Back to Calendar > MAÎTRES ANCIENS...
DROUOT
Tuesday 25 Jun at : 14:30 (CEST)

Old masters

Aguttes - +33147455555 - Email CVV

164 bis, avenue Charles-de-Gaulle 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Exhibition of lots
samedi 22 juin - 11:00/17:00, Neuilly-sur-Seine
lundi 24 juin - 10:00/18:00, Neuilly-sur-Seine
mardi 25 juin - 10:00/12:00, Neuilly-sur-Seine
Information Conditions of sale
PDF Ebook
See all the auctions Aguttes
Live
Register
Reset all filters
82 results

Lot 55 - ALESSANDRO MAGNASCO, DIT IL LISSANDRINO Gênes, 1667 – 1749 - Portrait of a clergyman Canvas Inscribed along the lower edge: STA.STILVM.AVOTI. BLASI.V.P. 65.5 x 51 cm - 25 13/16 x 20 1/16 in. Portrait of a clergyman, oil on canvas PROVENANCE Christie's sale (London), July 4, 1997, lot 336 (as attributed to Alessandro Magnasco); Swiss private collection. We would like to thank Professor Fausta Franchini Guelfi, a specialist on the artist, for confirming the authenticity of the work in February 2024 after a visual examination, and for providing the information required to write this notice. She will shortly be including the painting in a publication. Born in Genoa, the artist nicknamed Lissandrino moved away from his native city at an early age, settling in Milan in the 1680s. He frequented the school of Filippo Abbiati (1640 - 1715) and quickly developed a tendency towards livid tones and strong contrasts of light and shadow, inspired by his master and the study of painters such as Giovanni Battista Crespi (1573 - 1632), Mazzucchelli (1573 - 1626) and Francesco Cairo (1607 - 1665). In Milan, he was appreciated by the local aristocracy, and soon joined the circle of artists protected by Grand Prince Ferdinand III de' Medici (1663 - 1713) and the collectors in his entourage, before leaving for Florence in 1703. There, he defined his style by studying the engravings of Jacques Callot (1592 - 1635) as well as the works of Salvator Rosa (1615 - 1673) and Livio Mehus (1627 - 1691). In 1709, he returned to Milan, where he remained until 1735, before returning to Genoa for good. By leaving Genoa at an extremely young age, Magnasco had escaped the influence of Van Dyck (1599 - 1641) and Rubens (1577 - 1640), an influence exerted by the De Wael brothers (1591 - 1661; 1592 - 1667), Jan Roos (1591 - 1638) and Vincenzo Malo (c. 1602 - 1644), enriched a little later by Rigaldian portraiture. Milan, on the other hand, enabled him to develop in his portraits a clear concern for the uncompromising rendering of his models, driven by a severe realism in which he rejects any incensing of nature, lavishly staged against a backdrop of heavy drapery and monumental columns. Here, against a dark background, the figure of a middle-aged man stands out, positioned at mid-body, slightly three-quarter-length and wearing a black biretta, suggesting that he is an ecclesiastic. His medium-length hair falls on either side of his face, which emerges from a dark garment from which the collar of his shirt protrudes. The light hits his right side, accentuating his expressive lines and wrinkles, sparing none of his few other physical imperfections like a small wart under his right eye. Fausta Franchini Guelfi, a specialist on the artist to whom the work was submitted, believes that this is a youthful portrait - probably one of the earliest - that Magnasco executed between 1687 and 1690. He was in Milan at the time, and it was here that he really developed his activity as a portraitist, working in the service of a wealthy, enlightened aristocracy. Ruthless with his model, nothing enriches the extreme simplicity of the presentation against this unadorned background. The severity of the whole, the play of chiaroscuro, the broad brushstrokes intensify the presence of the model, whose strict character seems to emerge. Carlo Giuseppe Ratti writes of the painter: "He succeeded above all in making portraits, many of them marvelously captured from life "1 . That's what we're talking about here, a man's face frozen in its truest, simplest form, perfectly devoid of artifice. Franchini Guelfi emphasizes the painter's characteristic handwriting in the facial features, the restless contours of the white collar, which can be found in a portrait painted in the same years, preserved in Genoa's Palazzo Bianco 2 . The long brushstrokes of the barrette can also be found in another portrait of a writer 2 where, at the commissioner's request, the painter had to add a bookcase as a background. Not only an early work, Magnasco's portrait of an ecclesiastic should be seen as one of the last examples of the genre before he devoted himself to lively compositions of small figures, a style that was to be his greatest success. At the end of the seventeenth century, this choice of portraiture favors the model at his most obvious, most realistic, anticipating in a sense what Giacomo Ceruti (1698 - 1767) would do with his own models. 1 Carlo Giuseppe RATTI, Delle vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti genovesi, Genoa 1769, t. II, p.156. 2 See Fausta Franchini Guelfi, Aless

Estim. 30 000 - 40 000 EUR

Lot 63 - ATTRIBUÉ À GASPAR JACOB VAN OPSTAL Anvers, 1654 - 1717 - Moses saved from the waters Canvas 113.5 x 161.5 - 44 5/8 x 63 1/2 in. Moses saved from the Waters, oil on canvas PROVENANCE Christie's sale, Paris, June 16, 2023, no. 143 as "École française du début du XVIIIe siècle. Entourage de Nicolas Bertin"; Anonymous sale, Drouot Montaigne, Paris, June 25, 1991, no. 50. An attribution to Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne (1631 - 1681) has been suggested. The biblical theme of Moses' rescue was popular in 17th-century iconography. For biblical art historians, the craze for depictions of the life of Moses is explained by its allegorical and prefigurative character for the life of Christ. In this way, Moses' rescue foreshadows that of the Infant Jesus escaping the massacre of the Holy Innocents. Bossuet (1627 - 1704) also analyzed this scene as a foreshadowing of Christ's resurrection after his passion1. The theme and its symbolism were particularly appreciated by classical painters, notably Nicolas Poussin (1594 - 1665), whose Moses Saved from the Waters is the best-known interpretation of the theme. These biblical allegories developed rapidly in the wake of the Council of Trent, which initiated a reaffirmation of the Catholic faith in Europe in reaction to the Reformation. The widespread practice of allegoresis (meaning the deciphering of allegories), aimed at rekindling devotion among the faithful, gave them a didactic purpose. The biblical scenes depicted are those that arouse the emotions of the public, generally pity and suffering through the depiction of Christ's passion or the martyrdom of saints, or tenderness through the juvenile figure of the little child. The theme of Moses' rescue from the waters is a prime example. 1 Bossuet writes: "The first thing God did to let his people know that he was preparing a liberator for them in the person of Moyse, was to allow him to be exposed to the same torment as the others, and like them thrown into the Nile to perish" in BOSSUET Jean-Bénigne, Elévations sur les mystères, 1687, ed. by M. Dréano, Paris, 1962, page 229.

Estim. 10 000 - 15 000 EUR

Lot 67 - ANTOINE COYPEL Paris, 1661 - 1722 - Sleeping Venus Canvas 51.5 x 65 cm - 20 ¼ x 25 9/16 in. Sleeping Venus, oil on canvas PROVENANCE Possibly Pierre Le Tessier de Montarsy (1647 - 1710), to whom the engraver dedicated his piece; Possibly J. A. Peters collection; Possibly his sale in 1779, where Saint-Aubin sketched it in the margin of the catalog. BIBLIOGRAPHY Nicole Garnier, Antoine Coypel 1661 - 1722, Paris, Arthena, 1989, P.159, n°104 (lost painting). RELATED WORK Engraving by Gaspard Duchange (in the same sense as our painting), "dédié à Monsieur de Montarsy, garde des pierreries de la Couronne ; seigneur de Biesvre et de la Motte". preparatory drawing in the Louvre (RF 12.338 albuch Koch, Garnier, op. cit. p. 216, n°407). Several copies are known. Goldsmith Pierre Le Tessier de Montarsy (1647 - 1710) and Antoine Coypel were close friends and family. The former had seen the latter grow up as neighbors, since their fathers had obtained apartments reserved for artists in the galleries of the Louvre, and they later obtained residency there as well. Pierre Letessier was jeweler to King Louis XIV from 1676 to 1710. In 1680, he commissioned the 19-year-old Antoine Coypel to paint the May de Notre-Dame (a lost and unengraved Assumption of the Virgin), followed by his portrait around 1700 (Garnier, p. 135, op. cit. no. 69, also lost). In 1712, Coypel purchased 168 drawings for the king from the estate of Pierre de Montarsy, now in the Louvre. A recurrent theme in Western painting, Sleeping Venus discovered by a satyr is sometimes confused with that of Jupiter and Antiope (the God of Olympus having, on this occasion, taken the form of a satyr). Beyond the "color quarrel", Antoine Coypel proposed a synthesis between the classics and the modernists, well aware of the examples on these subjects by Correggio or Poussin, preserved in the royal collection, or Titian's Venus of the Pardo, which he himself had restored. This amateur painting can be dated to around 1700-1710. Probably commissioned by one artist to another, each in charge of a part of the royal collection, the treatment of the mythological subject anticipates by about ten years the galant and erotic painting of the Regency (Watteau's painting on this theme -Louvre- is to be situated around 1715 - 1716). Madame Nicole Garnier, whom we thank for having examined our painting, kindly indicated that she considered the canvas to be autograph, but noted the probable participation of the studio for the satyr and the two putti on the left.

Estim. 6 000 - 8 000 EUR

Lot 73 - ÉCOLE DE QUITO DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE - The marriage proposal Canvas 77.7 x 96.5 cm - 30 9/16 x 38 in. The Wedding Proposal, oil on canvas PROVENANCE Collection Louis Hermann (1877 - 1959), presumed obtained by his sister Amélie (1883 - 1954) and brother-in-law Enrique Freymann (1888 - 1954), cultural attaché in Mexico, then by descent. We would like to thank Carlos Duarte Gaillard † director of the Caracas Museum of Colonial Art, and Gérard Priet for their invaluable help in drafting this notice, based on the information provided. Against an extremely sober background of cloudy sky and uneven ground, three figures stand out: a young white woman accompanied on either side by two Indians. Pale-skinned, richly dressed and holding a Castilian rose in her hand, the woman, who can be identified as a noblewoman by her luxurious appearance, seems to be gesturing to receive the requests of the man who has come to introduce himself to her. The llama accompanying the man identifies him as a muleteer, while the lace-trimmed garments beneath his black suit suggest that he has taken particular care with his attire. This attention to detail echoes the choice of clothing made by the other woman on the left, who, despite a more sober ensemble than her companion, is wearing a variety of jewels, including a brooch - a tupu (Inca jewel) - and ornaments in her hair and around her wrists, as well as lace. This almost theatrical performance must surely be seen as a marriage proposal scene. The man, accompanied by his fellow laborer, comes to ask the rich mistress of the young servant on the left for her hand in marriage. Interestingly, this is probably not a caste painting. Indeed, in pinturas de castas - mainly Mexican - a relationship of dominance is established between the particularly light-skinned character(s) and the particularly dark-skinned character(s) (Fig. 1). In addition to skin color, height also differs, and on the same level, Europeans appear taller than natives; similarly, white people are much more lavishly adorned, reinforcing the contrast with the modesty and sobriety of local dress. This can be seen in the work of Vicente Albán, a painter active in Quito at the end of the 18th century (Fig. 1-2). Nor is there any question in our painting of depicting local flora and fauna to satisfy a certain scientific curiosity on the other side of the Atlantic. Here, if there is a relationship of domination, it has more to do with the social position between master and servant, than with a hierarchy established on the basis of ethnic origins. Here, the white woman becomes the recipient of the muleteer's request, the intercessor of the desired union. Moreover, at the end of the 18th century, it was extremely rare to see Indians represented in Ecuador. A few examples can be found in the collections of the San Francisco Museum in Quito (Fig. 3), depicting a Franciscan baptizing Indians identifiable by their feathered headdresses, as well as in the works cited by Albán, but these examples are extremely rare and outnumbered by works with a Marian theme. Very early on, it was the cult of the Virgin Mary that took deep and lasting root during the evangelization of the South American populations by the Spanish conquistadors. It is also interesting to note that a school of sculpture developed in Ecuador at this time, whose works are among the most highly prized in the corpus of South American colonial art. The singularity of the scene depicted, the extreme attention paid to the various elements of representation of the characters, fabrics and ornaments, contribute to the exceptional character of the work. Unquestionably unique among the other known works of 18th-century Ecuadorian art, it is a marvellous example whose full historical and symbolic significance remains to be explored.

Estim. 40 000 - 50 000 EUR

Lot 74 - ERNEST CHARTON THIESSEN DE TREVILLE Sens, 1816 - 1877, Buenos Aires - Wild bull with two lassos Canvas Signed and localized lower right ER. CHARTON / Souvenir du CHILI 43.5 x 73 cm - 17 5/16 x 28 3/4 in. Wild bull with two lassos, oil on canvas, signed and localized lower right PROVENANCE Cellérier family from the outset, then by descent. Born in Sens in 1816 to a family of modest origins1, nothing seemed to predestine Ernest Charton to a life as an itinerant painter at the ends of the earth. Little information has come down to us about him, but he does appear to have established himself for a time in Le Havre between 1838 and 1839, where he ran a novelty shop2. In 1844, he was in Paris and Charles Gleyre (1806 - 1874) applied to the École des Beaux-Arts. Mentioned only once in the register of competition minutes3 , Charton does not appear to have been a very diligent student. Planning a trip to South America as early as 1845, he set off alone for Chile in January 1847. In 1848, he continued on to California, which he may never have reached, his ship having been stolen during a stopover in the Galapagos Islands4. By 1849, he was in Ecuador, where he briefly ran a small painting school. For almost three years, he continued to travel around Chile, visiting the surrounding area and Peru, which he criss-crossed for a time, no doubt accompanied in his wanderings by compatriots such as Léonce Angrand (1808 - 1886) and Paul Marcoy (1815 - 1887)5. In 1852, he returned to France for a short time. Enriched by his adventures, he published a few articles in L'Illustration or the Magasin Pittoresque, edited by his brother Édouard (1807 - 1890), reporting and illustrating his travel tales, nourished by his observations and, already, his love for what he had discovered of the South American continent. In 1855, he set sail again for Chile, this time taking his wife and children with him. They settled in a small street in Santiago, and Ernest opened a shop selling painting and drawing supplies, as well as paintings. as well as offering courses and running a photography workshop6. Later, he visited Ecuador and Peru, then Argentina, where he died in December 1877. Little-known until recently, a collection of the painter's travel souvenirs went under the hammer at auction7, as did his View of Valparaiso8 , which he illustrated from a vantage point overlooking the city and its bay. Among the press clippings and illustrations contained in the souvenir lot, two photographs of the paintings we are presenting today can be found (Fig. 1-2). This allows us to note that, no doubt in a concern for topographical truth, the artist relied on his photographs to perfect the representation of the chosen locations. This quest for authenticity continued in the moments of life he observed, the native men and women who populated his daily life and whom we come across in his paintings. In 1871, his brother Edouard borrowed the Lazo scene to illustrate an article in the Magasin pittoresque9 , which he edited (Fig. 3). Anonymous, as was the magazine's custom, the article recounts the custom of hunting wild oxen by Gauchos and Puelches, herdsmen on the South American pampas. The author specifies that the scene takes place "in the vicinity of the vast foothills [sic] of the nearby Cordilleras of Chile". Two riders on horseback try to subdue a bull, which they hold back by the horns in extremis, preventing it from carrying off a woman and her two children in its fury. As they flee, one of them loses his straw hat, while the other almost uncovers his mother's bosom by clinging to her bodice, adding to the scene's swirling dynamics. Dust flies, gestures are brisk, and it's a split second that the painter uses to illustrate the lives of these herdsmen. Life on the Calicanto Bridge (Fig. 4) is far more peaceful. Situated on one side of the riverbank, the clear weather is ideal for strolling. Below, caravans travel up the almost dry Mapocho, the whole landscape standing out against the rugged backdrop of the Andes. The documentary interest here is heightened by the fact that the bridge was demolished in 1888, and there are few - if any - surviving paintings of it. Santiago must have been a marvellous playground for the painter, who took his easel out and about, as evidenced by other of his works preserved in Chile, such as a View of the Cañada (Fig. 5), the district to which the Calicanto bridge led, or the one of

Estim. 40 000 - 60 000 EUR
Security
Online payments are secured by Ingenico and encrypted transactions.
Guarantees
Each lot has been authenticated and appraised by an Auction House.
Support
Consult our FAQ or contact us
Composed of several subsidiaries, the Drouot Group is a major player in the art market. Hôtel Drouot, located in the heart of Paris, has been the world's largest public auction center since 1852. 15 salerooms are available to more than 70 auction houses. The emulation generated by an annual offer of 230,000 artworks from 21 major specialities - from Antiquity to street art - attracts some 3,000 visitors every day. The Group's digital platform, Drouot.com, offers digital sales - Live auctions (live broadcasting and participation in auctions), Online-only auctions (dematerialised auctions) and Buy Now sales (sales of lots at fixed prices). Nearly 2 million items are offered annually by 600 auction houses. Auction news is reported every week in La Gazette Drouot, the leading weekly magazine for the art market and culture published by Auctionspress.
More about Drouot
Drouot certified auction houses
To buy
How to buy on Drouot.com
How to buy at the Hôtel Drouot
Glossary
Useful links
To sell
Value your property
Auctions at the Hôtel Drouot
Subscribe
SERVICES FOR PROFESSIONALS
Auctioneers
Contacts
HÔTEL DROUOT
9, rue Drouot 75009 Paris, France
+33 (0)1 48 00 20 00
[email protected]

DROUOT.com
[email protected]
Press Center
Private events
CGU and legal notice - Privacy Statement - Copyright © Drouot.com