a faux-g...

BIC blue colored pen on paper. Serie "Aquafan" Juan Francisco Casas Ruiz 1976: He has had numerous individual exhibitions highlighting (He) artbr...

A large pair of paper and pastel nude paintings, drawings signed by the artist Robert J. Harding and dated. Robert is a visual artist. He received his BA in Philosophy from Rutgers ...

Old engraving from the 17th century: Nicolas Paussin 1677 Large seventeenth century engraving dated 1677. With very decorative back frame total measures: 91x71 cm and only the engra...

Limited edition print "Les Mains de Charlotte" by Judith Prigent Work numbered lower left 20/33 Signed in pencil by the artist's hand down right "Judith P...

This charming sketch shows the head and the legs of a child. The drawing is executed in black chalk with white heightening on coloured paper. The paper has been mounted on card. Ther...

This drawing is representing a nude woman. The frame is in a brown color, and the drawing is done on a white support. It has made circa 1940. Art Deco Period. by VAN DOREN (Raymond...

Decorate an office or a den with this elegant framed dog painting. Created in England circa 1880, and set in the original carved frame, the drawing depicts a cocker spaniel poodle mi...

American School (20th c.), Interior scene, watercolor on paper, signed and dated "Wisner, '81" lower right. A charming, colorful and detailed representation of a beautiful room-scape. It makes me want to grab a good book and snuggle up by the fire. The framing is by The House of Heydenryk...

This strong and confident drawing of a standing male nude was made by Allyn Cox, probably for one of an array of murals he painted in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, starting with an series of paintings for the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA in 1925. Son of Kenyon Cox...

Mid-century artwork by Italian artist August Mosca. "Two Sleeping Girls" in silver point and ink with wood frame. Please confirm location.

350 drawings made during the artist's travels, in his usual satirical and witty style.Presentation copy from the artist, inscribed on the half-title page: ''Pour Ga' Jean & Pegeen , ...

Wonderful and powerful work of a cat washing itself by Dutch artist Estella den Boer. Such a pleasure to look at. This trusting cat in utmost concentration to clean its coat. It i...

Eugene Leroy original artist proof, eau forte or etching, titled "Sleep". Hand-signed on the lower right, titled and other mentions written in pencil on...

John Carroll Doyle (1892-1959) Kansas City, KS. Cocktail Hour, Circa 20th Century, Chin de Colle/Lithograph, Edition 21/2, signed lower right and twice framed. Great condition. Image...

A contemporary pencil drawing of a woman. This piece is framed in a metal frame covered with glass and signed at the bottom. Dimensions: 24.25 18.25" 1" deep.    

Unique set of seven decoration projects signed Alfred Guyard, France 1930. From the child's room to the terrace of the Drouot restaurant (Paris), from the director's office to the di...

A chic and impactful American Minimalist geometric drawing with two large charcoal circles, several interlocking white circles, and set against a bold cobalt blue pastel background. Framed in a custom oak gallery frame. Signed and dated illegibly in the LR. Signed 'Frank 1978' on the reverse. The Minimalism art movement is one of the most influential of the 1960s and 70s, among a number of artists who were moving away from Abstract Expressionism, favoring a sleek, geometric aesthetic instead. These artists wanted to create art that referred only to itself, allowing the viewer an immediate, purely visual response. The personal, gestural elements of Abstract Expressionism were stripped away with the aim to reveal the objective, visual elements of art. Important Minimalist artists...

A fantastic vintage Boho original sketch. Signed by the legendary Cadmus. A chic line drawing of a nude male. Acquired from a Palm Beach estate.

Wonderful and darkly intriguing original artwork by renowned American Modernist artist and California artist benefactor Millard Sheets (1907-1989) featuring wartime boats caught in stormy seas. Very evocative and certainly quite relevant to the time it was created taken in the context of the war. The work is hand pencil signed and dated (1942) by Sheets on the mat just below the artwork. Provenance: Property from the estate of Millard Sheets. Would be a great addition to any collectors of his work or Mid-Century Modern artist or an eye-catching stand-alone accent artwork in about any setting. Sheets many awards include: Watson F. Blair Purchase Prize, Chicago Art Institute (1938) Philadelphia Watercolor Club Prize (1939) Dana Watercolor Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts (1943) Drawing Prize, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1946) Gold Brush Award, Artists Guild of Chicago, Award of the Year (1951) Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana (1964) His works can be found in numerous permanent collections, public settings, and international museums including: The Museum of Modern Art, New York Scripps College, CA The White House (Washington, DC) The San Diego Museum The Los Angeles Public Library...

Drawn during the time when Paul Cadmus produced some of his most famous -- and infamous -- paintings with satiric themes such as "Shore Leave" and "The Fleet's in," but presaging his lifelong interest in the male nude, this set of four scenes depict male figures in scenes that would be familiar to artists going back to Roman and Greek times. One scene depicts two nudes in a wrestling match, another shows several nude figures in a headlong run, a third shows two men in battle, and the fourth depicts a nude figure taming a rearing horse. No doubt inspired by Classical sculptures, this set of drawings captures the energy and dynamics of interacting male figures, but without the very fine detail that he would bring to his countless male nude drawings in the 1950s, 60s and later. The drawings are signed, and the reverse retains an owner's label indicating the drawing was in the collection of William Tregoning, a gallerist who amassed a large collection of male figural art...

Paul Wightman Williams, American (20th century). Gouache, ink, and pastel or charcoal on paper. Signed "WW" and dated "44". Unframed. This diminutive figural painting features an i...

Vintage 1962 original Etching titled, dated, signed and numbered "Moscow Symposium" #4/4 H. Valoff 1962. 1962 original etching by Artist H. Valoff is framed and ready to hang. Mo...

Vintage 1960s original etching titled, Signed and numbered "The Underworld" #4/10 H. Valoff 1960s. 1960s original etching by artist H. Valoff is framed and ready to hang. The und...

Circa 1930's powerful ink wash on thin paper study of African man. Unsigned, probably executed by an African American artist, based on the other works from the estate. Age toning, ta...

Vintage 196s Original Etching Titled, Signed and Numbered "Dreams" #4/10 H. Valoff 1960s. 1960s Original Etching by Artist H. Valoff is framed and ready to hang. Dreams Is it's t...

Vintage Original Charcoal on Paper Figural Study An atmospheric study depicting a man in a wide-brimmed hat holding a flower with a female figure behind him. I would date this to t...

Antique Japanese epic novel book Edo period, circa 1827 Woodblack print book Book dimensions: 225 mm x 157 mm There are damages because it is antique item as we show on the ph...

A very good 19th century American Classical Period / Empire Period scissor-cut silhouette by Auguste Edouart, depicting the full length figure of a prominent New York gentleman with spectacles in hand, gazing out the window from a partially hand-coloured parlour interior. Set within its original & highly figured bird's eye maple frame & burnished gilt fillet. Signed & dated lower left, 'Aug. Edouart, fecit 1845, 369 Broadway, New York'. The reverse referencing a family provenance purportedly associated with a collection having once belonged to a Civil War officer by the name of Nathan Hale...

Fruit and Veggie watercolor collection by Desideria Corsini: Total of 9 works measuring: 18" x 14" each framed. Desideria has been painting for many years, after busy careers in fashion and public relations, namely Gucci, Ken Scott (Milan), Il Pellicano Hotel and Sotheby’s Client Services. Her painting style is mostly figurative and she enjoys working in oil, pastel, watercolor, and sepia ink.  Her work is in many private collections in Europe, USA and Hong Kong. Daisy resides most of the year in Italy and spends the winter in New York.

Vintage circa 1990's pencil on paper illustration drawing by Delmos Hickmott (1934-2016) Texas. Zombie walking dead like abstract skeletal woman Signed lo...

Seventeen Lithographs for Frank O'Hara, New York, Limited Editions Club, 1988 the complete set of 17 signed and numbered lithographs in colors by Willem De Kooning, title page, and justification, on Chine appliqué, numbered 51 of 60 (there were also 12 with opposite facing text, and 550 bound copies with the lithographs appliquéd to the text pages), all with full margins and beautifully framed. Comes with original black cloth-covered portfolio with black leather label and gilt stamped title (very minor wear) and original purchase paperwork from Baby Jane...

White Bunny Drawing by Oleg Cassini for Playboy October 1979, Signed. Illustration of a woman wearing a white body suit, choker, and hat. Signed by Oleg Cassini. Notice the body suit is in the shape of the head of a bunny with clever use of the 'whiskers'. Approximate Measurements: Length: 11" Width: 14" Property from the Collection of Steven Rosengard, Chicago, Illinois This original drawing was commissioned by Playboy and included in the October 1979 issue of Playboy Magazine (pages 225-227) in a feature that included works from designers such as Bill Blass, Oleg Cassini, Edith Head, Fernando Sanchez, and Monika Tilley, among others, who create their versions of the Playboy bunny costume. Candace Collins can be seen modeling some of the designs in the feature. Oleg Cassini is an icon of twentieth-century fashion. Though born to Russian aristocracy and raised in Italy, he built a fashion empire that was unmistakably American. Cassini is perhaps best known for the hundreds of designs he created for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (see images 4-8), but his achievements as a collector, connoisseur, and quintessential twentieth-century man go far beyond Camelot. In 1913, Oleg Cassini was born in Paris to the Russian diplomat Count Alexander Loiewski and Countess Marguerite Cassini, a Russian aristocrat of Italian ancestry who also had an interesting link to America. The daughter of Count Arthur Cassini, Russian Ambassador to the United States during the McKinley and Roosevelt administrations, Marguerite dazzled turn-of-the-century Washington as her father’s official hostess and left her mark on the capital city. Stationed in Denmark when the Russian Revolution toppled the czar, Ambassador Cassini and family were exiled to Switzerland before settling in Florence, Italy, where young Oleg was raised. A true Renaissance man, he spoke Russian, French, and Danish before adding Italian and English; he studied medieval and modern European military history and costume and learned to draw; he learned horseback riding, fencing, and the art of chivalry; and, most importantly, he came to understand the struggles of the Russian titled class and other European aristocrats in the wake of the Russian Revolution and World War I. Countess Cassini started a successful fashion business in Florence, and soon the talented young Oleg was sent to Paris to sketch the latest collections for recreation in Italy. In Rome in his early 20s, Cassini created fashions for high society women and designed for a few films, which planted the seed for his move to Hollywood. The drive to reinvent himself brought Cassini to America in the 1930s; in his autobiography he describes arriving nearly penniless in mid-Depression New York City where his title as an exiled Russian Count meant even less than in war-devastated Europe. Down and out, Cassini struggled for employment, having sketching skills but no knowledge of the wholesale trade required for survival in Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue fashion district. However, he excelled at making connections, and Cassini slowly entered New York society. He was soon joined by younger brother Igor (who had studied in America and travelled with the young Emilio Pucci) and his parents, the once-dazzling Countess and his father, the displaced diplomat still loyal to Russia. The family settled in Washington, D.C., and Igor worked his way up the Hearst newspaper chain to become the famous society columnist Cholly Knickerbocker. In New York, Oleg Cassini married the troubled socialite Merry Fahrney (who would go on to marry eight times), but the marriage ended in scandal for Oleg, and he decided to follow his original intention and head for Hollywood. Despite initial difficulties, Cassini gained access to Hollywood’s elite (partially through his skills on the tennis court), and was soon hired as a designer at Paramount Pictures alongside the redoubtable Edith Head. In her 1941 film debut I Wanted Wings, Veronica Lake wore a memorable Cassini design. That same year, Cassini met and married the newest young Hollywood star on the scene, the beautiful 20th Century Fox–talent Gene Tierney. With the outbreak of World War II, Cassini enlisted in the Coast Guard but was transferred to the U.S. Army Cavalry which allowed officers of foreign birth. He attended basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and the horsemanship he learned as a boy served him greatly. He attended Officer Candidate School and reached the rank of First Lieutenant (he also became an American citizen at this time, losing his title of Count). Cassini spent several years posted at Fort Riley, where Tierney joined him before he landed a convenient military post in Hollywood. As Tierney’s career thrived (she played the title role in Otto Preminger’s Laura in 1944), she was able to assert her influence over 20th Century Fox’s head Daryl Zanuck, who hired Cassini as designer for Tierney on her 1946 film The Razor’s Edge, which proved to be a brilliant showcase for his talents. The pair separated the same year and, again seeking reinvention, Cassini re-established himself in New York City as a fashion designer. By 1950, the Oleg Cassini label was born. Combining his knowledge of Old World and modern Europe, Hollywood, the tennis courts of Palm Beach and Newport, and of course, New York City, Oleg Cassini invented a new brand of fashion that was distinctly American and of its moment. For his first collection, Cassini took to the stage, narrating the looks and imbuing the scene with his personality, unusual in an industry where the designers typically remained backstage and the models were called by number over a PA. The first collection was a smash — the president of Lord & Taylor devoted all of their storefront windows to his designs — and by 1955 sales had reached $5,000,000. Oleg Cassini’s career had turned a very positive corner. Cassini spent the early 1950s traversing the country, personally selling his collections to department stores in the interior, something his predecessors had never done, and moving between the Hollywood and New York scenes. Cassini’s brother Igor coined the term “the Jet Set” for this generation that constantly flew from New York to Los Angeles (then a ten-hour flight), Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, and the Riviera. In 1954, Cassini set out to woo Grace Kelly and sent her roses every day. The two were briefly engaged before her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco. In December 1960, Cassini’s career-defining opportunity came when he was chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy to design her fashions for the White House. Cassini had long known Joe Kennedy and his war-hero son John, and had first met Jacqueline Bouvier before her marriage in the early 1950s. Invited by President-Elect Kennedy to meet Jacqueline at Georgetown Hospital (she had just given birth to son John Jr.) to present to her drawings of potential dresses and First Lady looks, Cassini worked furiously to prepare a new line for the First Lady. Mrs. Kennedy had always had her clothes made by the top French couturiers of the day, but for the White House she wanted an American designer. Cassini wrote in his autobiography that he told the First Lady: “‘You have an opportunity here,’ I said, ‘for an American Versailles.’ She understood completely what I was trying to communicate; she began to talk excitedly about the need to create an entirely new atmosphere at the White House. She wanted it to become the social and intellectual capital of the nation” (Oleg Cassini, In My Own Fashion, 1987, p. 327). Mrs. Kennedy loved Cassini’s design for a gown to wear to the Inaugural Gala (she had already ordered a dress from Bergdorf’s for the Inaugural Ball), and Cassini was selected as the First Lady’s designer and was soon dubbed the “Secretary of Style.” From 1960 to 1963, Oleg Cassini would design over 300 items for Mrs. Kennedy, creating the “Jackie Look” that contributed not only to a fashion revolution but also the dawn of a new age. Cassini wrote that “Jackie played a very active role in the selection of her clothes. She loved brilliant colors — pistachio, hot pink, yellow, and white among others. Her sense of style was very precise; she would make editorial comments on the sketches I sent her. She always knew exactly what she wanted; her taste was excellent” (Oleg Cassini, In My Own Fashion, 1987, p. 334). After the Camelot years, Cassini’s business flourished and grew into a major industry; his name appeared on everything from couture to tennis-, sport-, and swimwear, car interiors, housewares, and perfume. He collected beautiful and rare artwork, arms and armor, and antique furniture, and lived the lifestyle projected by his image. From this period onward, Cassini also came to live in important homes. Of his Gothic Gramercy Park townhouse on Manhattan’s 19th Street he would write imaginatively, “I walked into the foyer and immediately fell in love. It was a place unlike any other in New York, a sixteenth-century Dutch house transported brick by brick from Europe by the Wells Fargo family in the early twentieth century. There was a vaulted, twenty-foot ceiling in the living room, leaded windows, elegantly carved wood paneling...

This pair of 19th century chromolithographs by Daumont presents two views of the grand foyer and loggia of the Paris Opera. On one, there is a view of a detail of a bay decorated with an "Italia" medallion painted by Paul Baudry...