Madrid - Wall Decorations

Decorative wall tapestry created by the artist Antonio Sereix Codina, internationally recognized for his richly detailed textile compositions inspired by architectural and natural la...

Exceptional flemish tapestry from the 17th century. Tapestry from Flanders called "Ténière" in wool and silk depicting 4 maidens picking flowers in a green landscape With a fountai...

SPANISH SCHOOL FROM THE LATE 17TH CENTURY. "Saint Michael the Archangel" Oil on canvas. 104x82 cm. Relined. Frame in molded and gilded wood. good condition

Spanish School 17th Century: Triptych of the Adoration Oil on panel. Total height: 145 cm; Total width: 96 cm Restorations. In an antique molded oak frame. Our important triptyc...

Wool tapestry depicting "The Blind Hen" from the cartoon by Jean Baptiste Huet - France - 19th century. XVIII

Important 18th century oil on canvas depicting Empress Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia (1709–1762), daughter of Peter the Great and Empress of Russia from 1741 to 1762. The portrait fol...

Guillam Forchondt the Elder (Antwerp, 1608–1678) & Ferdinand van Kessel The Rape of Europa Oil on copper Accompanied by a study carried out by the Soraya Cartategui Gallery. Present...

Large circular wall-mounted convex mirror featuring a beautifully patinated and textured metal frame. Its distinctive convex shape offers a dynamic, panoramic reflection that enhance...

Italian school; second third of the 17th century. "The Healing of Tobias". Oil on canvas. Relined. very good condition Dimensions: 117.5 x 107 cm; 130 x 118 cm (frame). This canvas ...

FRENCH SCHOOL "Portrait of a Girl with Flowers". Oil on canvas from the 18th century. Relined. Dimensions: 80 x 64 cm Good condition

Portrait of Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen Consort of France, 17th Century Oil on canvas, European School, ca. 1660–1680, late 17th century Oil on canvas depicting Maria Theresa of...

"Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne" after Annibale Carracci's model. Modeled alabaster The classical deities Bacchus and Ariadne have been represented in a chariot, accompanied by a pr...

Italian School 17th century "Christ in the Temple" Oil/canvas/double, 106 x 118 cm. good condition

Beautiful 19th-century oil painting on canvas depicting the Nativity of Jesus. The artwork captures the sacred moment with fine detail and masterful use of light and color. It comes...

Elegant large-scale portrait traditionally identified as Françoise-Marie d'Orléans (1677–1749), Duchess of Orléans, executed by an artist of the French School during the early eighte...

Ameyaltepec, Guerrero. Tempera on paper. Venancio, Eugenio. Mexico, 20th century. Naïve rural landscape titled in the lower right and signed in the lower left, with people, building...

Elegant late 18th-century European portrait depicting an aristocratic lady portrayed half-length in richly detailed court attire. Her imposing powdered coiffure, delicate lace collar...

Pietro Bianchi (Rome 1694 - 1740) attributed Saint John the Baptist in the Desert Oil on canvas 98 x 75 cm The information on Bianchi's life comes to us thanks to two eighteenth-cen...

Pair of reliefs, San Juan and San Mateo. Polychrome wood. Possibly, Burgos school, 16th century. Pair of carved and polychrome wood reliefs that each show a seated human figure wri...

Circle of VAN DE KASTEELE, Frans (Brussels, c. 1541 – Italy, 1621). "Virgin with angels and saints". Oil on copper. Curly frame in ebony. Devotiona...

This large format wall-hanging sculpture is handmade from 100% raw agave cotton thread, featuring naturally dyed thread details in various shades. It offers a contemporary reinterpre...

Antonio Tempesta (circle of) (1555 - 1639) - Clash of Horsemen Oil on canvas 172.5 x 222 cm The work belongs to the early Baroque period, but retains clear references to the langua...

Relief, “Ballerinas”. Modeled alabaster. 20th century, following the CANOVA model, Antonio Relief made of modeled alabaster with polychrome, enhanced with a somewhat modern frame th...

Tapestry from the Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Louis XVI period , made in 1738 at the Gobelins One panel from a series of Gobelins tapestries depicting the History of Esther, illustrating Esther seated and attended by handmaidens, one washing her feet in golden basin, another fastening a bracelet, another offering a mirror, all observed by Mordecai, woven in the workshop of Michele Audran after a design by J. F. de Troy. The Toilet of Esther c.1778-85.Royal Collection Trust-Queens Audience Chamber Windsor Castle The Sketches for the Esther Cycle by Jean-François de Troy (1736) “and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mor’decai, ..., took for his own daughter.” (Est. 2:7) A supple and undulating genius, both a flattering portraitist and a prolix history painter, as well as a brilliant genre painter, in a gallant or worldly vein, Jean-François de Troy (Paris, 1679 – Rome, 1752), solicited, although he had passed the threshold of old age, a new royal commission up to his ambitions. To obtain it, he submitted – successfully - for the approval of the Bâtiments du roi (administration), seven modelli painted in 1736 with his usual alacrity. Inspired by one of the most novelistic texts of the Old Testament, the Book of Esther, these sketches in a rapid and virtuoso manner were transformed by the artist, between 1737 and 1740 into large cartoons intended to serve as models for the weavers of the Gobelins factory. Showing undeniable ease and skill in the composition in perfect harmony with the sensitivities of the times, the tapestry set met with great success. The Story of Esther perfectly corresponded to the plan of the Bâtiments du roi to renew the repertoire of tapestry models used for the weavers of the royal factories while it also conformed to the tastes of Louis XV’s subjects for a fantastical Orient, the set for a dramatic tale in which splendour, love and death were combined. Indeed, no tapestry set was woven in France during the 18th century as often as that of Esther. The series of modelli painted by de Troy during the year 1736 looks to the history of French painting and decoration under Louis XV as much as it does the history of the Gobelins. It probably counts among the most important rococo pictorial groups to have remained in private hands. First the Biblical source illustrated by De Troy which constitutes the base of one of the richest iconographical traditions of Western art will be considered. Then the circumstances and specific character of French civilisation during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV which contributed to making the theme of Esther a relevant subject, both attractive to contemporaries and remarkably in line with the sensitivities of the time will be elucidated. An examination of the exceptional series of sketches united here, the cartoons and the tapestries that they anticipate as well as a study of their reception will close this essay. The Book of Esther: A scriptural source at the source of rich iconography. The origin of the Esther tapestry set by Jean-François de Troy – origin and creation of a masterpiece According to the evidence of one of the artist’s early biographers, the chevalier de Valory, author of a posthumous elegy of the master, read at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 6 February 1762, it was apparently due to early16 rivalry with François Lemoyne (1688-1737), his younger colleague who had precisely just been appointed First Painter to the King in 1736, that had encouraged François de Troy to seek a commission allowing him to show off his ease and his promptitude at the expense of a rival who was notoriously laborious: “M. De Troy, retaining some resentment of the kind of disadvantage which he believed to have suffered compared with his emulator looked to regain some territory by making use of the facility his rival did not possess. Lemoyne was excessively long in the creation of his works,and M. De Troy of a rare celerity: consequently, with this particular talent, the latter offered to the court to make paintings appropriate to be executed at the Gobelins Factory; and it is to this circumstance that we owe the beautiful series of the Story of Esther, which would be sufficient alone to give him a great reputation.”17 Beyond the suspicion inspired by the topos, which still constitutes, more or less, a tale of rivalries between artists in ancient literature, there is probably some truth in what Valory reports although A.-J. Dezalier d’Argenville (who indicates rather spitefully that de Troy did not hesitate to “cut prices” to impose himself, benefitting from the productivity assured by the unlikely rapidity of his brush)18 proves to be more evasive: “As he looked to busy himself, he had offered to make the paintings that serve as models for the King’s tapestries cheaply: which did not please his colleagues. He was given a choice of two tapestry series to be made and he took the Story of Esther and that of Jason”.19 Whether or not the choice was actually left to de Troy (which would appear rather casual on the royal administration’s part all the same), it seems likely that the artist, whose contemporaries extol his “fire”, as the faculty of invention was then called, must have ardently aspired to the possibility of using on a very large scale the “creative genius” with which Dezallier d’Argenville credits him. The decoration of the private apartments, the fashion for which Louis XV had promoted at Versailles and Fontainebleau, offered little opportunity to excel in this area. Other than painting for altarpieces, only tapestries could allow comparison with Lemoyne who had been granted – unfortunately for him – a major decoration: the enormous ceiling of the Hercules Room at Versailles. Favoured by the recent improvement in France’s financial situation, the revival of patronage offered de Troy a commission fitting for him, in a field in which, however, he had hardly any experience. Anxious to renew the repertoire of models available to the Gobelins factory, the Duc d’Antin, surintendant des Bâtiments du roi from 1708 to 1736 followed by his successor, Philibert Orry comte de Vignory, gave him the task of producing seven large cartoons inspired by the Book of Esther corresponding to the brilliant sketches or modelli which de Troy had produced in one go, or almost (very few preparatory drawings can in fact be linked to the Esther cycle and all seem to be at the execution stage of the cartoons).20 Subjected to the approval of the Administration des Bâtiments according to the procedure in use for projects being planned for the Gobelins, sketches made rapidly during 1736 were approved and the project launched immediately. Thereupon came the news of François Lemoyne’s death, who, ground down by work and a victim of his private torment, committed suicide on 4 June 1737. Against all expectations, de Troy did not replace his rival in the position of First Painter (which remained vacant until the appointment of Charles Coypel in January 1747), which would perhaps have made him too obviously the beneficiary of the drama. The awarding of the position of Director of the French Academy in Rome came to console him while he had already produced (or he was in the process of finishing), in Paris, three of the seven cartoons of the cycle (The Fainting of Esther finished in 1737 and the Toilet and Coronation of Esther, both finished in 1738). De Troy, we can see, did not follow the order of the narrative but began with the subjects which apparently offered the least difficulty because he had already depicted them, or because they fall into a strong pictorial tradition (such is the case especially for the Fainting of Esther). He had hardly settled at the Palazzo Mancini in August 1738, when his first task which awaited the new director of the French Academy naturally consisted of honouring the royal commission and finishing without delay the final cartoons of the Story of Esther after the sketches he must have taken with him. As prompt as ever, de Troy discharged himself of the execution of the four remaining cartoons in only two years, by beginning with the largest format which allowed him to strike the imagination and to impose himself as soon as he arrived on the Roman stage: the Triumph of Mor’decai which was finished in 1739 (like Esther’s Banquet). The following year, the Mor’decai's Disdain and The Sentencing of Haman were brought to an end in the same Neo-Venetian style, obviously tributary to Veronese with its choice of “open” monumental architecture which is characteristic of the entire cycle.21 The series, it should be noted, was almost augmented with some additional scenes in the mid 1740s. Indeed, the first tapestry set finished at the Gobelins in 1744 proved to be unsuitable for the arrangement of the Dauphine’s apartments at Versailles for which it had been intended to decorate the walls the following year (cf infra). Informed of this, de Troy, considering that the story of Esther offered “several good subjects,” immediately offered to illustrate one or new subject among those “which could appear to be the most interesting”. The directeur des Bâtiments Orry, who managed the State’s accounts, obviously judged it less costly to have one of the tapestries widened to fill in the end of the Dauphine’s bedroom,22 which has probably deprived us of very original compositions, because de Troy had already illustrated the most famous themes, those that benefitted from a strongly established iconographical tradition and from which it was not easy to deviate The Tapestry Set of the Story of Esther Placed on the tapestry looms of the Gobelins at the end of the 1730s in Michel Audran’s workshop, the cycle created by de Troy aroused true infatuation. The few hundred tapestries made between 1738 and 1797 – all in high-warp tapestry and woven in wool and silk except for four in low-warp made in Neilson’s workshop – show the impressive success of a tapestry set that was without any doubt the most frequently woven of the 18th century in France. 29 Only three cartoons had been delivered by de Troy in 1738 when the first tapestry set was begun by Audran under the expert eye of Jean-Baptiste Oudry to whom the Directeur général des bâtiments, Philibert Orry had assigned the (weekly) supervision of the weaving. During the summer of 1738, the piece of the Fainting of Esther, which Oudry judged to be admirable, was finished. During the winter of 1742, Oudry informed Orry that about two ells of the Triumph of Mor’decai had been made “with no faults”,that the Coronation of Esther was finished and that the Esther at her Toilet “a very gracious tapestry” was “a little over half” finished. Exhibited at Versailles in 1743, these two last pieces were admired by Louis XV and the Court. On 3 December 1744, the set of seven tapestries was finally delivered to the Garde Meuble. It was intended, the honour was not slight, to decorate the apartments of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain whose marriage to the young Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand had been fixed for the following year (it took place on 23 February 1745). Apparently it was thought that the theme of Esther the biblical heroine and wife of a foreign sovereign was appropriate for the apartments of the Spanish Dauphine. As early as the month of March, the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel informed de Troy that her grand cabinet was decorated with the “Esther tapestry set” specifying however that “for lack of two small or one large piece, we have not been able to decorate the end of the room”. This difficulty led immediately to the Banquet episode being woven a second time in two parts (they were delivered to the Garde-Meuble on 30 December 1746) to garnish the panels on each side of the bed of the Dauphine who would hardly enjoy them (she died on 22 July 1746 and the decoration was installed for the new Dauphine Maria Josepha of Saxony). The appearance of the set’s remarkable border, which imitated a richly sculpted wooden frame, should be mentioned. Conceived in 1738 by the ornamentalist Pierre Josse-Perrot and used in the later weavings until 1768, it tended to reinforce the resolutely painterly appearance of the tapestry set which, in this regard, pushed the art of tapestry as far as its ultimate mimetic possibilities. With the exception of Mor’decai's Disdain which had been removed earlier, the “editio princeps” of the story of Esther (from then on in nine pieces) remained at Versailles until the Revolution. Of the eight surviving tapestries, four are at the chateau of Compiègne and four belong today to the Mobilier National. No less than seven tapestry sets reputed to be complete (one of them in fact only had six tapestries) would be produced officially at the Gobelins up to 1772. Literature: 1- The Œuvres mêlées of an emulator of Racine, the Abbé Augustin NADAL thus include an Esther. Divertissement spiritual which is exactly contemporary with Jean François de Troy’s cycle since it was performed in 1735 and published in Paris three years later. 2-Le Siècle de Louis XIV, 1751, 1785 ed., p. 96-97 for French ed. 3- Lemoyne and de Troy had been obliged to share the First Prize in the competition organised in 1727 between the most prominent history painters of the Académie Royale. 4- Mémoires…, pub. L. DUSSIEUX et al., 1854, II, p.265. 5-The fact that de Troy, at the risk of falling out with his colleagues, did not hesitate to make use of prices in order to convince the new directeur des Bâtiments Philibert Orry, is confirmed by Mariette who adds tersely “it caused much shouting” (pub. 1851-1860, II, p. 103). 6- Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres…, ed. 1762, IV, p. 368-369 20 Early comments on the painter are inclined to present him as a kind of “pure painter”, doing without the medium of drawing, a few intermediary studies between the Esther sketches and the large cartoons at the Louvre nevertheless show that de Troy used red chalk (see in the catalogue, the notice for the Meal of Esther and Ahasuerus under the entry drawing) to change one or other figure. 7-C. GASTINEL-COURAL (cat. exp. PARIS, 1985, p. 9-13) as well as the article by J. VITTET, exh. cat. LA ROCHE-GUYON, 2001, p. 51-55. 8-The Hermitage in St. Petersburg conserves five tapestries of these two royal gifts whose provenance still awaits elucidation (as far as we are aware). In 1766, the Grand Marshal of Russia, Count Razumovski (or Razamowski), acquired the Fainting and the Banquet extracted from the sixth weaving (J. VITTET, 2001, p. 53). 9- Lettres écrites de Suisse, d’Italie…,quoted by J. VITTET, op. cit., p. 54. 10-The tapestry set remained in the hands of a branch of the Hapsburg-Lorraine family until 1933 (ibid. P. 54). 11-Quoted by Chr. LERIBAULT, 2002, p. 97, note 269. 12-Y. CANTAREL-BESSON, 1992, p. 241. Catalogue The Esther at her Toilet Oil on canvas, 57 x 51 cm Provenance: Painted in 1736 at the same time as the six other modelli of the Story of Esther intended to be presented, for approval, to the direction des Bâtiments du Roi; perhaps identifiable among a lot of sketches by Jean-François de Troy in the post mortem inventory of the amateur, historian and critic Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786) drawn up on 13 January 1786 and following days (A.N. T 978, n° 30) then in the sale of the property of the deceased, Paris, 12 June 1786, n° 33; Paris, François Marcille Collection (who owned a series of six sketches from which the Triumph of Mor’decai was missing, see infra); Paris, Marcille Sale, Hôtel Drouot, 12-13 January 1857, n° 36; Asnières, Mme de Chavanne de Palmassy ( ?) collection; Paris, Galerie Cailleux; Paris, Humbert de Wendel collection (acquired from the Galerie Cailleux in 1928); by inheritance in the same family; Paris, Sotheby’s, 23 June 2011, n° 61. In order not to add unnecessarily to the technical commentary on each work, the catalogue raisonné by Chr. Leribault which contains a substantial bibliography on the series should be referred to. The other bibliographical references only concern the publications and exhibitions to have appeared and been presented more recently. Bibliography and Exhibitions: Chr. LERIBAULT, 2002, n° P. 247 (repr.); E. LIMARDO DATURI, 2004, p. 28; Exh. cat. NANTES, 2011, p. 138, n° 34, referred to in note 1; Sotheby’s catalogue, Tableaux anciens et du XIXe siècle, 23 June 2011, n° 61 (repr.). Related Works: Tapestry cartoon: The cartoon (oil on canvas, 329 x 320 cm), the third made by the artist in Paris after the sketches had been approved by the direction des Bâtiments, is in the Louvre (Inv. 8315). It previously bore the painter’s signature and the date 1738 (inscriptions which are found on the tapestries). The royal administration paid 1600 livres for it on 21 June 1738 and it was exhibited at the Salon in the year of its creation. Summary Biography 1679 (27 January): Baptism in Paris (Parish of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet) of Jean-François de Troy, son of the painter François de Troy and Jeanne Cotelle, sister of the painter Jean II Cotelle. 1696-1698: Studies (apparently rather turbulent) at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. 1698-1708: First trip to Italy. Is obliged to leave Rome in January 1711 after a tempestuous affair (a duel?), de Troy extends the traditional Roman experience as a pensionnaire at the Académie de France by also visiting Tuscany where he stays for a long time, Venice (his art in face has a strongly Venetian character) and Genoa. 1708: De Troy (whose father had been elected Director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 7 July) is agréé and immediately received at the Académie with Apollo and Diana Piercing with their Arrows the Children of Niobe (Montpellier, Musée Fabre) on 28 July. 1710: First royal commission, paid for on 10 May (a sketch representing “the Promotion of the Order of the Holy Spirit” for the tapestry series of the History of the King). 1716: Jean-François de Troy is elected Assistant Professor at the Academy. 1720: He is appointed Professor. 1723: The artist creates the double portrait of Louis XV...

European School oil on panel of the 18th century Measures: 34X24CM Good condition.

PIETER CLAESZ (Burgsteinfurt, h. 1597-Haarlem, 1660) “Bodegón” Óleo sobre lienzo. Reentelado Medidas: 106 x 136 cm. (lienzo); 121 x 150 cm. (marco) Adjunta estudio realizado por Dr M...

Exceptional and rare complete collection of hand-painted lead soldiers representing the Spanish Army from its early origins through the 20th century. The set illustrates the evolutio...

Goya oil on canvas from xviii century The canvas is relined. It is from the same time that Goya made the cartons. The painting measures: 135 x 101 cm without frame. The dutch frame measures: 172 x 140 cm -The blind chicken (1789) is one of the cartoons that served as a model for the manufactures of the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara by Francisco de Goya...

Bartolomeo Ligozzi, 1630-1695 Still life, flowers in a vase with putti in relief, oil/litho/wood, restored approx. 66x52cm, frame: 73cm x 59cm good conditions Bartolommeo Ligozzi wa...

Two engravings from the book "The Description of Egypt", a major publication by the scholars who accompanied Napoleon, which included descriptions and engravings made by these schola...

Jan Abel WASSENBERGH (1689-1750) "The Continence of Scipio" Oil on canvas, signed below center 92 x 107 cm unframed 99cm x 114cm framed (small old restorations) Jan Abel Wassenbergh (18 January 1689, Groningen – ca. 20 July 1750, Groningen), was an 18th-century painter from the Dutch Republic. According to Jan van Gool...

Portraits of the monarchs Louis XIII and Anne-Marie of Austria as hunters. Oil on canvas. Possibly Madrid school, 17th century. Pair of full-length portraits showing the characters against natural backgrounds, with landscapes with mountains in the distance and trees. The male character, who looks directly at the viewer, has dark hair and a fine moustache, and is dressed in a ruff, a doublet, leather gloves, a blued breastplate with gold details, breeches, white silk stockings and cavalier boots. The lady, who modestly lowers her gaze, has her head partially covered with a hat decorated with a brooch and white feathers; she is dressed in a ruff and a dress with a wide-skirted doublet and skirt, wide-mouthed gloves and a short cloak with a decorated edge gathered around the left arm and placed over the right side of the skirt. Alongside these “hunting” dresses, they appear carrying firearms and accompanied by large dogs. The king's dog is standing alertly, turning his head to one side. The queen's dog is sitting looking at her, with a collar and a rope that she holds in her left hand. The male subject is clearly the French King Louis XIII (Fontainebleau, 1601-Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1643), monarch of France and Navarre (1610-1643), son of Henry IV of France and Marie de Médicis and father of Louis XIV of France. Compare with other portraits: by Rubens, painted around 1622-1625 at the Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena, California, USA); by Philippe de Champaigne, painted in 1635 and kept at the Museo del Prado (Madrid, Spain); the painting by Frans Pourbus the Younger from the 1920s at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Chambéry (France); etc. Louis XIII married Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III of Spain, in 1615. This was brought about by the marriage agreement of Fountainebleau (1611), which stipulated the future wedding of the Prince of Asturias, Philip IV, with the French princess Isabella of Bourbon, and that of the French monarch with Anne. Anne Maria Mauricia of Austria and Austria-Styria (Valladolid, 1601-Paris, 1666) was an Infanta of Spain and Portugal as the daughter of Philip III of Spain and Margaret of...

Four framed prints, ornithology. Twentieth century. Lot of four colored engravings with birds: a pair of common terns or black terns and another of...

Beautiful early 20th-century tapestry depicting a richly detailed composition centered around a large ornamental urn overflowing with flowers, surrounded by an abundance of colorful ...

18th Century Portuguese Corbel in carved chestnut wood, decorated with plant elements and an angel. Period defects Height: 56 cm. good condition

Elevate your collection with this breathtaking oil painting, "Adoration of the Magi," skillfully rendered on a magnificent 51x40 cm Cotognino Alabaster panel. This extraordinary piec...

The Lady and the Unicorn. Tapestry. 20th century, following medieval models. Tapestry inspired by one of the series currently known as “The Lady and the Unicorn”, made up of six wor...

Still Life with Flowers and Fruit, oil on canvas, circle of Aniello Ascione, Neapolitan school, second half of the 17th century. This still life is very characteristic of Neapolitan ...

17th-century Mexican School - "Annunciation." Oil on canvas. 110 x 89 cm, framed 120 x 99 cm. Framed. This work comes from the city of Morelia, the monastery of the Capuchin Poor ...

Spectacular and highly important pair of monumental Renaissance carved wooden panels from 16th century Spain, circa 1550–1580, representing the pinnacle of Spanish Renaissance sculpt...

Decorative pair of oil paintings on panel from the early 19th century, attributed to the French School. Each painting is presented in its original giltwood frame, finely carved and r...

Tritons defending Nereids. Oil on glass (reverse). Possibly Italian school (perhaps Naples), late 16th 17th century. It has some issues. Framed glass plate with a painting, probabl...

Important Portrait of the Princess of Ruspoli, began 18th Century, Italian School Began 18th-century oil on canvas depicting the Princess of Ruspoli, a member of one of the most in...

Amazing Tiziano Vecellio's Circle of the 17th century "Ecce Homo" Oil on canvas, 17th century, based on the original housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Dimensions: 1...

Discover a unique and exceptional piece of religious art with this impressive gilded silver Orthodox cross, dated 1750. An object of devotion and sacred art that carries a rich histo...

Elegant set of six French engravings dating from the 18th century, each depicting views of some of the most important formal gardens in France. These prints reflect the refined lands...

Circle of Giuseppe Bonito (Castellammare di Stabia, 1707 – Naples, 1789). “Portrait of Charles of Bourbon as King of Naples.” Oil on canvas. Relined. Has a 19th-century frame. Dim...

Rare Spanish Colonial devotional painting depicting Our Lady of Candelaria, originally conceived as part of a processional banner or ecclesiastical...

Largest collection of Portuguese tiles in the world 17th Century Portuguese tile panel. Restored 56cm x 56cm 14cm x 14cm tiles 17th Century Shortly afterwards, these plain white ti...

Oil on canvas, "The reaper", Ignacio Diaz Olano, 1890. Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Ignacio Salvador Díaz Ruiz de Olano (Vitoria, 1860- 1937)...

Presenting a magnificent 19th-century Orthodox icon:The Pantocrator. This piece is painted in tempera on a wooden panel, exemplifying traditional religious artistry from this era. ...

Beautiful 17th century Italian school " Virgin of Sorrows " Oil on canvas Measures : 50.5 x 42.5 cm very good condition

Ancient Religious Painting From The 17th Century 17TH CENTURY RELIGIOUS PAINTING. SANTA CATARINA. LATIN WRITING. MEASUREMENTS: 116X80CM

Elegant and atmospheric Dutch oil on canvas, painted around 1900, depicting a frozen river landscape with figures and architecture in the surrounding winter scenery. The work reflect...

Large format wall-hanging sculpture handmade of 100% raw cotton thread that comes from agave plant. It has natural dyed thread details in blue shade. Its a ...

ITALIAN SCHOOL "TOBIAS AND THE ARCHANGEL RAFAEL" 18TH CENTURY Oil on canvas made in the 18th century, It represents the moment in which the archangel Raphael instructs a young Tobit...

Flemish school 17th century "Our Lady with the Child Jesus, St. John, St. Elizabeth and Zacarias". Oil on canvas Relined. Dimensions: 74 x 84 cm good conditions.

Fishing trophy wooden plaques 19th century Fishing trophy 19th century wooden plaques Two hand carved wooden plaques with 19th century fishing trophi...

Presenting a magnificent 19th-century Orthodox icon depicting The Deesis. This piece is painted in tempera on a wooden panel, exemplifying traditional religious artistry from this er...

Landscapes, Xalapa, Mexico. Pair of oils on canvas. Spanish school, around 1840. Provenance: Conde de la Cortina collection, Jalapa, Mexico. Couple of landscapes framed within the Spanish school of the first half of the 19th century, with a clear romantic affiliation. Both evidence the knowledge of the Dutch classicist landscape, one of the main influences on the Spanish romantic landscape. Thus, we see compositions in "V", closed on the sides and open in the center, very low horizons that allow a wide development of the sky, spaces built in depth based on successive planes subtly differentiated by light and color, and small figures perfectly integrated into the natural setting. In addition, the skies are scenographic and dramatic, with low clouds behind which the golden light characteristic of the classicist landscape filters. One of the most radical aspects of romantic painting was the attempt to replace large canvases with historical or religious themes with landscapes. They wanted the pure landscape, almost figureless or totally devoid of them, to achieve the heroic significance of history painting. They were based on the idea that human feeling and nature should be complementary, one reflected in the other. In other words, the landscape should arouse emotion and transmit ideas. Thus, landscapers like the author of these canvases tried to express their feelings through the landscape, instead of imitating it. The romantic landscape had two main aspects: the dramatic one, with turbulent and fantastic views, and the naturalistic one, which emphasized images of a peaceful and serene nature. This second conception is what we see embodied in these works; the painter tries to communicate a religious reverence for the landscape, nature in its fullness. In fact, the author's own use of light here conveys a foggy, cloudy, dreamlike atmosphere that invites the viewer to meditate and contemplate himself in the landscape. The romantic landscape is constituted, however, by manifestations of very different types and not comparable to each other; it does not affect all national schools equally, staying more faithful to tradition in schools such as the French or the Dutch. Thus, in this canvas we do not find the grandiose scenery of the British and Germans, the steep mountains or the monumental Gothic ruin...