Olga BOZNANSKA (1870 Cracovie - 1940 Paris)

Still life with vases and bottle (recto) Copy of Van Dyck (studio), Portrait of Cesare Alessandro Scaglia (verso), ca. 1890-93 Oil on double-sided panel 27 x 21 cm Signed in the upper right corner of the still life "Olga Boznańska" Inscribed in Polish on the edge of the panel: Według van Dyka (sic!) kopia Wollensteina Olga Boznańska wykonała w r. 1893 w Galerii Monachijskiej [After van Dyck's copy of Wollenstein Olga Boznańska executed in 1893 at the Munich gallery] Provenance: acquired by the current owner's grandfather in the 1930s By descent, to the present owner This small double-sided painting depicting a still life of vases and bottles and a copy of a painting attributed to Antoine van Dyck dates from the painter's youthful period. The front side reveals a delightful study of a set of glass and porcelain vases and bottles of different colors and sizes, embellished with a few flowers. The set offered the painter an opportunity to excel in the rendering of the shine and reflections of light. The woman who would become a famous portraitist of more or less well-known figures also left charming and skillful effigies of objects, since "The smallest object touched by the painter's hand receives a soul full of sensitivity" (Marcin Samlicki, Olga Boznańska, "Sztuki Piękne" 1925-1926, R. 2, nr 3, s. 118). On the reverse a portrait of a man in 17th-century costume painted in grisaille. Contrary to the inscription on the edge of the panel identifying the portrait as that of Wallenstein (Albert-Wenceslas Eusebius von Wallenstein or Waldstein (1583 -1634), man of war of the Bohemian nobility, famous capitano di ventura in the service of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War), it depicts Cesare Alessandro Scaglia, an Italian clergyman and diplomat of the early 17th century, portrayed around 1629-1634 (today considered a work of Van Dyck's workshop, the painting is exhibited at the Staatsgalerie in Neuburg on the Danube). During her formative years in the Bavarian capital, Boznańska not only attended art schools, but also assiduously visited the city's museums, especially the two Pinakothek, ancient and modern, and their rich collections. There she made copies. The works of Antoine van Dyck were among her favorites, as evidenced by the copy of his Portrait of Pieter Snayers, as well as the copy of the Lamentations of Christ, kept in the Polish Library in Paris. The copy of the Portrait of Scaglia, executed with exceptional ease and skill, is proof of the progress the painter made in Munich. Olga BOZNAŃSKA (1865 Krakow - 1940 Paris), after studying painting in Krakow and Munich, settled in Paris in 1898, where she exhibited regularly at the Salon de la Société nationale des beaux-arts, as well as at the Salon d'automne, the Salon des Tuileries, and in private galleries. She showed her work throughout Europe, in the United States and in Japan and was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and awards, including the gold medal in Vienna in 1894 and in Munich in 1905. She was one of the most important Polish artists, renowned for her portraits and still lifes painted in her own individual style. Her paintings are held in public collections in Europe, the United States, and Japan, as well as in numerous private collections around the world. Dr. Ewa Bobrowska, CEBM-Cabinet d'expertises Bobrowska-Mielniczuk ([email protected])