Antique Paintings
Up to five cataloged auctions each year
Record attendance at recent exhibitions on Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre and the Alana Collection, dedicated to the Italian Renaissance, at the Jacquemart-André Museum, demonstrate that the public has a keen interest in the history of old master paintings. This growing interest is also evident in the art market, where auction records have been set repeatedly in recent years. Through these specialized auctions, Ader and the experts at Turquin are committed to telling the stories behind the paintings: explaining their origins, the context in which they were created, and tracing their history... By sharing their knowledge, they are directly contributing to the current enthusiasm for old master paintings, while enabling new—and sometimes forgotten—masterpieces to emerge on the market.
A Word from the Experts
“Many masterpieces of old master painting remain to be discovered. We are committed to reminding people that not all great paintings are housed in museums. Originally, these works were not intended for institutional collections but rather to adorn the walls of private homes or chapels, where they were often subsequently forgotten. Today, we find these neglected canvases in attics, basements, and sometimes even at the bottom of a trash can... Rediscovering these dormant treasures saves them from oblivion while advancing the history of art. Among the rediscoveries we would very much like to make is a series of paintings by a Dutch artist named Frans Post (1612–1680). These are the very first known views of Brazil, which were presented to Louis XIV at the time. Of the 27 known paintings, only 8 remain, and they were scattered throughout France before being brought to the Louvre. Finding one of these exceptional works would be extraordinary.”
Contacts
Marc Guyot
marc.guyot@ader-paris.fr
Ekaterina Gorshkova
egorshkova@ader-paris.fr
Expert:
Turquin Law Firm
3 Rue Favart, 75002 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 53 40 77 10
Past Sales
Successful Auctions
Henri TRAIVOEL (actif à Rome en 1622) Autoportrait présumé Toile 50,5 x 40,5 cm Restaurations anciennes Dans un cadre en chêne sculpté et doré Provenance : Collection privée française jusqu’en 1967 ; Galerie Heim, Londres en 1968 (comme Simon Vouet) ; Acquis auprès de cette galerie par Jean Riechers en 1968. Exposition : French Paintings & Sculptures of the 17th Century, Londres, Summer exhibition, Heim gallery, 1968, part I, n° 2 ; Valentin et les Caravagesques Français, Rome, Villa Médicis, Paris, Grand Palais, 1973 - 1974, n° 36 (Portrait de Jeune homme (Autoportrait ?) attribué à Henry Traivoal (sic)) ; Simon Vouet (les années italiennes 1613 / 1627), Nantes, musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon, musée des Beaux-arts et d’Archéologie, 2008-2009, n° 86 (Autoportrait par Henry Traivoel). Bibliographie : Benedict Nicolson, « French Pictures at Heim », The Burlington Magazine, n° 785, août 1968, pp. 473, 475, fig. 64 (comme Simon Vouet) ; Arnauld Brejon de Lavergnée, Jean-Pierre Cuzin, in cat. exp., Valentin et les caravagesques français, Rome, villa Medicis, Paris, Grand Palais, 1973-1974, n° 36, pp. 122 - 123, repr. ((Portrait de Jeune homme (Autoportrait ?) attribué à Henry Traivoal (sic)) ; Jean-Pierre Cuzin, Figures de la réalité, Paris, Hazan, 2010, p. 125, repr. p. 124, fig. 135 (comme Henry Traivoel?) ; Benedict Nicolson, The international Caravaggesque Movement, Londres, 1979, p. 103 (comme Henry Traivoel, non reproduit) Benedict Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe (seconde édition revue et augmentée par Luisa Vertova), Turin, 1989, vol. I, p. 200, vol. II, fig. 759 (comme Henry Traivoel) ; Edouardo Testori, Deux portraits inédits de la période romaine de Simon Vouet, Rencontres de l’école du Louvre-Simon Vouet, 1992, pp. 92-93, fig. 2 (comme Henri Traivoel) ; Francesco Petrucci, Bernini pittore. Dal disegno al « maraviglioso composto », Rome, 2006, pp. 63, 65, fig. 51, repr. (notre table
Result
256,000 EUR
Claude Joseph VERNET (Avignon 1714 - Paris 1789) View of the galleys of Naples Canvas Signed, localized and dated lower left "Joseph Vernet / f. Romae 1750 " 74,5 x 100 cm Provenance : Painted for Thiroux d'Epersennes (" Deux marines en toile de 4 palmes a ma fantaisie pour M. Thiroux d'Epersennes maître des Requêtes rue Courtau Villain au Marais a Paris pour la fin de juin 1750 le prix est de 60 Ecus Romains la pièce ") ; In the family of the present owner since 1933 (certificate of Tedesco frères août 1933). Bibliography : L. Lagrange, " Joseph Vernet ", in Revue Universelle des Arts, Tome III, Bruxelles, 1858, p. 98 ; L. Lagrange, Joseph Vernet et la peinture au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1864, quoted p. 204 ; Florence Ingersoll-Smouse, Joseph Vernet. Peintre de marine 1714-1789, Paris, 1926, n° 263, fig. 62 (reproduction of the engraving by Le Bas). A native of Avignon, a city belonging to the pope at the time, Vernet spent nearly twenty years in Italy from 1734 to 1752. From Rome, he made several trips, notably to Naples where he painted his first seascapes. While drawing directly on the motif, he studied the works of Salvator Rosa, Adrien Manglard, Giovanni-Paolo Pannini and Andrea Locatelli, the atmospheric effects of Claude Lorrain, unifying these influences into a new style. Hence the feeling of Arcadian nature that emerges from this landscape, lit in the background by a rising sun. The presence of oriental people adds to the work the picturesque exoticism that makes the painting all the more pleasant. Indeed, Marseilles had close ties with the Sublime Porte, and held a monopoly on trade with the countries under Ottoman domination, which explains their presence in many of our painter's port paintings. At the time of our painting, Vernet, already famous, was working for English and recently French clients. He was 36 years old and had been exhibiting at the Paris Salon since 1746. In 1750, a visit to Vernet's studio had become a must: Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, later Marquis de Marigny and director of the King's Buildings, starting his Grand Tour, did not fail to visit it. Shortly afterwards, he called the painter back to France and in 1753 entrusted him with the most prestigious commission of his career, the famous series of Ports of France, which would occupy him for almost twenty years. Our painting belonged to a pair commissioned in 1750 for Thiroux d'Epersennes (125 ecus each), to decorate the walls of his Hôtel de Guenegaud (now the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature). The latter, from a great family of financiers from Burgundy, was master of the ordinary requests of the Hotel. A great art lover and collector, he gathered his collection in the first floor apartment, which included three famous works by Falconet: the Bather, the Pygmalion and Galatea (preserved in the Louvre Museum) and the bas-relief of Alexander and Campaspe.
Result
256,000 EUR
Giuseppe VERMIGLIO (1585 - 1635) The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine between St. Agatha and St. John the Baptist Canvas. Ancient restorations. 170 x 196 cm Our large canvas takes up the organization of the "sacra conversazione" (sacred conversations), that is to say the gathering of holy characters around the Virgin and Child. As recommended by the Counter-Reformation, the iconography is easy to decipher and each saint is identifiable by his traditional iconographic symbol. To the right, John the Baptist bows and holds a cross with a phylactery bearing the inscription Ecce (Agnus) Dei. In fact, he was the first to recognize Jesus as the Lamb of God, the paschal lamb that will be sacrificed to free from sin, hence the presence of this animal at his feet. At the centre, the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria was a very popular topic among communities of nuns since the 15th century. Our painting could have been commissioned for a convent of women. Of noble origin, Catherine is crowned and dressed in a rich brocade; she is kneeling, receiving the ring on her finger. A fragment of the wheel, the instrument of her torment, is placed at her feet. Mary, dressed in a pink robe and a blue mantle, is sitting on a mound, carrying Christ the Child on her knees. On the left, leaning against a balustrade and in front of a column, Saint Agatha of Catania holds a palm and a cup with her breasts, testimony to her martyrdom. Of Piedmontese origin, Vermiglio is mentioned in Rome as early as 1604 in the studio of a Perugian painter, Adriano Monteleone, and resided in that city until 1619. He immersed himself in Caravaggio's lesson, both in his painting and in his bad-boy lifestyle: in 1605 he was arrested for carrying an illegal weapon, in 1606 he took part in a brawl, in 1611 he was arrested again for fighting. The altarpiece of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas of 1612 (Rome, Saint Thomas dei Cenci) and more recently, the altarpiece of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas of 1612 (Rome, Saint Thomas dei Cenci).
Result
211,200 EUR
Jean-Bernard RESTOUT (Paris 1732 - 1797) Portrait du sculpteur Houdon Sur sa toile d’origine ovale 56 x 43 cm Petites restaurations anciennes Exposition : De Watteau à Prud’hon, 11 -31 mai 1956, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, n° 85 (Carle Van Loo, portrait de Houdon). Bibliographie : Louis Petit de Bachaumont, [Mathieu-François Pidansat de Mairobert], Mémoires secrets. Lettres sur les Peintures, Sculptures et Gravures de Mrs de l’Académie Royale, exposées au Salon du Louvre entre MDCCLXVII jusqu’en MDCCLXXIX commencées par feu M. de Bachaumont [...] et continuées par un Homme de Lettres célèbres, Londres, 1780, Lettre II, p. 89; Louis Réau, L’iconographie de Houdon , Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1933, I, p. 171, ill. p. 157. Jean-Antoine Houdon. Sein Werk in Deutschland, [cat. exp.], Berlin, Deutsche Akadémie der Kunst [11 novembre 1955 - 11 décembre 1955], VEB Graphische Werkstätten, ill. en frontispice; Jean Messelet, Les Restout , Art de Basse-Normandie, 1956, n°2, p. 16; Thomas Von Bogvay, Studien zu Jean-Antoine Houdons Werk in Deutschland , Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, n°27, 1964, p.111 et note 41 p. 129; Louis Réau, Houdon. Sa vie et son œuvre, Paris, 1964, t. II, p. 188- 189; Denis Diderot, Salons. IV. Héros et Martyrs : Salons de 1769, 1771, 1775, 1781, textes établis et présentés par Else-Marie Bukdahl, Michel Delon, Didier Kahn et Annette Lorenceau, Paris, 1995, p. 196, note 220 ; Nicole Willk-Brocard, à propos de quelques tableaux d’histoire de Jean-Bernard Restout (1732-1796) , in Mélanges en hommage à Pierre Rosenberg, Paris, 2001, p. 465, note 47 ; Pierre Sanchez, Dictionnaire des artistes exposant dans les salons des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle à Paris et en Province, Dijon, 2004, t. III, p. 1435, note 633. Nicole Willk-Brocard, Jean-Bernard Restout 1732-1769 Peintre du roi et révolutionnaire, Paris, Arthena, 2017, pp. 50, 51 et 157, n°69 P (reproduit en noir et blanc).
Result
204,800 EUR
Jean-Auguste Dominique INGRES (Montauban, 1780 - Paris, 1867) Condottiere Original canvas enlarged by the artist at the bottom right Signed lower left: "J. Ingres" and dated: "1821 53,5 x 41 cm Provenance: - Georges de Monbrison Collection, Château Saint-Roch, Le Pin (Tarn-et-Garonne), acquired from the artist on March 15, 1862. - Sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 13, 1904, n° 25. - Lecomte Collection, Paris. - Wildenstein Collection, New York. - Sale "19th Century European art", Sotheby's, New York, 4 May 2012, n° 83. Exhibitions : - Montauban, Hôtel de Ville, Exposition des Beaux-Arts, May 1862, no. 549 "Un condottieri" (sic). - Lille, Explanation of the works of painting, drawing, sculpture...appearing at the exhibition of Fine Arts opened in the city of Lille, July 1866, n° 831 "Head of warrior". - Paris, Palais de L'École Impériale des Beaux-Arts, Catalogue des tableaux, études peintes, dessins et croquis de J.-A.- D. Ingres, 1867, n° 80 " Condottiere ". Bibliography : - E. Vaïsse, Exposition des Beaux-Arts à Montauban, in Revue de Toulouse et du Midi de la France, Huitième année, Tome quinzième, Toulouse, 1862, p. 517-522. - Emile Bellier de La Chavignerie, Letter of July 30, 1806, in La Chronique des Arts, n° 153, August 10, 1866, p. 204-206. - Olivier Merson, Ingres : Sa vie et ses œuvres, Paris, 1867, p.110. - Charles Blanc, Ingres : Sa vie et ses ouvrages, Paris, 1870, p.232. - Caussé (under the presidency of), Séance du 19 juin 1883, Bulletin de la Société Archéologique du Midi, Toulouse, 1883, p. 33. - Auguste-Jean Boyé, dit Boyer d'Agen, Ingres d'après une correspondance inédite, Paris, 1909, p. 446. - Georges Wildenstein, Ingres, New York, 1954, p. 192, no. 145, reproduced on p. 197, fig. 96. - Georges Wildenstein, Ingres (second edition), London, 1956, p. 192, no. 145, reproduced on p. 197, fig.96. - Emilio Radius and Ettore Camesasca, L'Opera complete di Ingres, Milan, 1968, p.101, n° 107b (reproduced). - Daniel Ternois and Ettore Camesasca, Tout l'œuvre peint d'Ingres, Paris, 1971, p. 101, no. 108b (reproduced). - Daniel Ternois, Ingres, Milan, 1980, p.179, n° 161 (reproduced). - Daniel Ternois and Ettore Camesasca, All the painted works of Ingres (new edition), Paris, 1984 - Annalisa Zanni, Ingres: Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence, 1990, p. 92. - Georges Vigne, Ingres, Paris, 1995, p.333. - Gerber Sarah, Georges de Monbrison (1830-1906), collectionneur de portraits historiques au XIXe siècle en Tarn-et-Garonne : Catalogue de la collection et interprétation ; sous la direction de Pascal Julien, Mémoire de Master recherche, Histoire de l'art 2e année, Toulouse II Le Mirail, 2007, vol. 3, cat. 332 and 333. Invited by his friend, the sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini, Ingres left Rome for Florence in December 1820. He was commissioned to create L'Entrée à Paris du Dauphin, futur Charles V, Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, by Count Amédée-David de Pastoret (1791-1857) in homage to his ancestor Jehan Pastoret (1328-1405), a lawyer at the Parliament of Paris. The subject is an example of the loyalty to the crown that Pastoret, newly appointed Gentleman of the King's Chamber, gave to Louis XVIII. These first "neo-gothic" paintings quickly established our painter as one of the leaders of the troubadour style. His stay in Tuscany ended in 1824 when he exhibited at the Paris Salon Le Vœu de Louis XIII, painted for the cathedral of Montauban. Our painting is a study for the figure on the right of the composition, who is holding a pike, probably the Maréchal d'Audrehem, aide-de-camp to Bertrand du Guesclin, and who escorted the Dauphin. His haughty, realistic face corresponds to his military function, and indicates a portrait executed from life. Ingres was also inspired by Renaissance paintings by Mantegna, Bronzino (Cosimo I de' Medici) and especially the Portrait of a Man in Armor, by Sebastiano del Piombo, which he knew from the copy kept in the Palazzo Pitti. This bearded face can be found in one of the soldiers on the left of the Martyrdom of Saint Symphorien, 1834, Saint-Lazare Cathedral in Autun. When in 1867, after Ingres' death, our painting was exhibited at the retrospective of the École des Beaux-Arts, the catalog stated that: "the cuirass was painted by the master around 1855", a practice that was common for him to transform his sketches. Following the entry of the Portrait of Antonello de Messina into the Louvre Museum in 1865, the title "Condottiere" was definitively imposed for this virile figure, between Caravaggio and Géricault (at the height of his fame in 1821), which reveals an unexpected aspect of our painter renowned for his effigies and famous female nudes.
Result
198,400 EUR
Luca GIORDANO (Naples, 1632 - 1705) Cain and Abel Web. Signed lower right: JORDANUS/F. Ancient restorations. 194 x 145 cm We propose to date this painting to the 1660s, when Luca Giordano incorporated more baroque elements, taken from Pierre de Cortone (e.g. the angel in the upper left corner) into the Riberesque naturalism present in his earlier works. The composition, all in movement, exacerbates the magnitude of the drama at play (Genesis 4. 1-15). The donkey's jaw which Cain used to knock Abel out is highlighted by its central position, reminiscent of an iconography initiated by Filippo Vitale (private collection). During his stays in Venice, the first of which took place around 1653, Luca Giordano saw Titian's painting on the same theme, preserved on the ceiling of the sacristy of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, where Abel is violently thrown to the floor. Here, his lifeless body, in a diagonal line, brings the viewer into the composition and recalls the foreground of "Saint January interceding for the cessation of the plague of 1656", painted in 1660 (Naples, Capodimonte Museum) 1, a sort of meditation on the tragic aspect of the human condition. Another version of this subject, of different composition and length, is currently in the art trade 2. A painting on this subject is quoted in the inventory of Alessandro Savorgnan done on August 7, 1699: "Abele morto con un angelo, h 13 quarte, ca., di Luca Giordano" 3. The height of 13 quarte, about 208 cm, could correspond to the height of our painting with its original frame. The authors have often noted that some of Giordano's paintings anticipated nineteenth-century French realist painting, comparing Le bon Samaritain (Rouen, Musée des beaux-arts) with that of Théodule Ribot (Paris, Musée d'Orsay). Our composition, for its part, seems to foreshadow Justice and Divine Vengeance pursuing the Crime of
Result
192,000 EUR
Jean-Baptiste GREUZE (Tournus 1725 - Paris 1805) Self-portrait Canvas 61,3 x 50,1 cm Bears old labels on the back of the frame: the label of the 1882 sale and "Portraits du Siècle /145". (Old restorations and small lacks in the lower right corner) Provenance: Anonymous sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Me Escribe, expert Haro, April 1, 1882, No. 12, as "Attributed to Greuze": "Jean Baptiste Greuze, his portrait by himself. Greuze is represented from three quarters in his workshop costume. The head is full of truth and charm. Very careful execution, full of verve. Canvas, 60 x 50 cm". Bibliography : - Camille Mauclair, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Paris, 1906, p. 70, no. 1142. - Jean Martin, Œuvre de J.-B. Greuze, Catalogue raisonné suivi de la liste des gravures exécutées d'après ses ouvrages, Paris, 1908, n° 1142. Like Rembrandt, Courbet and Picasso, Greuze never ceased to represent himself throughout his life, as shown by several of his famous self-portraits. Around 1755, he shows himself from three quarters, aged about thirty, in artist's clothing, with a brush in his hand (Musée Greuze, Tournus). Later, around 1780, he painted himself twice in the same pose, with a brown coat and a brush, aged fifty-five (Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille). The austere effigy of 1785 shows the artist five years later, at the age of sixty, in a three-quarter bust. He is wearing a blue coat, vest and white tie (Musée du Louvre, Paris). The last one, in 1804, a year before his death, shows him at the age of sixty-nine, wearing a similar outfit and posture to the one in the Hermitage painting (Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix). In our self-portrait, which we situate during the 1760s, Greuze adopts a very simple pose, with his chest in profile and his gaze turned towards the viewer, wearing a blue jacket under which we can guess a white shirt and a lace jabot, a "negligee" that most artists adopt in their representation. The chromatic range between gray and blue of the clothes and the background, the powdered hair, enhance the luminosity of the face and underline the expression that emerges from the lively gaze of the model. The touch is slightly freer, more in paste at the level of the forehead, there also to catch the light. In the 1760's, Jean-Baptiste Greuze can be proud of his career: he reached great fame thanks to his moral genre scenes such as The Village Accordion, presented at the Salon of 1761 (Louvre Museum), The Filial Piety at the Salon of 1763 (Hermitage Museum), or The Beloved Mother at the Salon of 1769 (Laborde collection in Madrid). He also received important commissions as a portraitist. Diderot praised him in his reviews of the salons, which he sent to Frédéric-Melchior Grimm, seeing in him the spearhead of the revival of French painting. The end of the decade became darker: in 1769 Jean-Baptiste Greuze was accepted and approved at the Academy as a painter of genre scenes and not as a "history painter".
Result
166,400 EUR