Catalog: Fine Art (124)

A beautiful rare antique French Gilt Bronze Dore bust of a young woman by Jean-Baptiste Greuze Paris circa 1799. Dor'e or bronze finish signed on reverse on a marble base. Dimensions 4ʺW × 2.5ʺD × 6.5ʺH in good antique condition minor imperfections commensurate of age. Biography; An 18th-century artist of melodramatic genre, morality lessons, female figures and portraits whose subjects included Mozart and Benjamin Franklin, Jean-Baptiste Greuze was born in the Burgundy region of France. He spent most of his career in Paris, where he was mentored by a portrait artist from Lyon named Grandon (Grondom). This artist was an advocate for the young Greuze, whose father had discouraged him from following his art talents. In Paris, Greuze worked from the live model at the Royal Academy. Gradually his work attracted the attention of members of the nobility such as the family of Madame d'Epinay, a French writer whose love affairs included Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot. In 1755, Greuze's painting, Father Reading the Bible, was judged accomplished enough to merit much encouragement from Academicians. That same year, he went to Italy with Abbé Louis Gougenot, who had influence among fine art professionals, which led to Greuze being elected him an honorary member of the Royal Academy in Italy because of his accomplishments in allegory and mythology. However, he was not encouraged by the exposure he got in Italy, and returned to Paris in search of better training for portraiture, genre and figure work. Beginning in the late 1850s, he received increasing accolades for his painting, which influenced by Rousseau, was getting increasingly naturalistic. By 1765, he had reached a great high point with the exhibition of thirteen paintings at the Academy's Salon. However, members gave him a tough time because they demanded that he show them a diploma from an accredited art institution, something he did not have. The Academy finally received him as a new member with all honours but as a genre painter, meaning he was not officially recognized for his portraits or history canvases. In 1769, Salon organizers rejected his painting, Septimius Severus Reproaching Caracalla, and Greuze was so angered that he did not exhibit again until 1804, when the Academy was much less rigid because of the Revolution breaking down aristocratic barriers. However, by that time his subjects and Neo-Classical style had waned in popularity. The next year, 1805, Jean-Baptiste Greuze died in the Louvre. He was impoverished, having been wealthy but having squandered his fortune and also losing money to an embezelling wife. During his last years, he was desperate for commissions but diminished in talent, which meant that much of his late work was lacking in the quality for which he had been known. One of his last paintings was an 1804 portrait of Napolean Bonaparte. Greuze left many paintings, many which are in the Louvre as well as the Wallace Collection in London, the Musée Fabre in Montpellier and a museum dedicated to him in his hometown of Tournus.

Original Albrecht Dürer woodblock print "The Flight into Egypt", from: The Life of the Virgin (B. 89; M., Holl. 201; S.M.S. 179) woodcut, circa 1504, This impression on laid paper with a Fleur de Lis watermark (Meder 122) it is an original 16th century print after the Italian edition with narrow margins with a 1 cm repaired tear top left otherwise in very good condition B. 11¾ x 8 5/16 in. (299 x 211 mm.) S. 11 7/8 x 8 5/16 in. (301 x 212 mm.) Archival framing the print is tiped to archival matte at top. An exqusite example of this important artists work.

A fine 17th century Dutch landscape by Solomon Van Ruisdael oil on oak panel 19 x 25.5 inches signed lower right. The scene is from a area near old Haarlem where he often painted pictured is a ferryboat in the distance and an angler and woman by a cottage in the foreground. An exquisite old master painting. Biography, (1600/03-1670) Salomon van Ruysdael was called De Goyer until he and his brother Isaack changed their name to Ruysdael, after the castle near their father's birthplace, Blaricum. Salomons nephew Jacob was the only member of the family to write the new name with an 'i': Ruisdael. Salomon lived in Haarlem, but probably travelled throughout the Netherlands. He painted townscapes of various Dutch cities. Who taught Salomon van Ruysdael the art of landscape painting is no longer known. His early work is clearly influenced by Esaias van de Velde. Van Ruysdael mainly painted riverscapes. In the 1630s he and Jan van Goyen developed a new, monochrome style. Inquires welcome.

Original antique 16th Century woodcut Engraving by Virgil Solis C.1550 signed with monogram lower left. Text on versoImage measures 4.25" x 3" Presented Matted and framed overall size 7" x 9". Bio. Virgil Solis or Virgilius Solis (1514 – 1 August 1562), a member of a prolific family of artists, was a German draughtsman and printmaker in engraving, etching and woodcut who worked in his native city of Nuremberg. Solis’ early drawing style employed strong outlines and simple hatching and he aimed to produce popular, commercially successful prints on many subjects. The most notable aspect of Solis’ work is his skillful absorption and re-interpretation of other artist’s styles, particularly Albrecht Dürer, Peter Flötner, Sebald Beham and many others of French, German, and Italian origin. Solis’ woodcuts illustrating Ovid were especially influential, though partly borrowing from earlier illustrations by the French artist Bernard Salomon