De Beers, Phenomena Frost Necklace.

De Beers High Jewellery, Albert Bridge Necklace.

De Beers High Jewellery, Battersea Light Necklace.

Photos courtesy De Beers

Capri (1981) by Luigi Ghirri

Villa Visconti Borromeo Litta in Lainate

Vila Litta, Milano

A Symbolist necklace, by Charles Boutet de Monvel, circa 1900. Composed of gold, silver, opals, glass, rubies, pearls and diamonds. ©The Richard H. Driehaus Museum

Sifen Chang. Tourmaline and Diamond Flower Ring.

Sifen Chang. Tourmaline and Diamond Ring.

Gustave Caillebotte, Calle de París, tiempo lluvioso. 1877 (Sketch for Paris Street; Rainy Day). Óleo sobre lienzo, 54 x 65 cm, Musée Marmottan Monet, París. © Paris, Bridgeman Images

MADRID.- This summer, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in collaboration with the Musée des impressionnismes Giverny is presenting an exhibition on the artist Gustave Caillebotte (Paris, 1848 – Petit Gennevilliers, 1894), one of the least known but also most original figures of the Impressionist movement. Caillebotte, Painter and Gardener reveals this French artist’s thematic and stylistic evolution, from his early works painted in Haussmann’s modern Paris to his depictions of gardens, which would come to occupy a significant part of his output.  

Curated by Marina Ferretti, director of Exhibitions and Research at the Musée des impressionnismes Giverny, the exhibition includes a total of 65 works loaned from private collections and international museums including the Marmottan Monet in Paris, the Brooklyn Museum in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The works on display are presented in four sections corresponding to periods in the artist’s life: Haussmann’s Paris, world of stone; Sojourns in Yerres; The Seine and the Exploration of Normandy; and The Garden at Petit Gennevilliers.  

For many years Caillebotte was principally recognised for his role as a patron and supporter of the Impressionist movement. He organised exhibitions and collected a large number of works by artists such as Pissarro, Degas, Renoir, Sisley, Cézanne and Monet, which the French State received as a bequest following his death in 1894. For some decades, however, the importance of Caillebotte’s creative activities has also been acknowledged, and he is now considered one of the most notable members of the Impressionist group. 

Gustave Caillebotte was born in Paris in 1848 to a family whose wealth allowed him to receive a privileged education. He had already produced some works by the time he started to attend Léon Bonnat’s studio in 1872. That same year he made the obligatory study trip to Italy and in 1873 passed the entrance exam to the École des Beaux-Arts. 

Despite receiving a training based on traditional academic values, Caillebotte revealed more interest in art that broke away from pre-established norms. His first works reveal an original gaze on nature and the modern city. The subject is less important than the daring compositions, dominated by a high viewpoint and oblique perspective which create an effect of tension. 

In 1875, after the Salon jury rejected The Floor-Scrapers, the first canvas that Caillebotte presented in the official section, he joined forces with the independent painters. A year later he showed this painting alongside four works on urban subjects in the second Impressionist exhibition. From this date on, Caillebotte would further encourage the movement by purchasing and collecting works by his contemporaries.  

Gustave Caillebotte, Pintores en un edificio, 1877 (House Painters). Óleo sobre lienzo. 89 x 116 cm. Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

Haussmann’s Paris, world of stone 
Between 1852 and 1870, Paris was transformed by a major urban redesign scheme promoted and designed by Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann respectively, which contributed to the creation of a new, cleaner, more open and accessible city and one that became the European capital of modern art. 

Caillebotte lived in one of these new quarters and experienced the transformation of the city at first hand, while also depicting it in his work. In contrast to other contemporary artists, he avoided typical modern themes such as train stations, cafés and the city’s crowded leisure spots. Rather he focused his gaze on the true protagonists of the new city, its inhabitants, whom he perfectly observed and described. This room in the exhibition includes various canvases and preparatory studies of middle-class Parisians in top hats, in contrast to others of workmen and painters, revealing Caillebotte’s desire to reflect the different social classes that inhabited the city. 

His palette had by now become as grey as the appearance of the new Paris, which was rebuilt using dark, muted materials. Balcony, Boulevard Haussmann (1880) and The Boulevard Seen from Above (1880) are examples of the way the artist saw the city, using high viewpoints and framing the scene with a window or balcony and employing a distant perspective, which functions to accentuate the sense of isolation and coldness that characterise modern life.  

Gustave Caillebotte, Balcón, Boulevard Haussmann, 1880 (Balcony, Boulevard Haussmann). Óleo sobre lienzo, 69 x 62 cm, Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte, El bulevar visto desde arriba, 1880 (The boulevard Seen From Above). Óleo sobre lienzo, 65 x 54 cm, Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

Sojourns in Yerres 
For many years Caillebotte spent his summers in his family’s home in Yerres, a Neo-classical style house set in a large garden of the English type which he depicted on numerous occasions. It was in this setting that the artist discovered plein air painting and where he experienced the power of nature and the intensity of its colours and scents, embarking on what would be a profound dedication to painting gardens. 

Caillebotte’s works depict the long paths in the garden of the family home, the ordered and well-tended vegetable garden, different effects of light on the ponds and warm, tranquil sunsets on the horizon.  

Similarly, he observed rural labours and the natural setting of the countryside along the River Yerres, where people enjoyed water activities of the type fashionable at the time, such as rowing. Caillebotte’s interest in that sport led him to depict scenes of rowers in a very personal manner, with an emphasis on physical exercise and a sense of movement. Skiffs on the River Yerres (1877) and Oarsman in a Top Hat (1878) reflect this new interest. Painted using a more colourful palette, these works deploy daring compositions in which the human presence is extremely important. 

Gustave Caillebotte, Piraguas en el río Yerres, 1877 (Skiffs on the River Yerres). Óleo sobre lienzo, 88,9 x 116,2 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Colección Mr. and Mrs. Paul Melton © Washington National Gallery of Art

Gustave Caillebotte, Remero con sombrero de copa, 1878 (Oarsman in a Top Hat). Óleo sobre lienzo, 90 x 117 cm. Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

In the fourth Impressionist exhibition of 1879, Caillebotte presented a total of 28 canvases painted in Yerres. These works reveal a profound change in his use of colour and choice of subject-matter.  

The Seine and the Exploration of Normandy 
Following the sale of the family property in Yerres, in 1881 Caillebotte and his brother jointly acquired a property in Petit Gennevilliers on the banks of the Seine where the artist continued to focus on garden painting with true passion. Soon after moving into this new residence he had a garden and a vegetable plot laid out, to which he would devote much of his time and which became his two principal sources of inspiration. 

The fact that Caillebotte’s house was next to the Cercle de la Voile de Paris [Paris Yacht Club] was fundamental to his interest in sailing. He began to design sailing boats, winning numerous regattas with them, and to paint studies of the boats to be seen on the Seine. 

Urban views of Paris in the artist’s work gradually gave way to landscapes of Argenteuil, Colombes and Gennevilliers in which Caillebotte came close to the Impressionist technique. 

However, paintings such as Laundry Drying, Petit Gennevilliers (1888) and Fields on the Gennevilliers Plain, Study in Yellow and Pink (1884) reveal his habitual use of striking compositions, dynamic tension and high viewpoints. Similarly, in The Seine and the Railroad Bridge at Argenteuil (1885) and Sailboat Moored on the Seine, Argenteuil (1891) the human figure disappears, its presence only remaining in the mark it leaves on the landscape. 

Gustave Caillebotte, Ropa blanca secándose, Petit Gennevilliers, 1888 (Laundy Drying, Petit Gennevilliers). Óleo sobre lienzo, 54 x 65 cm. Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte, El Sena y el puente del ferrocarril de Argenteuil, 1885 (The Seine and the Railroad Bridge at Argenteuil).Óleo sobre lienzo, 115,6 x 154,9 cm. Brooklyn Museum, donación de la Arthur M. Sackler Foundation © Brooklyn Museum

Gustave Caillebotte, Embarcación anclada en el Sena, Argenteuil, hacia 1891 (Sailboat Moored on the Seine, Argenteuil). Óleo sobre lienzo, 65 x 50 cm. Conseil Départemental du Val d’Oise, Cergy-Pontoise © Cergy-Pontoise, Conseil Départemental du Val d’Oise / Photo: J.-Y. Lacôte

Caillebotte spent his summers in Normandy where the sea and new landscapes inspired him to create works executed with a looser type of brushstroke and a freer, totally Impressionist technique. It was here that he met up again with Monet, who also had a marvellous garden in Giverny and with whom he exchanged impressions and tips on horticulture and gardening. 

The Garden at Petit Gennevilliers 
In 1888, having bought his brother’s share in the house, Caillebotte settled there permanently with his partner Charlotte Berthier. He gradually enlarged the plot by buying adjacent ones until he owned a sizeable amount of land, to which he made changes depending on his taste and requirements. 

Of all these changes that he undertook, the most important was the creation of the vegetable plot, the garden and the construction of his studio and a greenhouse with central heating. It was here that he would spend most of his time from now on. 
Caillebotte invested a great deal of time and effort to studying horticulture and to designing and looking after his garden, activities reflected in his paintings. He based his design for the garden on straight lines which gave rise to ordered beds, each one devoted to a particular tree of flower. He also introduced the most recent advances in gardening. 

During the last years of his life in Gennevilliers, Caillebotte focused on painting the subjects that most interested him, namely flowers, his garden and sailing. The flowers he grew himself provided inspiration for ambitious compositions that decorated his own home, which he now conceived as a continuation of the natural world outside. The intimate character of the works of this period and their distinctive character is extremely striking, as is the use of close-up viewpoints and the intensity of the colours of the flowers, to be seen in various paintings in display in this room, such as Orchids (1893).

Gustave Caillebotte, Los girasoles, jardín de Petit Gennevilliers, c. 1885 (Sunflowers, Garden at Petit Gennevilliers). Óleo sobre lienzo, 131 X 105 cm, Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte, Camino del jardín y macizos de dalias, Petit Gennevilliers, 1890-91 (Garden Path with Dahlias in Petit Gennevilliers). Óleo sobre lienzo, 101 x 81 cm, Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte, El huerto, Yerres, 1877 (The Kitchen Garden, Yerres). Óleo sobre el lienzo, 60 x 73 cm, Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte, Parterre de Margaritas, hacia 1892-1893 (Bed of Daisies) Cuatro paneles. Óleo sobre lienzo, 100 x 50,3 cm (cada panel), Musée des impressionnismes, Giverny, MDIG 2016.2.1 a 4 © Paris, Brame & Lorenceau

Gustave Caillebotte, Orquídeas, 1893 (Orchids). Óleo sobre lienzo, 65,3 x 54 cm, Colección privada © Paris, Comité Caillebotte

Lot 1. A blue and white 'Phoenix' dish, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimation: USD 8,000 - 12,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The dish is decorated on the interior with a phoenix roundel at the center, surrounded by eight alternately ascending or descending phoenixes. The exterior is decorated with three phoenixes in flight. An apocryphal Jiajing mark within a double circle is on the base within the unglazed channeled foot. 13 ¼ in. (33.7 cm.) diam. A restored section to the rim with possible use of composite material and associated over painting - minor fritting to the partly polished rim - a burst glaze bubble to the foot rim - some expected surface scratches.

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Lot 2. A celadon-glazed 'Lotus' dish, Qianlong four-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795). Estimation: USD 3,000 - 5,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The dish is molded in shallow relief on the interior with four rows of lotus petals radiating from a central pod towards the foliate rim. The dish is covered overall in a pale sea-foam-green glaze. 9 ½ (24.1 cm.) diam. There is fine black specking to both sides, particularly to underside, which is adherent to manufacture - a few iron spots - pin prick holes on the rim.

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Lot 3. A blue and white 'Lotus' dish, 18th century. Estimation: USD 3,000 - 5,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The heavily potted dish is painted with lotus scrolls arranged within a medallion in the center on the interior, enclosed by a similar wide band that is also repeated on the exterior. 13 ½ in. (34.3 cm.) diam - minor abrasion to the rim - small area of firing imperfection to the base beneath the foot rim - a burst bubble to the foot rim.

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Lot 4. A large blue and white 'Kraak Porselein' dish, Wanli Period (1573-1619). Estimation: USD 2,000 - 3,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The dish is decorated in the center with geese and lotus in a riverscape, enclosed by radiating lappets with peaches, fans and double gourds. 20 in. (50.8 cm.) diam. Small spots of pulling to the glaze - a firing crack along the luting line between the rim and the bowl on the reverse, and a few further small firing cracks on the base caused by the manufacturing process of this unusually large dish - some areas of kiln grit adhesion as to be expected - restoration around the rim with associated areas of overpainting and overspray, with possible use of composite material - general surface wear and scratches in keeping with age - a few tiny chips to the foot rim

Provenance: Anthony Gray, London, 1982.

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Lot 5. A famille verte bowl, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimation: USD 1,500 - 2,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The rounded jar has an everted rim and is painted on the exterior with two panels, one with fishermen in a landscape and another with two scholars and an attendant in a garden scene; both panels are reserved on a green ground with composite floral sprays. 11 in. (28 cm.) diam. Scattered firing spots to the rim and the interior - fritting with some small chips to the rim - few minor firing cracks to the interior - scattered surface scratches, consistent with age

Provenance: Sotheby's Los Angeles, 11 December 1979, lot 359.

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Lot 6. A blue and white hanging jardinière, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Estimation: USD 800 - 1,200. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The jardinière is decorated on the exterior with two panels, one with a boatman in a landscape and the other with a fisherman in riverscape, all beneath a ruyi border. 9 ¼ in. (23.5 cm.) diam. A fine rim crack which extends approximately half way down the body - two star cracks to the base, visible on both the interior and exterior - four drilled hanging holes - some minor surface scratches - foot rim has been slight polished and has a small chip

Provenance: Professor Jan Hellner (1917-2002) Collection, Stockholm, Sweden.

Christie's on line. The Art of China.

Lot 35. A pair of small Qingbai stem dishes, Song Dynasty (960-1279). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

Each dish has shallow sides that rise to the rounded and everted rim, and is raised on a short foot. Both are covered with a glaze of pale sea-green tone. 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.) diam. (2). Both: some naturally occurring crackles to the glaze. One: one mark to the base in black; a few scattered, tiny burst glaze bubbles; a restored section on the rim edge extending underneath with possible use of composite material and associated over spray. The other one: appears to be in overall good condition. Estimation: USD 2,000 - 3,000

Provenance: Professor Jan Hellner (1917-2002) Collection, Stockholm, Sweden.

Christie's on line. The Art of China.

Lot 36. A Xingyao dish, 10th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The deep sided dish has a lipped rim and is supported on a bifoot, covered overall with a matted white glaze, the base unglazed. 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm.) diam. The foot has been polished; some surface wear to the glaze; an area of firing imperfection, resulting in some glaze loss to the interior. Estimation: USD 800 - 1,200

Provenance: Professor Jan Hellner (1917-2002) Collection, Stockholm, Sweden.

Christie's on line. The Art of China.

Lot 37. A Longquan celadon pear-shaped vase, Song Dynasty (960-1279). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The vase has a bulbous body with a tall neck that rises to a dished rim and is covered overall with an even glaze of pale sea-green color. 6 ¼ in. (15.9 cm.) high. A firing crack under the glaze which associates with a kiln grit adhesion to the interior of the neck and firing imperfection on the misshapen mouth; other fine cracks extend from the foot rim to the body of the vase, but are not obtrusive ; the vase is slightly warped and misfired. Estimation: USD 2,000 - 4,000

Christie's on line. The Art of China.

Lot 38. A Longquan celadon-glazed tripod censer, Ming Dynasty, 14th-15th Century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The censer is supported on three feet and carved to the exterior with a wide band of lotus heads on scrolling leafy stems between two raised lines. The vessel is covered with an even celadon glaze, the base has a circular aperture covered with a partially glazed circular plug adhering to the interior. 9 in. (22.8 cm.) diam. It has light scratches and surface wear in keeping with its age to the exterior of the censor. Some light pitting. There are a few light glaze flakes and areas of glaze crawl that reveal the orange body. A miniscule nick to the extremity of one foot. There is some wear to the interior of the censor with banded areas of white discolouration to the surface. Estimation: USD 1,200 - 1,800

Note: Longquan wares refer to the Chinese celadon-glazed ceramics produced in southwestern Zhejiang province from the Song dynasty (960-1279) through to the Yuan dynasty (1260-1368) and the Ming dynasty (1364-1644). These ceramics were used at court and were much admired by the literati for their beautiful glazes, inspired by the unctuous celadon tones of jade. Longquan celadons were also traded with other nations including Europe. These ceramics were made in many shapes and the form of this censer is based on an archaic bronze. It is interesting to note that the interior of the censer shows a partially glazed plug that may have originally formed part of a saggar used in the kiln firing.

Literature: A slightly smaller Longquan censer of comparable form and decorated with a scrolling leafy design is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei and is illustrated in Green - Longquan Celadon of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 2009, no. 124, p226.

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Lot 39. A Longquan celadon charger, Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The large dish is heavily potted with petal-molded sides, and the center is decorated with a molded foliate medallion. The dish is covered overall with a greyish-green tone glaze. 15 in. (38.1 cm.) diam. Some surface wear to the glaze and to the foot, consistent with age. Estimation: USD 2,000 - 3,000

Christie's on line. The Art of China.