Sotheby's London Sale of 19th Century European Paintings in May

Written by Elaine Gooding Tuesday, 10 May 2011 21:15

LONDON.- Sotheby’s London Sale of 19th Century European Paintings on Wednesday, 18 May, 2011 will bring together some 163 works by artists from no fewer than 15 countries: among them Spain, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Italy, France, Switzerland, Britain, Israel, the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, and South America. Among the distinct categories of pictures to be offered will be a strong contingent of Spanish, Orientalist, German, Austrian and Central European works. The sale is estimated to bring in excess of £6.5 million.

Spanish Paintings
The Spanish section of the 19th Century European Paintings sale boasts Arabe delante de un tapiz (Arab Before a Tapestry), one of the most important works by Mariano Fortuny (1838-1874) that has appeared at auction in the last decade. The picture pays homage to the mystery and exoticism of North Africa. Painted in Rome in 1873 at the height of his career, a year before his untimely death at the age of 36, Arab Before a Tapestry – never before exhibited in public – is a large and dramatic canvas that demonstrates a marriage of Moorish and Western cultures. Each component is carefully arranged for optimum theatrical effect, from the richly patterned vertical drop of the Persian Safavid carpet, to the standing Arab swathed in a white robe, who holds a Moroccan musket horizontally above his chest. To his right, Fortuny has placed a Spanish twelfth century ivory inlaid casket; to his left, a sixteenth century round hispano-moresque lustreware; above his head, a hanging mosque glass. Estimated at £150,000-250,000, the present work comes to the market from a South American private collection, and Sotheby's sale will mark its first appearance at auction.

The period’s greatest exponent, Valencian painter Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), is present in the sale with several works, among them the Portrait of Luisa Martinez de Tejeda (est. £120,000-150,000) painted in 1907, when he had received the highest accolades for his very personal technique and enjoyed international recognition across Europe and in the United States. The masterful composition Sevillanas (Ladies of Seville) (est. £280,000-350,000) and the more intimate Cabeza de Andaluza (Andalusian Girl) (est. £80,000-120,000) were produced in 1914-15, during a break from the Andalusian panels for the Visions of Spain cycle commissioned for the Hispanic Society New York, by Archer Huntington. Both works come from the artist’s private collection and show Sorolla at one of his best moments, painting for his own pleasure.

Basque painter Ignacio Zuloaga (1870-1945) has two works in the sale, Mademoiselle Souty (est. £150,000–250,000) and Good Fortune (est. £90,000–130,000), and Cordoba’s Julio Romero de Torres (1874-1930) provides his vision of an alluring woman in the portrait Julita Cerdá (est. £25,000-35,000). The sale also includes works by Fernando Alvarez de Sotomayor, José de Togores, Rafael Zabaleta and Valentín de Zubiaurre, as well as a collection of 42 small panels depicting views of Spanish towns by Jenaro Pérez Villaamil, from the collection of the Earl of Clarendon.

The Orientalist Sale
The Orientalist section of the sale will be highlighted by an impressive array of works fresh to the market by seminal artists in this field. The 62 works are estimated to realise in excess of £2.5 million. Austrian-born Rudolf Ernst (1852-1932) is today one of the most celebrated and sought-after Orientalist painters of the nineteenth century and Sotheby's sale will include three works by the artist. Leaving the Mosque is a superbly conceived and finely observed panel, in which Ernst gives expression to his admiration for Muslim piety and Islamic architecture. Mosques and prayer became central to his paintings during his travels to the Middle East. In the present work, estimated at £200,000-300,000, Ernst displays his characteristic attention to the quiet richness and geometrical order of the architecture, the clean lines and vivid colours, all symbols of divine perfection.

The American artist Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847-1928) produced a series of harem paintings, and Sotheby's Orientalist sale will be led by an oil on canvas entitled In the Harem. While most Orientalist painters with a taste for this subject delighted in the voyeuristic opportunities it offered, Bridgman differed from them by using such scenarios to reveal a more domestic and family-orientated side of North African women's lives. In the Harem draws directly from the artist's travels and experiences. Here, three young North African women sit on a Berber carpet, with burning incense and the taking of tea imparting a sense of peace. The young girl who joins this group looks out directly at the viewer, as she cradles her doll. The intensely saturated colours and impasto brushstrokes show an emphasis towards a naturalistic aesthetic, with hints of impressionistic influences. Estimated at £200,000-300,000, the painting is a striking example of the artist's beloved theme.

19th Century European Paintings
A dazzling oil on canvas by Paul César Helleu (French, 1859-1927) depicts the artist's wife at her bureau. Madame Helleu à son bureau dans le salon de l'atelier du peintre (Madame Helleu at her Bureau in the Drawing Room of the Artist's Studio) displays a confidence in the application of swift brushstrokes of paint that recalls the work of John Singer Sargent, a close friend of the artist. The sitter was Helleu's muse and favourite model and another version, one in a series of oils showing Madame Helleu at her bureau, was sold by Sotheby's in New York in 1997. The present work is estimated at £250,000-350,000.

Federico del Campo’s (Peru, 1837-1923) sweeping panorama of Gondolas by the Doge’s Palace, Venice is striking in its technical precision, lively brushwork and luminous palette. The elegant subject and technique is very much of the time, reflecting sophisticated belle époque taste during the 1880s and 1890s, and of the increased demand for souvenir views by a newly mobile bourgeoisie. Born in Lima, Peru, the young del Campo was lured to Italy by the hope of launching a successful and lucrative career, and made such a big name for himself with his views of the city that he painted nothing but Italian views. The present panorama, painted from the promenade overlooking the lagoon and encompassing the Doge’s Palace, the entrance to St Mark’s Square, and the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, was painted by del Campo several times, and became his signature composition. It is estimated at £120,000-180,000.

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