TEFAF MAASTRICHT 2007 EXHIBITS MAGNIFICENT ARTWORKS

Tuesday, 26 December 2006 07:27

Helvoirt, Netherlands - The quality that has become the international trademark of The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) will be higher than ever when the event is staged for the 20th time in the Dutch city of Maastricht from March 9 to 18, 2007.  When TEFAF opens its doors at the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre (MECC), 220 of the world’s leading dealers will exhibit paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, classical antiquities, illuminated manuscripts, textiles, porcelain, glass, silver and other works of art worth over $1 billion, and that total excludes the magnificent contemporary jewelry section.

There will be a superb range of works of art on offer. TEFAF has always been renowned for its Old Master paintings and the London-based specialist in Dutch and Flemish pictures Johnny Van Haeften will be exhibiting Pieter Breughel the Younger’s A Winter Landscape with the Massacre of the Innocents.  Breughel places the Biblical story in a 16^th century Netherlandish setting, imagining Bethlehem as a Flemish village covered in thick snow.  Galerie Canesso from Paris will focus on 17^th and 18^th century Naples and will show about 20 paintings including landscapes, religious and mythological subjects and history pictures. Military scenes will include Battle by Aniello Falcone (1607-1656).

One of the most remarkable paintings at TEFAF will be The Anger of Achilles or Sacrifice of Iphigénie by Jacques-Louis David, the French Neo-Classical painter who became the most powerful artist in revolutionary France.  The picture, which will be exhibited by Stair Sainty Ltd of London, is the only history painting by David still in private hands and is also the last work that he completed before his death in 1825.  It depicts the sacrifice of Iphigénie, daughter of Agamemnon, to appease the goddess Artemis, and has not been exhibited in public for almost a century.

In recent years TEFAF’s modern and contemporary art section has expanded enormously and Acquavella Galleries from New York will be exhibiting the 20^th century American artist Alexander Calder’s painted metal standing mobile White Dots on Red and Blue.  The 1951 work will be on the open market for the first time having been acquired directly from the artist by a private collector whose family owned it until recently. Keitelman Gallery from Brussels will offer a bronze by Jean Arp entitled Sculpture d’une ombre dating from 1960.  The 71cm (28inch) high piece is one of an edition of five.

The market for Russian works of art has expanded rapidly as the economy of that country has grown in recent years and Cohen & Cohen from London will bring an armorial plate produced as part of a dinner service for the Russian Empress Catherine the Great.  The porcelain Qianlong piece was made in China in the 18^th century and depicts the Russia imperial double-headed eagle on the breast of which are the arms of Moscow, a red shield with St George slaying the dragon.  The New York-based Russian specialists A La Vieille Russie will be exhibiting a more recent piece of Imperial history, a frame of photographs given by the Grand Duke Michael Michailovitch, a nephew of Tsar Alexander II, to his wife Countess Sophie von Merenberg in 1901 to mark their tenth wedding anniversary.  The Fabergé silver and enamel piece consists of the Roman numeral ‘X’ with a wreath at its center, surrounded by four heart-shaped frames containing photographs of the Grand Duke and the couple’s three children. 

Among the many fine pieces of silver on display will be a liturgical ewer made in Danzig about 1650 with medallions depicting faith, hope and the Last Supper, which will be brought to TEFAF by F. Payer Kunsthandel of Zurich.  Two Dutch silver baskets produced in Amsterdam in 1770-71 are to be shown by Abraham Aardewerk from The Hague.  Jewelry will include a Cartier diamond brooch worn by the late Princess Margaret at the coronation of her sister Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom offered by Hancocks of London and a pair of Van Cleef and Arpels art deco platinum earrings dating from 1922 on the stand of Marjan Sterk from Amsterdam.

 The antiquities section will feature a 2,000 year-old Roman marble sculpture Portrait of a Woman with braided hair to be shown by Jean-David Cahn AG of Basel. Charles Ede of London will display a Greek marble hero relief dating from 4^th century BC Athens while another leading British dealer Rupert Wace will have an exceptional 1^st century AD Roman bronze helmet face mask that may have been part of a cavalry officer’s parade armor.

TEFAF Maastricht and pan Amsterdam, organized by The European Fine Art Foundation, are known for their high quality art and antiques.  Visit : www.tefaf.com/