A DEEPER DIVE OLD MASTER & 19TH CENTURY PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS & SCULPTURE | AUCTION JUNE 3
Allegor fro A
ories om Antwerp
A
ntwerp was the most important commercial center in Northern
Europe in the mid-16th century.
The city received merchandise from all of
continental Europe and its ships carried those goods throughout the world. The Florentine
merchant Lodovico Guicciardini, who lived in Antwerp from the early 1540s until his death
in 1589 published a widely-read description of
the Low Countries where he described the city’s people as not only wealthy but “...humane,
civilized, ingenious ... [with] much worldly good sense.” He noted that a large percentage of
them, in addition to being prosperous, were
well-educated and spoke three or four languages. Not surprisingly, then, Antwerp was also
a significant center of humanistic learning.
The city boasted excellent schools, important publishing houses and, not incidentally, thriving painting studios.
By Lodovico Guicciardini - Descrittione di m. Lodouico Guicciardini patritio fiorentino, di tutti i Paesi Bassi, altrimenti detti Germania inferiore. Con piu carte de geographia del paese, & col ritratto naturale di piu terre principali. Con amplissimo indice di tutte le cose piu memorabili, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82015021
An Allegory of Love and Carnality Hieronymus Francken the Elder
Hieronymus Francken the Elder (1540-1610), one of a family of artists, trained in his father’s studio in Antwerp before moving in the mid-1560s to France, where he spent most of his career. Even while living in Paris, however, he felt the need to return repeatedly to Antwerp throughout his life to refresh family and professional ties. While in France he worked for a number of noble and royal patrons, painting portraits, biblical and mythological subjects as well as scenes of elegant ladies and gentlemen feasting and dancing. A characteristic example of this last type is his Banquet Scene: An Allegory of Love and Carnality probably painted during the 1590s. Here we consider a dissolute young man seated in the left foreground, before a table laid with oysters, meat pies, roast chicken, fruit, and wine. As he indulges in this sumptuous array, he embraces an amorous lady, while an older woman, apparently her procuress, hovers over them. In contrast to this group, at the center of the room a genteel couple is shown dancing ceremoniously to the music of a lute and a clavichord. Hanging on the walls are love scenes from Classical mythology, a visual gloss that makes it clear that the subject of the painting is love. The meaning of this work is more pointedly brought home by two small vignettes visible through a large opening at the back of the room. There in the far distance we can see a young man—presumably the young man at the table—in two separate moments in the future, first being roughly thrust from the door of a tavern and later kneeling in the mud of a pigsty.
These scenes are a clear reference to the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 12-16), who squandered his inheritance in wild living and was reduced to tending swine, so hungry that he envies their coarse food. The painting is thus a moralizing allegory of the value of genuinely committed love—exemplified by the couple moving decorously to the harmonies of chamber music—and the folly of unrestrained carnality.
13 Hieronymus Francken I Flemish, 1540-1610 Banquet Scene: An Allegory of Love and Carnality Monogrammed HF on the foot of the tall jug (ll) Oil on canvas 41 1/4 x 54 3/4 inches (104.8 x 138 cm) Provenance: Private collection, France C $10,000-20,000
It's all in the details Among the symbolic foodstuffs portrayed here, the oysters represent erotic love.
An Allegory of Spring Hendrick van Balen the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Younger Not all allegories produced in Antwerp were intended for moral instruction, however. Other favorite subjects were the Liberal Arts, the Five Senses, the Months, and the Seasons, which, despite their underpinnings of humanist learning, were essentially decorative. An example of this type is Persephone: An Allegory of Spring, dating to the first half of the 17th century and attributed to the Antwerp painters Hendrick van Balen the Younger (1623-1661) and Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601-1678). Here Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring, is newly returned from her winter home in the Underworld and seated next to her mother, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and plant life. As Queen of the Underworld, Persephone wears a diadem of pearls, while Demeter is shown holding bouquets of flowers. Behind the goddesses, two attendants carry an armillary sphere—a reference to the turn of the seasons—and a torch, Demeter’s standard attribute, an emblem of her long search for Persephone after she was abducted by Hades.
15 Attributed to Hendrick van Balen the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Younger Persephone: An Allegory of Spring Oil on panel 25 1/4 x 41 1/4 inches (64.1 x 104.8 cm) C Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000
Around the goddesses the earth teems with living creatures—fish, birds, land animals of every sort—as well as fruit and vegetables, as if bursting with joy at Persephone’s return. In the distance at the left a procession of sea gods makes its way along a broad waterway toward the seated pair, as if to welcome Persephone home. Meanwhile, in the distance on the right, in the mouth of a cave in a mountainside, we can make out a group of blacksmiths at a forge, a reminder that the ores they work with are mined from the Underworld to which Persephone must return in the autumn. Flemish artists in the 17th century tended to specialize. Some were landscape painters, others were figure painters, still others were dedicated to depicting animals or still lifes. Collaborations among these professionals were common. In this painting Jan Brueghel the Younger is thought to have provided the landscape, including the flowers, fish, birds, and animals, while Hendrick van Balen the Younger is thought to have added the goddesses and their attendants. The meticulous description of all these elements, the intensely colored palette, and the mythological subject, which required a level of education to appreciate, suited the taste of Antwerp’s wealthy and sophisticated collectors perfectly.
A Portrait of
Charles Frederick Worth Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895), known as the “father of haute couture,� was the dominant figure in French dressmaking in the late 19th century. A more counter-intuitive impresario of fashion can scarcely be imagined. Born into a working-class family in provincial England, Worth worked as a young man in London in the shop of a purveyor of fine textiles.
Worth Velvet and Satin Court Gown and Train, French, circa 1888. Sold at Doyle for $101,500.
I
n 1846, with little money and speaking almost no French, Worth moved to Paris with the hope of establishing his own business there. In only a few years he had persuaded an important Parisian fabric merchant to allow him to open a dress department featuring his own designs, which then won prizes at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 in London and at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855. In 1858 he and his French wife and a partner launched their own clothing house. From the beginning, Worth’s innovations changed the world of high fashion. His tailors were the best in the business, and the range and quality of his fabrics and trimmings were unparalleled. His dress designs were noteworthy both for their elegance and their practicality. He used live models (including his own stylish wife) to show his designs. Instead of visiting clients at their homes, he persuaded them to come to his salon to view his offerings, where they could see a variety of fabrics and designs. These showings became social events, where it was important for rich and noble ladies to be seen. Eventually Worth’s clients included not only European and American society but the Empresses Eugenie of France and Elizabeth of Austria. In 2001, Doyle auctioned an 1888 court presentation gown by Charles Frederick Worth for $101,500, setting a world auction record for an antique dress. The gown with its 10 1/2 foot court train had belonged to Esther Maria Lewis Chapin, a descendant of George Washington’s sister. (pictured previous page)
An 1893 Portrait of Charles Frederick Worth
A
highlight of Doyle’s June 3, 2020 auction of Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture is an 1893 portrait of Charles Frederick Worth by French artist Emile Friant (1863-1932). In this portrait, painted only two years before his death and now offered by one of his descendants, Worth is dressed in his characteristic hat, loose-fitting jacket, cravat and cape, a distinctive ensemble that he had adopted for its simplicity and comfort. After his death, his sons and their descendants continued to run his business to his high standards until it was finally closed in 1952.
Lot 80 Emile Friant French, 1863-1932 Portrait of Charles Frederick Worth, 1893 Signed E Friant and dated 93 (ll) Oil on canvas 89 1/4 x 48 3/4 inches (226.7 x 123.8 cm) Literature: de Marly, Diana, Worth: Father of Haute Couture, London: Elm Tree Books, 1980, pl. 101, p. 207. The portrait was painted when Worth was age 67. Oral history attributes ownership at one time to the designer Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, who purportedly had it in her Paris apartment. This painting is being offered by a descendent of Charles Frederick Worth. C Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000
THE ESTATE OF PAULINE IRELAND Doyle is honored to auction artwork, furniture and decorative arts from the Estate of Pauline Ireland. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Pauline was educated at Brooke Hill, Chatham Hall and Hollins College where she majored in Music. In addition to music, Pauline was passionate about art, culture and philanthropy. She served on volunteer groups, boards and advisory committees of the Junior League, St. Luke's Church, Advent Episcopal Church, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Alys Stephens Center and many others. A gracious hostess, Pauline loved celebration and was known for her memorable parties. She was also an adventurous traveler and was as comfortable camping on wilderness rivers in the West as she was staying at the St. Regis Hotel. Her collection reflects her sophisticated eye for quality and unique sense of style. Property from the Estate of Pauline Ireland will be offered in two upcoming sales: Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture on June 3 and English & Continental Furniture, Silver & Decorative Arts on June 11.
Lot 67 Company School 19th/20th Century A Collection of Thirty-two (32) Botanical Studies Twenty-nine (29) sheets signed A. Descubes; many extensively inscribed with notes on the various subjects Watercolor and graphite pencil on paper Each approximately 17 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches (45.1 x 27.3 cm) Provenance: Collection of the Imperial Institute Library of Bombai, Mumbai C. Duncan Connelly Fine Art, Atlanta The signature A. Descubes is probably that of Alexandre Descubes (circa 1850-1920), a Mauritian cartographer and botanical artist apparently of French colonial descent, who worked in British India. C Estate of Pauline Ireland, Birmingham, Alabama $10,000 - $20,000
ENGLISH & CONTINENTAL FURNITURE, SILVER & DECORATIVE ARTS | JUNE 11 Lot 1178 Canaletto (1697-1768) VIEW OF A TOWN ON A RIVER BANK (DEVESME, BROMBERG 9) Etching, circa 1735, on laid paper with an unidentified watermark, ostensibly from Bromberg's first state of two, with good margins, framed. Plate 11 7/8 x 17 1/8 inches; 302 x 435 mm. Sheet 13 5/16 x 18 1/2 inches; 338 x 470 mm. C Estate of Pauline Ireland, Birmingham, Alabama $4,000-6,000
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Elaine Banks Stainton Senior Specialist, Paintings & Drawings 212-427-4141, ext 249 Paintings@Doyle.com
Milan Tessler Cataloguer, Paintings 212-427-4141, ext 249 Paintings@Doyle.com
Lot No. 32, Follower of Francesco Guardi View of the Grand Canal with the Churches of San Simeone Piccolo and Santa Maria di Nazareth, Venice, Oil on paper laid to canvas, 9 x 18 3/4 inches (22.7 x 47.6 cm), Unframed, Estimate: $2,000-4,000 (Back cover) Lot 50, Jean-Baptiste Wicar, French, 1762-1834, Portrait of Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese and Studies of a Mother and Child: a double-sided work, Black chalk and stumping on paper, 11 1/2 x 9 inches (29.3 x 22.8 cm), Estate of Robin R. Henry, Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000
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