Mayfair Gallery Antiques

Mayfair Gallery, established for over 40 years and specialising in the fine and decorative arts from the 19th Century. Member of LAPADA. http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php

[radstudies]

[radstudies]

Harold Knight (English, 1874-1961)

Knitting, 1915

[mayfairgallery]

An outstanding Art Nouveau period silver, pate de verre glass, crystal glass and mirrored Surtout de Table, by Falize Frères

 Four central mermaids submerged in a pate de verre (literally: moulded glass) wavy sea holding the central of three crystal glass bowls, each side with a three branch candelabra and a mirrored plateau

 French, 1902

 Total width 150cm; central piece height 35.5cm, width 66cm, depth 52cm

 Falize is a renowned French jewellery house. In 1832, Alexis Falize (1811-1898) began an apprenticeship with Parisian jeweller Mellerio dit Meller. An eager pupil, Falize quickly learned all aspects of the trade: manufacturing, chasing, engraving, design, sales, and bookeeping. Looking to improve his marriage prospects, he left Mellerio in 1835 for Janisset. In 1838, he left Janisset to open up his workshop. “Such were the beginnings,” wrote Henri Vever, “of this highly talented jeweler, whose work as a designer and manufacturer was so significant.” Vever credited Falize with revitalizing jewellery and the decorative arts during Napolean III’s reign (1852-1870). His speciality was “artistic” jewellery: jewellery featuring semi-precious gemstones, intricate metal work, and enamelling. From 1860 to 1865, Falize experimented with enamels and studied with the most talented enamellists of the time. In 1871, he introduced a new method of cloisonné enamelling. His work was widely copied and sparked a general interest in the use of brightly colored enamels. Inspiration for his designs was drawn from almost every historical era and many cultures, including those of Persia, India, and Japan.

When Falize retired in 1876, his son Lucien (1839-97) assumed control of the workshops. Having trained with his father for the previous two decades, Lucien was a competent successor—a highly skilled enamellist, goldsmith, and designer. His obsession with eras past (especially the Renaissance) and Japanese art matched, if not surpassed, that of his father. In 1878, Falize won a grand prize for his jewellery as well as a coveted Legion of Honor Cross at Paris’s International Exposition. In 1878, he joined forces with descendents of Bapst, the former French Crown Jewellers, to create jewellery for Paris’s wealthy aristocrats. Until 1892, Bapst et Falize enjoyed great prosperity. Around that time, Falize helped to theorize the burgeoning Art Nouveau movement, contributing articles to Siegfried Bing’s monthly journal Le Japon artistique. “Jewelers, led by Lucien Falize,” says Vivienne Becker, “seized on the simplicity of form, the intensity and clarity of colour of Japanese enamels, and the intriguing effect of mixed metal work. These were the very attributes of Art Nouveau jewels.”

When Lucien suddenly died in 1897, his sons (André, Jean, and Pierre) continued the business as Falize Frères. They produced beautiful Art Nouveau pieces, winning two grand prizes at Paris’ International Exhibition in 1900. The 19th century also charted the rise of the bourgeoisie. Industrial and social changes now meant that the artistic objects of luxury were no longer within the confines of the nobility and the market strove to satisfy. Surtout de tables and other extensive table decorations were in demand for use and display at private dinner parties or personal salons in bourgeoisie homes.

This Falize piece showcases the artistic qualities of turn-of-the-century Paris, as Art Nouveau encouraged the influence of the natural, organic, mythical and an appreciation akin to worship, of the liberated female form in art and design. Additionally, Lucien Falize’s noted collaboration with Emile Galle can be seen in the use of pate-de-verre glass as a clever representative of the aqueous nature of water in this design.

[mayfairgallery]

The Prophet Nathan rebukes King David by Eugène Siberdt

Eugène Siberdt, Belgian, 1851-1931

Depicting the biblical scene of the Prophet Nathan admonishing King David, pointing at him and exclaiming 'You are the man' (see below) Oil on canvas in a parcel gilt amboyna wood frame, signed lower left 'Eugene Siberdt' Canvas height 116cm, width 145cm

http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php?location=item&item=19480&page=2§ion=paintings&pages=2

In the months following his infamous adultery and murder, David exercised no obvious fruits of repentance. While he did go to lengths to conceal his sin, it was manifestly a series of ploys intended to keep him from getting caught. Even though David thereby exhibited an understanding that his actions might lead to political repercussions, he still showed no evidence that he felt genuine conscience-pangs during this time. But all of this changed when God sent Nathan to confront the King. Nathan told a story about a greedy man who stole and killed his neighbour’s beloved sheep. When David ordered the death-sentence for this man, Nathan responded directly 'You are the man'. David was immediately cut to the heart, and he responded with true repentance.

[mayfairgallery]

A large ormolu mounted Sèvres style porcelain vase

Painted by Camille Felix Bellanger, 1853-1923

Of ovoid form, the ormolu square base decorated with garlands of flowers, the body of the vase stylistically painted with women and putti in the clouds, signed 'F. Bellanger'  French, late 19th Century Height 152cm, width at base 38.5cm, depth at base 41cm

http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php?location=item&item=18229&page=1§ion=vases&pages=3

Camille Felix Bellanger studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under the direction of Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889) and William Bouguereau (1825-1905). At the age of 21, he won the second prize at the Rome exhibition. He regularly exhibited his work at the Paris Salon. He became an art teacher and marine artist- painting on canvas- as well as a porcelain artist. Some of his oil paintings are in the collections of the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

[mayfairgallery]

During the Directoire by Frederik Kaemmerer

Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer, Dutch, 1839-1902

http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php?location=item&item=19598&page=1§ion=paintings&pages=2

Depicting a Napoleonic, post-Revolutionary Parisian scene of an extravagantly dressed male with two female companions walking and conversing in the foreground, with Saint Sulpice and the Luxembourg Palace in the background Oil on canvas in a giltwood frame, signed centre left 'F.H. Kaemmerer' Canvas height 62cm, width 51cm

Kaemmerer depicts life during the Directoire period (1795-1799) when Napoleon first took control of the French state after the initial horrors of the Revolution.  It was a time of great relief, of relaxing and freedom when fashionable people dressed extravagantly. Such men were named “Incroyables” and the woman “Merveilleuses”. Born in The Hague, Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer studied under the Orientalist painter Gérome in Paris where he spent much of his life. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1870 and he was awarded a medal in 1874. He won a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle in 1890 and he was made a chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur the same year. Bourgeois patrons of the day were entranced by images of the luxury of the previous century and Kaemmerer specialised in painting highly finished genre subjects which catered for this taste for elegance and beauty. He was highly successful in his own lifetime painting fashionable figures enjoying pleasurable pastimes. Later in his life, he painted in the Impressionist style. His work can be found in many important institutions and collections around the world including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; the Musée des Beaux Arts, Mulhouse; the Glaspalast, Munich; and the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

[mayfairgallery]

A large pair of ormolu and cut glass candelabra after Clodion’s model

Claude Michel (known as Clodion), French, 1738-1814

http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php?location=item&item=20415&page=1§ion=lighting&pages=2

Each modelled as a faune and faunesse standing on veined green marble pedastals, raising a ten-light candelabra with cut-glass droplets French, late 19th Century Candelabra height 150cm, total height 230.5cm The model created by Clodion was created for a pair of eight-light candelabra in 1780 that are today in the Louvre, some similarities with a pair of candelabra by François Rémond for Napoleon at the chateau de Fontainebleau

[mayfairgallery]

A Musical Interlude by Alberto Fabbi

Alberto Fabbi, Italy, 1858-1906

Depicting four women and a man in a richly decorated harem, relaxing and playing instruments Oil on canvas, signed lower left and situated 'Firenze' Canvas height 102cm, width 68cm

[furniture-meubles]

La Contessina S.r.l. from Italy.  Effeminate Embellishment.

[allthepainting]

Jean Honore Fragonard » To the genius of franklin

[mayfairgallery]

So much movement going on in this allegorical painting by Fragonard from 1778, his usual curved edges contouring flesh and drapery. Today displayed at the White House.

[just-art5]

Francois Boucher, The Toilet of Venus, 1751 (detail)

[mayfairgallery]

Stunning detail of Boucher’s traditional elegance. A mix of materials from silver, gilt metal wares to luxurious pearls and silk textiles, all merging to convey an opulent and sensuous atmosphere.

[mayfairgallery]

The Romantic Proposal in the Gardens of Belvedere

Julius Berger, Austrian, 1850-1902

Oil on canvas in a gilt and ebonised wood frame, signed and dated lower right 'JVL Berger (18)98' Canvas height 85cm, width 64.5cm

http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php?location=item&item=19452&page=2§ion=paintings&pages=2

The Belvedere is a historic building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces (the Upper and Lower Belvedere), the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the 3rd district of the city, south-east of its centre. It houses the Belvedere museum. The grounds are set on a gentle gradient and include decorative tiered fountains and cascades, Baroque sculptures, and majestic wrought iron gates. The Baroque palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy. The garden had a scenery enclosed by clipped hedging, even as the Belvedere was building, in the formal French manner with gravelled walks and jeux d'eau by Dominique Girard, who had trained in the gardens of Versailles as a pupil of André Le Nôtre. Its great water basin in the upper parterre and the stairs and cascades peopled by nymphs and goddesses that links upper and lower parterres survive, but the patterned bedding has long been grassed over. Julius Victor Berger was an Austrian artist who is known primarily for his genre paintings and portraits. He was the son of Ignaz Johann Berger, who was a religious artist. He entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna at the young age of 14. In 1874 he was granted a three year scholarship to study art in Rome. Upon returning to Vienna he briefly shared an apartment with fellow painter Emil Jakob Schindler and his wife Anna Sofie. While Schindler was traveling Berger began an affair with Anna. He was almost certainly the father of Margarethe Julie Schindler (b. 16 August 1880), who was the half sister of Alma Maria Schindler. Berger became a professor of decorative painting at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule in 1881, and in 1887 a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. Among his friends was the historical painter Hans Makart. Berger's most recognized work is the ceiling painting in Hall XIX of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

[manpodcast]

Episode No. 228 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features curator Katharine Baetjer and author Nancy Princenthal.

Along with Joseph Baillio and Paul Lang, Baetjer is the co-curator of “Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France.” The exhibition, the first retrospective of Vigée Le Brun’s work since a 1982 show at the Kimbell Art Museum, is on view at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art through May 15.

Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun is one of the major portraitists of late 18th-century France and the major portrayer – propagandist, really – of Marie Antoinette. Vigée Le Brun’s portraits, painted over the course of a 50-year career, were favored by European aristocracy not just in Paris and Versailles in the decades before the French Revolution, but, in nearly every capital across Europe in the decades afterward. After fleeing the Revolution, Vigée Le Brun made major work in Venice, Rome, St. Petersburg and elsewhere. The exhibition’s excellent catalogue was published by the Met and is distributed by Yale University Press.

Baetjer is a curator at the Met. She has previously worked on Canaletto, Watteau and Chardin.

On the second segment, we’ll hear a clip of host Tyler Green’s August, 2014 conversation with Nancy Princenthal. A couple weeks ago her biography of Agnes Martin, “Agnes Martin: Her Life and Art,” was awarded the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography. Princenthal will receive the prize at a ceremony at New York City’s New School on April 11. Amazon offers it for $19-27.

How to listen to this week’s show: Listen to or download this week’s program above, or subscribe to The MAN Podcast (for free) at:

iTunes;

SoundCloud;

Stitcher; or

via RSS.

[mayfairgallery]

A marble mounted gilt and patinated bronze three piece clock set by H. Dasson

Henry Dasson, French, 1825-1896

Comprising a central cercle tournant clock and a pair of flanking cassolettes, the clock modelled as three full length standing female figures holding aloft the globular form dial with cherub surmount and standing upon an ormolu mounted white marble base, the pair of flanking cassolettes similarly decorated, all pieces signed and dated 'henry Dasson 1886' French, 1886 Clock height 76cm, cassolettes height 67cm The clock in the present three-piece clock set is inspired by the one attributed to François Vion, where likewise the Three Graces are linked to each other and support the orbit movement. There is an example from the Isaac de Camondo collection on display in the Louvre. Henry Dasson was a celebrated cabinet maker and ebeniste, from the 19th Century. His workshop in Paris was at 106 Rue Vielle du Temple. He concentrated mainly on imitating furniture masterpieces from the Louis XVI period and updating them with an up to date twist. He received awards at every exhibition he exhibited in, thanks to his very high quality bronze finishes and gilding.

http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php?location=item&item=20121&page=1§ion=clocks&pages=2

[mayfairgallery]

A large and important pair of ormolu mounted KPM porcelain vases

The oval shaped vase bodies depicting four topographical scenes to the front and reverse of the Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany, including the Neues Palais, a monument to Frederick the Great, and the city's scenic castle, with gilt borders against green ground, the twin ormolu handles joining the gilt ground necks to the centre of the vase bodies and set on gilt bases, with underglaze blue KPM sceptre marks German, c. 1850 Height 89cm, width 46cm, depth 37cm Provenance: - In the collection of Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden, at the Karlsruhe Palace

http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php?location=item&item=20728§ion=recent

[guardian]

Zaha Hadid, architect extraordinaire, dies age 65. 

She was the first woman to receive the Royal Institute of British Architects gold medal. “She was in a world of her own and she was extraordinary,” said leading architect Graham Morrison. 

[tsukiyono]

Women in Art History - Berthe Morisot

Berthe is a really interesting figure because she was a very successful French impressionist painter who befriended Edouard Manet and married his brother Eugene.  Edouard and Berthe were good friends throughout her life and each influenced each other artistically and shared a mutual respect.  

Berthe participated in multiple salon shows as well as the controversial impressionist shows under her maiden name and sold many paintings during her lifetime through a private art dealer.  She is considered one of the top 3 female impressionist painters alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt. Like Mary Cassatt she primarily painted scenes of domestic life as well as landscapes, but also enjoyed painting the figure.  She continued to paint and draw until her untimely death at the age of 54 of pneumonia.

For learning more the Wikipedia article is pleasantly very robust and includes a nice small gallery of her works, from which the above image was borrowed from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthe_Morisot

[mayfairgallery]

A magnificent cut glass and parcel-gilt chandelier by F & C Osler

English, c. 1870

http://www.mayfairgallery.com/index.php?location=item&item=20521&page=1§ion=lighting&pages=2

The firm of Osler was established in 1807 by Thomas Osler. It started by producing glass ornaments for chandeliers in Birmingham. In 1831, Osler's sons, Follett and Clarkson took over the firm relocating and reorganizing it to eventually open their own glass factory in 1852 named ‘F & C Osler’. In response to the growing market for luxury goods and competition with the French glass industry, the firm expanded quickly. Commissions for very important figures such as Queen Victoria, Ibrahim Pasha and the ruler of Nepal were taken on and prompted Osler to produce a monumental Crystal Fountain for the 1851 Great Exhibition, placed at the center of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. By the middle of the Century, they had outlets in India and supplied a number of Maharajahs.

This fine chandelier is an example of the very high quality of their output. It represents an epoch of luxury and grandeur recognized throughout the world and in terms of glassware has hardly been surpassed since.