Sotheby's Presents Extensive Selling Exhibition of Old Masters

IMAGES OF DEVOTION

Christianity became the predominant power shaping European culture between the 13th and 19th centuries, which is widely reflected in its visual tradition. Focussed largely on representations of the Virgin or Christ, these images which often took inspiration from biblical texts, were made to inspire and strengthen faith through public and private devotion in churches or domestic settings. 

An Italian Baroque painter, Carlo Dolci was one of the 17th century’s technical magicians. Created very early in the artist’s career, this exquisitely finished work which presents an unusual take on the traditional theme of the Sacra Conversazione, is offered in immaculate condition.

LANDSCAPE

Before the 16th century, landscapes were confined to the background of portraits or paintings dealing principally with religious, mythological or historical subjects. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries however, landscape painting became an increasingly popular genre in itself, driven by a demand for secular art. Within the broad genre of landscape, two principal types developed – one highly stylised and evocative of the landscapes of classical antiquity, the other more topographical and concerned with depicting specific locations.

German painter, architect and archaeologist, Rudolf Wiegmann's Rome, A View of the River Tiber Looking South with the Castel Sant’Angelo and Saint Peter’s Basilica Beyond (1834), is representative of the 18th century taste, across Europe, for Italian topographical landscape painting. The meticulous care with which Wiegmann rendered monuments is seen to particularly good effect in the this work, as seen in the forms of the Castel Sant’Angelo on the right, and the Basilica of St Peter in the middle distance beyond, its distinctive dome reflected in the River Tiber.

In the first half of the 17th century, artists from the Netherlands celebrated ordinary, down-to-earth corners of their native country, and people going about their daily business, in a way that had never been done before in the history of Western art. Van Goyen was the key painter at the very heart of this tradition, and his superbly skillful drawings and paintings of scenes such as this elevate their subjects to a level of nobility and grandeur that had previously only been thought suitable for historical and religious subjects.

STILL LIFE

Still life painting as an independent genre first flourished in the Netherlands during the early 17th century. Prior to this, still lifes formed part of religious works or portraits, appearing not for their own sake but as attributes to holy figures or props to sitters of portraits. Although developed largely in response to the urbanisation of society and its increasing taste for paintings with a secular subject matter, still lifes continued to maintain their previous pictorial meaning. Bouquets of flowers, for example, not only served as illustrations of artistic prowess but also evoked a moral message, reminding viewers of the transience of earthly splendours. The often fantastical array of flowers depicted, with combinations from different countries at one moment of blooming, also alluded to Dutch knowledge of botany as well as their pre-eminence in the international trade of exotic plants.

An infant prodigy, Johannes was the second son of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, justly regarded as the founder of Dutch still-life painting, and nephew to celebrated still-life artist Balthasar van der Ast. Signed and dated 1624, this beautifully preserved work constitutes the earliest known flower and fruit painting by the artist.

THE HUMAN FIGURE

Figural representation has always been a central theme of visual art, and became especially prevalent starting in the 15th century when studying and depicting the human figure became a staple of an artist’s training. Being the most direct means by which art can address the human condition, artists have explored the theme in a boundless variety of formats.

Victor-Louis Mottez was a French painter, well known for his decorations of numerous Parisian churches and for the frescoes in the Pavillon de Marsan in the Louvre. He also painted many portraits and intimate scenes which illustrate his acute sensibility and skill as a colourist.

Rembrandt was one of the greatest draughtsmen that ever lived, with an unparalleled genius for conveying an immense amount of mood and feeling with only a very few, delicate strokes of the chalk or pen. In the middle of his career, he made a number of rapid sketches such as this work, exploring the relationship between mother and child. Generally, these were not made as studies for any paintings, but simply as moving observations of humanity. Rembrandt’s drawings have been highly prized ever since his own lifetime, and most of his surviving works on paper are in major museum collections in Europe and the USA.

TROMPE L’OEIL

Trompe l’oeil is French for ‘deceive the eye’, an art historical tradition originating in ancient Greece in which the artist uses realistic imagery to create optical illusions and fool the viewer into thinking that the depicted objects before them exist in three dimensions. Works in this style became very popular in Flemish and Dutch paintings in the 17th century with artists reaching unprecedented levels of realism.

Urbani was a Venetian painter most commonly known for his vedute and palatial decorative schemes. The discovery of this present work – the only signed still life by the artist – may represent a keystone with which to reattribute other still life paintings by Urbani which have previously been given to other artists.