A twelve-leaf Coromandel lacquer screen. Qing dynasty, Kangxi period - Sothebys 

the principal side decorated with boys engaged in various activities gathering in front of elaborate pavilions with ladies and a seated dignitary in a garden landscape with trees and rocks, the reverse depicting birds sheltering amongst blossoming trees in a rocky landscape, all encircled by mythical beasts, flowers and precious objects. Quantité: 12. Each panel: 128 by 21.4cm., 50 3/8  by 8 3/8 in. Estimation: 8,000 - 12,000 GBP

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

A blue and white cup, Kangxi mark and period - Sothebys

the conical sides rising from a short foot to a flared rim, painted to the exterior with linked foliate scrolls above the foot, the base inscribed with a six-character mark within a double-circle; 8.8cm., 3 1/2 in. Estimation: 6,000 - 8,000 GBP

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

Grue couronnée immature (II/B-bagué) Balearica pavonina. Photo Artcurial - Briest-Poulain-F.Tajan

Estimation : 600 / 800 €

Artcurial - Briest-Poulain-F.Tajan.  Vendredi 17 mai 2013. Drouot Richelieu - Salle 10 - 9, rue Drouot - 75009 Paris.

A blue and white quatrelobed tripod censer and a cover. Ming dynasty, Wanli period - Sothebys

the quatrelobed body rising from three legs to a straight rim, flanked by a pair of animal mask handles, the exterior painted with scholars seated by a fence in a garden with pine trees and flowers, encircled at the rim by a shan border, the domed cover painted with floral sprays and surmounted by a recumbent mythical beast. Quantité: 2 - 15cm., 5 7/8 in. Estimation: 6,000 - 8,000 GBP

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

Goura victoria (II/B bagué) Goura victoriae. Photo Artcurial - Briest-Poulain-F.Tajan

Estimation : 500 / 600 €

Artcurial - Briest-Poulain-F.Tajan.  Vendredi 17 mai 2013. Drouot Richelieu - Salle 10 - 9, rue Drouot - 75009 Paris.

A pair of blue and white Three friends of winter dishes. Qing dynasty, Kangxi period - Sothebys

each with rounded sides rising from a short tapering foot, the interior painted in rich cobalt-blue tones with a medallion enclosing a rectangular jardiniere issuing pine, bamboo and prunus, the exterior with pine, bamboo and prunus sprays, the base with apocryphal Chenghua six-character mark. Quantité: 2 - 20cm., 7 7/8 in. Estimation: 6,000 - 8,000 GBP

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

Florentine Manufacture, Vase with Cover Lapis lazuli, Gold, Enamels Florence, Museo degli Argenti.

SANTA ANA, CA.- Gems of the Medici, an acclaimed international exhibition, highlights some of the oldest and most unique pieces of the Medici collections including antiquities dating from the 1st Century BCE as well as a cornelian which was part of the Seal of Nero. This touring exhibition will transport visitors to 15th century Italy and beyond by experiencing the captivating world of one of history’s most intriguing families. Comprised of 100 objects on loan from distinguished institutions in Florence, Italy, Gems of the Medici features precious gems, carvings, sculptures, and other works of fine art from the extensive collection of the Medici family. 

In the mid-1400s, many celebrated artists, goldsmiths, silversmiths and engravers were attracted by the abundance of wealth in the city of Florence, but the most important factor in this gathering of talent was the presence of the Medici family. For almost three hundred years, generation after generation of Medici dominated city affairs and steered the course of art history. 

It was the Medici family who funded the workshops of these artists and artisans, who commissioned and collected the masterpieces of art and antiquity. This ceaseless collecting ultimately resulted in their collection becoming a source of study for scholars and an important historical record of the developments in the creation of gems and various types of jewelry. From founding father to the last Grand Duke, the immense power and wealth of this great dynasty was invested in its legendary collections, of which the collection renowned as the Gems of the Medici is perhaps the finest in the world. 

Gems of the Medici is an international exhibition in partnership with the Houston Museum of Natural Science. This specially-ticketed exhibition is organized by Contemporanea Progetti, Florence, Italy in collaboration with Museo degli Argenti, Palazzo Pitti and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Firenze. 

Hellenistic Art (Cameo Fragment), Benvenuto Cellini (Integration in gold). Chariot with Male Figure, 1530 – 1545. Chalcedony and Gold, 6,5 x 4,5 cm. Florence, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.

Cameo, Nativity on one side, Adoration of the Magi on the opposite side, enameled gold mounting with diamonds and sapphire. Firenze, Museo degli Argenti.

Giuseppe Antonio Torricelli, Female Bust, amethyst, chalcedony, alabaster and lapis lazuli.  Photo courtesy of Houston Museum of Natural Science

Benedetto da Rovezzano, Saint John the Baptist, c. 1505, terracotta, 19 2/3 x 15 3/4 x 9 7/8 in. (50 x 40 x 25 cm).

MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- The Trustees of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts approved yesterday evening the acquisition of a rare Renaissance bust of St. John the Baptist created by renowned Italian sculptor Benedetto da Rovezzano (1474-1554). The terracotta bust is also notable as one of the works bought by the Nazis for Hitler’s never-realized Führermuseum, a massive museum complex for the display of the most important masterpieces in the Western art historical canon. 

“Benedetto da Rovezzano was one of the most important sculptors of the high Renaissance and through his commissions from across Europe played an important role in spreading the visual language of the Italian Renaissance beyond the Alps,” said Eike Schmidt, James Ford Bell Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture. “St. John the Baptist, which was made in Florence during the very time when Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael worked there side by side, is the earliest Renaissance sculpture in our collection. The Rovezzano bust with its lively modeled hair and its detailed, innocent physiognomy, exemplifies the Renaissance ideal of youthful beauty.”

The bust is well known to specialists of Renaissance art— since it served as the starting point and opening image of Wilhelm von Bode’s classic essay on the so-called Master of the Saint John Figures. This anonymous master was first conclusively identified with Benedetto da Rovezzano in 1996 by Francesco Caglioti, professor of art history at the University Federico II in Naples, Italy, who is presently preparing a monographic study of the artist. In congratulating the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to its purchase, Caglioti stated: "The acquisition of the Saint John brings a very significant example by one of the great masters of the Florentine Renaissance to the United States." 
 
This is a rare bust by da Rovezzano, who is better known for his commissions to create the tomb of Louis XII’s ancestors, Louis d’Orléans and Valentina Visconti; Cardinal Wolsey’s tomb for Windsor Castle, which was later re-employed as Lord Nelson’s tomb in Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London; the tomb of San Giovanni Gualberto, founder of the Vallombrosan order; and the larger-than-life statue of Saint John the Evangelist in Florence Cathedral. The bust is also notable for depicting St. John the Baptist as a young boy, one of the last Renaissance examples of the saint depicted at this stage in his life. 

“This terracotta sculpture by Benedetto da Rovezzano helps the museum tell the remarkable story of the Florentine Renaissance,” said Kaywin Feldman, Director and President of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. “We discovered this masterpiece in March while attending The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and I am thrilled to have this ravishing Renaissance sculpture of St. John the Baptist join the collection of the MIA.” 

St. John the Baptist enters the MIA’s collection on the 68th anniversary of V-E Day, or Victory in Europe Day. The date is fitting for a sculpture rescued from near-destruction thanks to heroic efforts by the Monuments Men of the U.S. Army during World War II, who were charged with preserving Europe’s cultural patrimony. During WWII, the bust was bought from Anna Theresia Willi Lanz by Hitler’s special representative Hans Posse, who traveled across Europe seizing art from Jewish collectors and compelling the sale of art from non-Jews. The bust was ultimately hidden in a cache of Nazi-looted masterpieces intended for the Führermuseum—more than 6,000 priceless objects, including works by da Vinci, Vermeer, and Michelangelo—in the Altaussee salt mines in Austria, one of several Nazi storage sites. When Hitler’s second-in-command August Eigruber realized the Axis powers would lose the war, he ordered the mine destroyed. The mine director, the mine foreman, and the miners—whose families had earned their livelihoods from the mines for generations—created an elaborate plan to save the mines and the precious art inside. They removed inactivated Nazi bombs and set off their own carefully controlled explosions that sealed 137 tunnels in the mine, rendering the salt and the art protected yet inaccessible. The Rovezzano bust was saved and, ultimately, returned to the Netherlands. 

The bust will go on display in the MIA’s permanent galleries, where it will join two other notable Renaissance busts by Agostino Zoppo (c. 1520–72) and Giovanni Battista Caccini (1556–1613). 

PROVENANCE

By 1901, the bust of St. John the Baptist was in the personal collection of the Marchesa Serafini of Florence. By 1923, it had entered the collection of coffee merchant and art collector Michiel Onnes van Nijenrode of Groningen, Netherlands. In 1923, the bust was sold at auction to Dr. Otto Lanz of Amsterdam, a connoisseur and collector of Italian Renaissance art. Upon his death in 1935, his widow Anna Theresia Willi Lanz of Amsterdam and Lugano, Switzerland, inherited his collection. 

In 1941, the bust and the rest of the Lanz collection were sold to Hitler for 2 million Swiss francs. The bust was not seen again until 1945, when Allied forces recovered art bought and stolen by the Nazis. In 1946, the Lanz Collection was repatriated to the Netherlands Art Property Foundation in Amsterdam. In 1951, the foundation sold the Lanz Collection at auction and the Rovezzano bust was bought by Lanz’s son Georg G. Lanz of Rennaz, Switzerland. In the 1970s and 1980s, the bust was held in a number of private collections in Switzerland and in France. Last year French dealer Guy Ladrière showed it publicly in his gallery, where it was bought by London dealer Sam Fogg. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts reserved the sculpture during the preview of the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht on March 14, 2013.

Queen Elizabeth I (Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses) c. 1590. attrib. Isaac Oliver © National Portrait Gallery, London.

LONDON.- A previously unknown painting of Elizabeth I attributed to the famous miniaturist Isaac Oliver has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London. 

The small painting – the size of a postcard – will go on show as part of a major new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Elizabeth I and Her People (10 October 2013 - 5 January 2014), supported by The Weiss Gallery, where it will be displayed alongside a selection of portraits of Elizabeth I. Seen together, they will show how the Queen established, during a reign of nearly 50 years, an image of a strong and powerful female monarch. 

An unusual allegorical painting, the portrait is a reworking of the classical story of the Judgment of Paris upon the goddesses of marriage, war and love. In the guise of Paris, the Queen is represented as both judge and winner, retaining for herself the prize of the golden apple. 

This miniature reinterprets the theme of Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses, found in the Royal Collection painting of the same title by Hans Eworth, also shown in the exhibition. While the artist certainly appears to borrow some of the essential formal elements of the composition from the earlier painting, it is markedly different in terms of the Queen’s appearance, background landscape, costumes of the goddesses and in the addition of the peacock, and so the miniature can be considered an original reworking of the subject. 

Elizabeth is shown in a remarkable dress of cloth-of-gold, wearing a diamond necklace and a golden crown, and her wide ruff and jewelled headpiece suggest the fashions of the later 1580s or early 1590s, as seen in works such as the Woburn Abbey Armada Portrait (c.1588). 

National Portrait Gallery Chief Curator, and Curator of Elizabeth I and Her People, Dr Tarnya Cooper says that while the picture is not signed, the highly accomplished technique and continental influence – particularly in the mannerist, twisted figure of Juno – suggests an attribution to Isaac Oliver (c.1556–1617) or another, as yet unknown, continental follower of Nicholas Hilliard. 

‘Elizabeth’s rounded face and small features are usual, but it is meant to be a flattering portrait, showing the Queen as perpetually youthful’, says Dr Cooper. ‘It is difficult to speculate about who this cabinet miniature might have been produced for – the provenance provides us with no further clues – but the small scale and remarkably high quality of this work indicate that it would have been painted for a patron close to the court.’ 

Portraits of Elizabeth will be one focus of a large exhibition of over 100 objects, including accessories artefacts, costumes, coins, jewellery and crafts, which is the first devoted to the rise of new social classes in Elizabethan society. Elizabeth I and Her People will include not just portraits of courtiers, but also intriguing lesser-known images of merchants, lawyers, goldsmiths, butchers, calligraphers, playwrights and artists – all of whom contributed to the making of a nation and a new world power. 

Elizabeth I and Her People will show how members of a growing wealthy middle class sought to have their likenesses captured for posterity as the mid-sixteenth-century interest in portraiture broadened. Portraits of courtiers such as William Cecil, Christopher Hatton, Bess of Hardwick and Elizabeth Vernon are joined by explorers such as Francis Drake and Martin Frobisher, ambassadors such as Abd el-Quahed ben Messaoud, financiers such as Thomas Gresham and poets including John Donne.

Exhibits have been drawn together from private collections and public ones including Sherborne Castle, Hatfield House, the British Library, the V & A, the British Museum and the Museum of London. 

Exhibits have been drawn together from private collections and public ones including Sherborne Castle, Hatfield House, the British Library, the V & A, the British Museum and the Museum of London. 

Elizabeth I and Her People is curated by Dr Tarnya Cooper, the National Portrait Gallery’s Chief Curator and its Curator of Sixteenth Century Portraits, whose previous exhibitions at the Gallery include Searching for Shakespeare (2006). She is the author of A Guide to Tudor & Jacobean Portraits (2008) and Citizen Portrait – Portrait Painting and the Urban Elite, 1540–1620 (2012). 

Jan de Bray (Dutch, 1627–1697), Portrait of a Boy holding a Basket of Fruit, 1658. Oil on panel. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund and other funds. Photo: © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

BOSTON, MASS.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has unveiled one of its grandest spaces, the new Dutch and Flemish gallery, which has opened to the public after a nearly year-long renovation. The transformed Art of the Netherlands in the 17th Century Gallery features seven paintings by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn. These are among approximately 30 paintings in the gallery illustrating the full range of art production in the Netherlands. Included are fine landscapes, still lifes, genre scenes, portraits, and religious histories by acclaimed artists, such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jan Steen, and Jacob van Ruisdael. Canvases of varying size, including monumental paintings, are installed on damask-covered walls, while smaller works by Rembrandt, his students, and associates are displayed in cases. Complementing the paintings in the gallery are decorative art objects, including Dutch furniture, Delft pottery, and silver. The renovation of the Art of the Netherlands in the 17th Century Gallery was made possible by Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo. 

Also reopened is a companion gallery, the Leo and Phyllis Beranek Gallery, where approximately 20 works are displayed. In addition to showcasing Dutch and Flemish art from the Museum’s holdings, both galleries highlight loans from important collections, including 18 works lent by the Van Otterloos, continuing the Museum’s long-standing relationship with these noted supporters. The MFA also has opened the Alan and Simone Hartman Galleries featuring two 18th-century period rooms from Great Britain—Newland House Drawing Room and Hamilton Palace Dining Room—as well as a gallery for British Art 1560–1830. 

“Through this transformation of the Museum’s Dutch and Flemish galleries, made possible by Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, we have the opportunity to showcase seven of the finest paintings by Rembrandt and illustrate his influence on a number of his contemporaries,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. “These paintings and a splendid array of other important works are presented in a beautiful new space that highlights the breadth of artistic expression in the Netherlands at its pinnacle in the 17th century. I greatly appreciate the generosity of our lenders, who have enabled us to share these treasures with our visitors.” 

Twenty-seven works from the Museum’s own collection are hung in the two galleries, including Rembrandt’s Artist in his Studio (about 1628), Rubens’s The Sacrifice of the Old Covenant (about 1626), and Van Dyck’s Peeter Symons (about 1630–32). Also on view are the recently conserved paintings Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam (1677) by Emanuel de Witte and Jan den Uyl’s Breakfast Still Life with Glass and Metalwork (about 1637–39). Two additional works that were restored, Rembrandt’s pendants Reverend Johannes Elison and Mevr. Johannes Elison (both 1634), flank an exquisitely carved oak cupboard (about 1610–20) measuring more than 7-feet tall and 5-feet wide, on top of which a garniture, or display, of Delftware is presented. This arrangement is on view in the Art of the Netherlands in the 17th Century Gallery. 

Complementing the MFA’s works are paintings lent by the Van Otterloos, such as Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh (1632), among the finest Rembrandt paintings in private hands; Dog at Rest (1650) by Gerrit Dou; Portrait of a Preacher (about 1660) by Frans Hals; and Still Life with Seashells (1698) by Adriaen Coorte. Works lent by a private New York collector include Minerva (1635), a nearly life-sized depiction of the goddess from a group of mythological and historical female figures painted by Rembrandt between 1633 and 1635, which makes its Boston debut at the MFA. Among the other works lent by the collector are A Scholar Interrupted at His Writing (about 1635) by Gerrit Dou, A Young Woman Feeding a Parrot (1663) by Frans van Mieris the Elder, Sacrifice of Iphigenia (1671) by Jan Steen, and Venus and Cupid (1658) by Rembrandt’s student, Ferdinand Bol. 

Also showcased is Joos de Momper’s monumental painting (6 feet by 8 ½ feet) Mountain Landscape with Travelers from the collection of Horace Wood (“Woody”) Brock, which last was displayed at the MFA in 2009. It is shown with the poetic Orpheus Charming the Animals (about 1640) by Aelbert Cuyp from the Van Otterloo Collection, and Landscape with Gentlefolk and Gypsies by Jan Wildens, a recently conserved painting and the first Flemish work to enter the MFA’s collection (in 1873).

“To have the opportunity to fill these galleries with important loans that complement our own superb collection is a curator’s dream,” said Ronni Baer, William and Ann Elfers Senior Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, at the MFA. “I love the way the warm gray damask makes the blue skies in the landscapes come alive. And the installation enables us to tell different kinds of stories, from how Rembrandt made his successful move from Leiden to Amsterdam to the use of gesture in portraits and narratives.” 

The Art of the Netherlands in the 17th Century Gallery also highlights nearly 60 decorative arts objects. On view in four cases is a selection of recently acquired Delft ceramics (from the G. Ephis Collection of more than 70 works), among them Pair of tulip vases as triumphal arches (about 1690), which recalls Baroque festival architecture. There are also pairings of Delft with examples of Chinese and Japanese porcelain that inspired them. Silver, as well, is represented in the gallery, where notable works include a Layette Basket (Dutch, 1666–67), marked by Adriaen van Hoecke, and a rare Ewer and Basin (1632) by Christiaen van Vianen, with curves and lobes resembling the human ear. 

The Museum’s new Art of the Netherlands in the 17th Century Gallery, with its 31- foot-high ceilings, has been dramatically enhanced and features new decorative elements, including a warm gray Gainsborough silk damask fabric on the walls and a freshly painted cove and ceiling. State-of-the-art cases constructed by Italian manufacturer Goppion have been added to display small canvases and decorative art objects. Refurbished skylights and the addition of LED lighting improve illumination in the gallery, and new graphics enhance the appreciation of the art on view. 

Jan van der Heyden (Dutch, 1637–1712), View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam, about 1667-70. Oil on panel. Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Handscroll of flowers and birds from the Chinese Qing dynasty (detail) (1644-1911). © Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.

DUBLIN.- Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, has been described as the finest collection of manuscripts and books made by a private collector in the 20th century.

It includes representative samples of the world’s heritage (artistic, religious and secular) from about 2700 BC to the present century.

Only about one percent of the Library's collection is on display at any one time due to lack of space, so objects are rotated regularly.

The highlight for the month of May is a Handscroll of flowers and birds from the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Painted on silk, the flora and fauna depicted on the scroll symbolise wishes for long life and marital harmony.

The handscroll exemplifies the bird and flower painting tradition, reflecting botanical accuracy and close attention to nature.

The Chinese Collection at the Library includes a fine series of albums and scrolls covering a range of subjects from calligraphy to scenes of daily life. There are over 900 snuff bottles made from polished minerals; the largest collection of jade books from the Imperial Court outside China; dragon robes worn by the Imperial family and a large collection of textiles and decorative objects. The emperors of China saw themselves as guardians of their cultural heritage. Not only did they commission and collect works of art but they also compiled imperial encyclopaedias. Chester Beatty Library has three volumes of The Great Encyclopaedia of the Yongle Emperor, a work commissioned by the Ming emperor Yongle in 1403 to contain ' all the knowledge in China '.

The Library's other collections include some of the earliest sources on papyrus for the bible and a great library of Manichean texts.

Over 6,000 manuscripts, paintings and calligraphies, make up the Islamic collections. This includes more than 260 complete and fragmentary Qur’ans, some dating from the late eighth and ninth centuries and including the work of the leading calligraphers of the Islamic world.

The Japanese holdings contain many superb painted scrolls from the 17th and 18th century, woodblock prints by Hiroshige and Hokusai as well as decorative art objects. 

Only about one percent of Chester Beatty Library's collection is on display at any one time, so objects are rotated regularly. This month's highlight is a Handscroll of flowers and birds from the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Painted on silk, the flora and fauna depicted on the scroll symbolise wishes for long life and marital harmony. Image © Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.

A pale celadon-glazed ‘lotus’ dish, Yongzheng mark and period - Sothebys

of ogee-form rising from a short foot, delicately moulded to the interior with curved petal lappets radiating from a lotus pod with sixteen seeds, the flared sides similarly decorated in the form of eighteen petals curving upwards to a lobed rim, covered overall in a pale sea-green glaze, the white base inscribed with a six-character mark within a double-circle; 18.7cm., 7 3/8 in. Estimation: 15,000 - 20,000 GBP

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

Sapphire and diamond devant de corsage, late 19th century - Sothebys

Of foliate and scroll design, set with an oval sapphire, cushion-shaped and circular-cut diamonds, pendent loops to reverse. Estimation: 15,000 - 22,000 CHF

PROPERTY OF A NOBLE FAMILY

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels. Genève | 14 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

A rare Clair-de-lune glazed jardinière, Qianlong seal mark and period - Sothebys

of rectangular form with canted corners, the flared sides rising to an everted rim and supported on four ruyi feet joined by a scrolled apron, covered overall in a pale lavender-blue glaze, the flat base inscribed with a six-character seal mark between two circular apertures; 13.3cm., 5 1/4 in. Estimation: 15,000 - 20,000 GBP

PROVENANCE: Sotheby’s London, 7th June 1994, lot 369.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

Seed pearl and diamond choker, late 19th century - Sothebys

Composed of seventeen rows of seed pearls, highlighted at intervals with spacers set with circular- and single-cut diamonds, length approximately 330mm. Estimation: 12,000 - 18,000 CHF

THE PROPERTY OF A MEMBER OF A EUROPEAN ROYAL FAMILY

PROVENANCE: Originally worn by Infanta Amalia Philippina of Spain (b.1834-1905), wife of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (b.1828–1875).

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels. Genève | 14 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

A celadon-glazed ‘Melon’ wall vase, Qianlong seal mark and period - Sothebys

modelled in the form of a large lobed melon with an adjacent smaller melon, borne on curling tendrils issuing vine leaves, decorated in low-relief with a butterfly near the bottom, covered overall in a pale celadon glaze pooling at the recessed areas, the reverse with a four-character seal mark; 15.5cm., 6 1/8 in. Estimation: 12,000 - 18,000 GBP

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

Diamond brooch, 1890s - Sothebys

Designed as a foliate spray, the flower head en tremblant, set with cushion-shaped, circular-cut, and rose diamonds, French assay marks. Estimation: 9,500 - 14,000 CHF

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels. Genève | 14 mai 2013 www.sothebys.com

Rembrandt Laughing, about 1628. Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669). Oil on copper. 8 3/4 x 6 5/8 in. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today the acquisition of two exceptional European paintings—a recently rediscovered self-portrait by one of the most celebrated painters in history, Rembrandt, and a light-filled view of the Grand Canal by Canaletto, Venice’s most influential painter.

“It is extraordinary to be adding two such rare and outstanding works to the collection at the same time, each of which will greatly enhance what are already highly distinguished areas of our paintings collection,” said Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “The Getty Museum possesses the most significant collection of early Rembrandts in the United States, and if you had asked what addition would best cap it off, the answer would have been a self-portrait, which many regard as his greatest and most sustained achievement. But the chances of finding such a work seemed negligible—until the rediscovery of this painting in 2007. It is unquestionably one of the most remarkable works of art to become available in recent memory.” 

“The Canaletto likewise is a tremendous addition to our growing collection of Italian view paintings,” Potts continued. “This view of the Grand Canal is one of the artist’s finest achievements in his signature style, and is in such pristine condition that the sunlit scene positively glistens. It represents the artist at the height of his powers and demonstrates the assured brilliance with which he captured Venice’s colorful pageant of villas, gondolas and bustling merchant life.” 

Rembrandt

Rembrandt Laughing, about 1628, by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669) is an early self-portrait, depicting the artist—who would have been about 22—dressed as a soldier, in deep violet and brown clothes and sporting a gleaming steel gorget. The young man leans back, smiles broadly and catches the viewer’s eye. His animated features are captured in this spontaneous moment of lively exchange with expressive, short brushstrokes. 

Painted on copper, this small oil (8 3/4 x 6 5/8 inches) bears the artist’s monogram, “RHL,” which combines his name with Leiden, the city in which he was born and worked at the time. It is very well preserved and Rembrandt’s vigorous, assured technique has lost none of its immediacy. 

“Painted when Rembrandt was a young, newly independent artist, possibly the third self-portrait of his career, Rembrandt Laughing exemplifies his signature spirited, confident handling of paint and natural ability to convey emotion,” explains Scott Schaefer, senior curator of paintings at the Getty Museum. “It is a measure of the artist’s consummate skill that the dynamism of his pose and the act of laughing translates into a painting of tremendous visual impact, far exceeding its modest dimensions. It is destined to become one of the Getty’s signature paintings.” 

Considered the greatest painter of the Dutch Golden Age, Rembrandt possessed a brilliant technique and unrivaled ability to capture the drama of life. His exploratory interest in the human character was expressed not only through the interpretation of diverse mythological and historical subjects, but through an exceptional number of self-portraits, a genre he transformed. Ranging from informal studies to elaborate fantasies and distinguished likenesses, Rembrandt’s self-portraits are among his most lauded works. 

After centuries in private collections, this painting emerged on the market in 2007. Previously known only through print reproductions, it had been attributed to a contemporary of Rembrandt. Scholarly analysis and scientific testing, made possible once the painting entered the public sphere, led many experts, including leading members of the Rembrandt Research Project, to re-attribute the work to Rembrandt himself. It was exhibited to the public for the first time, as a Rembrandt, at the Rembrandthuis Museum in 2008. Notably, of the nearly 40 self-portraits he painted in his life, Rembrandt Laughing is the first in which he depicts himself in evocative costume. 

Rembrandt Laughing will be exhibited in the East Pavilion among the Museum’s four Rembrandt paintings (An Old Man in Military Costume, 1630–31; The Abduction of Europa, 1632; Daniel and Cyrus before the Idol Bel, 1633; Saint Bartholomew, 1661) and Rembrandt’s superb Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Gold-Trimmed Cloak of 1632 (on long-term loan from a private collection), and in proximity to other small-scale Dutch paintings on copper and panel. 

Canaletto

In the 18th century, Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto (Italian, 1697-1768), was the leading star among Venetian painters. Canaletto’s sensitivity to atmospheric effects, coupled with precise perspective and keenly observed portrayals of daily life in his native Venice made him the city’s most sought-after painters, especially with British noblemen visiting Venice on the Grand Tour. As it does today, the Grand Canal defined Canaletto’s Venice and his paintings of this iconic waterway still profoundly evoke the bustle and romance of the Italian city. 

For The Grand Canal in Venice from Palazzo Flangini to Campo San Marcuola (18 1/2 x 30 5/8 inches), Canaletto selected a scene in the upper reaches of the Grand Canal, near the entrance of the Cannaregio Canal, with the viewer placed on a vessel in the middle of the waterway. Palazzo Flangini, bathed in sunlight, anchors the composition at left. Next to it, the lantern crowning the dome of the church of San Geremia juts out above the pale, unadorned frontage of the Scuola dei Morti, followed by the gabled rectory of San Geremia. Trees and shrubbery appearing over a garden wall mark the corner of the Grand Canal and the Cannaregio Canal, which branches off to the left. Throughout the scene, people go about the daily business of Venice: from a balcony, a female figure surveys the canal, while a nobleman in a wig stands in the doorway of the palace, either about to board or having just alighted from a gondola moored at the steps. 

According to Schaefer, “The Grand Canal in Venice from Palazzo Flangini to Campo San Marcuola is among Canaletto’s most refined and elegant works. The exceptional state of preservation of this canvas affords a rare opportunity to appreciate all the subtleties of Canaletto’s highly finished treatment at the peak of his powers, from the meticulously rendered architecture to the sparkling light.” 

The painting joins another painting by Canaletto in the Museum’s collection, the Roman View of the Arch of Constantine with the Colosseum, 1742–45. The Museum also owns two drawings by Canaletto. The Grand Canal in Venice from Palazzo Flangini to Campo San Marcuola will be exhibited together with Francesco Guardi’s (Italian, 1712–1793) The Grand Canal in Venice with Palazzo Bembo, c. 1768 (acquired by the Museum in 2005). As one of the very finest small-scale works of his early maturity, the Getty’s Guardi occupies a similar position in that artist’s oeuvre that the Grand Canal scene occupies in Canaletto’s. Both depict the same stretch of the Grand Canal at the mouth of the Cannaregio Canal; Guardi’s view looks west, Canaletto’s east, with several of the same buildings appearing in both. The two paintings are currently on view at the Getty Center in the South Pavilion (S203) of the Museum. 

The Grand Canal in Venice from Palazzo Flangini to Campo San Marcuola, about 1738. Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto (Italian, 1697–1768). Oil on canvas. 18 1/2 x 30 5/8 in. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.