Carlton Hobbs LLC   This painting, by the French artist Adolphe Demange, depicts the Duchess d’Uzès working on a monumental sculpture of Joan of Arc in the workshop of her mentor, the painter and sculptor Jean-Alexandre-Josef Falguière. Demange (1857- after 1927) was a portraitist who was inducted into the Society of French Artists after 1901, and appeared in the Society’s expositions between 1896 and 1926. He signed the painting at the upper right: “To the valiant artist-sculptor Mme La Duchesse d’Uzès, tribute of the painter A.D. Demange.” Detail of signature   Born 10 February 1847 in Paris, Marie Adrienne Anne Victurnienne Clémentine de Rochechouart de Mortemart was the daughter of Louis de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Count of Mortemart, and Marie-Clementine Chevigne; and the great-granddaughter of Madame Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, the famed “Grand Dame of Champagne,” also called “Veuve Cliquot” (Widow Cliquot), proprietress of the eponymous champagne house. Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart became the Duchess d’Uzès in 1872, upon her marriage to Emmanuel de Crussol Uzès (1840-1878), Duke of Crussol and 12th Duke of Uzès. The Duchess d’Uzès was an immensely wealthy, talented and independent woman who was, “by turns, a sportswoman, an author, an artist, a sculptor, a chauffeuse, a ministering angel to the poor, a grande mondaine, and an industrious mother.” She was greatly involved in Parisian social life and humanitarian efforts, for which she had numerous charities. The Duchess was also concerned with the politics of France, including feminist and suffragist causes. Her leisurely pursuits encompassed a broad range of interests. Sadly, she was well known for her taste for sport hunting, in which she led the premier hunt, the Rallye Bonnelles, in the Rambouillet forest from the 1880s until her death in 1933. As an automobile enthusiast, she became the first woman in France to receive her driver’s license in 1898, and the first person to be issued a speeding ticket the following year for driving in the Bois de Boulogne at 15 km/h,3 rather than the statutory 12 km/h limit. The Duchess preparing to pass her driving exam.   The Duchess’ artistic talents included writing, painting and sculpture. As an author the Duchess published poems, plays, novels and histories beginning in 1890. In her artistic career she sculpted under the pseudonym “Manuela.” She took part in the expositions of the Société des Artistes Français where she received an honorable mention in the Salon of 1887, and she was president of the Union of Female Painters. Her notable works include three sculptures of Diana, Émile Augier (Valence), Nicolas Gilbert (Fontenoy-le-Château), Notre-Dame-de-France (Sainte-Clotilde church, Reims),  Saint-Hubert (Montmartre basilica) and the statue of Jeanne d’Arc at Mehun-sur-Yèvre—the same sculpture the Duchess is depicted completing in the present painting. The Duchess’ clay sculpture of Joan of Arc served as the model for a cast iron and bronze statue which stood in the Place du Château at Mehun-sur-Yèvre (figure 1). Mehun-sur-Yèvre is a small town in central France through which Joan of Arc passed in late October of 1429, where she stayed with the king’s surgeon, Renaud Thierry. There she participated in King Charles VII’s council and on December 29, 1429 he provided her with letters of nobility. In the Spring of 1430 Joan left Mehun-sur-Yèvre to pursue other battles. The Duchess' sculpture of Jeanne d'Arc, in situ in the Place du Château at Mehun-sur-Yèvre. The statue was commissioned in 1896 by a town committee, the head of which was the mayor, Dr. Camille Meraut. He asked several artists to produce models of Joan of Arc, and it was the Duchess d’Uzès’ sculpture that won. She executed the sculpture in the workshop of Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière (1831-1900), viewed as one of the founders of realism in French sculpture. The statue of Joan of Arc was ceremoniously unveiled on June 30, 1091 in the presence of dignitaries, including the Russian ambassador, and was visited by future artists on their tours of France. The statue stood in the square beside the ruins of Charles VII’s castle until it was destroyed by German troops in 1944.

A few weeks ago we posted about an interesting painting whose mystery was slowly being uncovered. We now have another exciting piece of information to share about the family depicted.

We now know that the group within a neoclassical interior almost certainly depicts the apothecary Konrad Göschl and his wife Franziska, possibly with their children. It was painted by the artist Clemens Johann Evangelist della Croce (1782-1824), active in Burghausen, Bavaria in the 19th century. In the present painting, Konrad Göschl is the central figure, depicted handing a document inscribed “Burghausen” to a young man. Konrad was an apothecary in Burghausen, and a senior lieutenant of the Prussian Landwehr who received the royal Prussian order of merit, the highest form of decoration, for his service against the armies of Napoleon in 1814. He also received an additional “Bavarian” award in 1815 for civil service, and wears this medal on his lapel in the present painting. His wife Franziska is seated at the table, knitting. The young girl standing to her left was clearly not painted at the same time as the other figures, or was altered at a later date, as evidenced by her unusual pallor and the fact that her dress covers an original signature on the lower left of the canvas. Figure 1 The director of the Burghausen city archive and municipal museum brought to our attention a pair of recently-acquired portraits of Konrad Göschl and Franziska, also painted by Clemens della Croce painted in 1815 (figure 1), which strongly supports the attribution of the present painting.  In his portrait Konrad is again depicted wearing his civilian service medal.

This painting of a group within a neoclassical interior has been in Carlton Hobbs’ personal collection for nearly 26 years and has remained a mystery. Until now…

The group may be a family, though that is not certain. The young girl on the left was clearly not painted at the same time as the other figures, based on her unusual pallor and the fact that her dress covers an original signature on the lower left of the canvas. One important hint was the document which the older gentleman is handing to the young man is inscribed “Burghausen.” A curator from the Metropolitan Museum informed us that it is a town in Bavaria. Armed with this clue, we began contacting institutions in the region.

It was suggested to us by the curator of Burghausen castle, that the artist could have been Johann Nepomuk della Croce or one of his sons, Anton and Clemens Johann Evangelist, who were active in the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. Johann della Croce was an Austrian painter born in Tyrol. He worked in Italy, Germany, England and France before settling in Burghausen. His prolific oeuvre included roughly 5,000 portraits including the well-known painting of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with this sister and father. After receiving this information we took a second look at the signature (which at first seemed mostly illegible) and–voila! We could see that the signature of our painting clearly reads: Clemens de la Croce / pinxit 1816. Clemens della Croce (1783-1824) was the 16th son of Johann Nepomuk and took over his father’s workshop upon Johann’s death. He also worked as an art teacher in Burghausen and his paintings, done in the baroque-classical style of his father, include frescoes, portraits and altarpieces.

While it has been confirmed that the painting does not depict a room of the castle of Burghausen, it is likely to be a Burghausen interior. The director of the city archive and municipal museum in Burghausen has told us that she believes she has seen other portraits of the same couple depicted in our painting. We anxiously await the results of her search, and can’t wait to share them with you!

Possibly Brazilian School. First half of the eighteenth century. Oil on canvas.

Height: 41″ (104 cm); Width: 32 1/2″ (81.5 cm). 9897 The painting belongs to a small, but increasingly examined, body of works in which black subjects are depicted in all manner of roles, from subservient to scholarly. While the representation of blacks following intellectual pursuits is rare, it is not unheard of, as seen in the portrait Francis Williams, the Negro Scholar of Jamaica circa 1740, in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The son of wealthy former slaves, Williams enjoyed a European lifestyle and the opportunity to pursue poetry and mathematics. In his portrait, Williams is depicted in his study with the Jamaican city of Spanish Town in the distance. While the subject of the present painting also appears to enjoy some level of luxury, the context is more ambiguous. Although the figure of this black artist appears to be wearing a dress, it is likely to be a male figure. As the scholar Sheldon Cheek explains, the artist wears an earring and a silver collar, both common articles worn by black male servants/slaves in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, the collar traditionally indicating slave status. Women rarely, if ever, wore the silver collar. The artist also appears to be wearing a silver “shackle” on the arm. An argument in favor of the slave/servant status of this black figure would be the style of dress. The cut-work shoulders and other features of the clothing do not seem typical of the 18th century, and could reflect the often fanciful kinds of costumes worn by slaves of the wealthy during this period. Usually, black male figures appear in portraits of this period in attendance to their masters, serving as status symbols. The figures are usually engaged in established, common activities such as holding a bowl of fruit or some article of the sitter’s clothing. In the case of this painting, however, this relationship is indicated in a unique and far less subservient manner. The origin of the painting is as yet uncertain, however, strong clues exist as witnessed in the urban landscape seen through the window in the painting. According to the scholar Bentley Angliss, tiled roofs of this lively and distinctive reddish-pink color are specific to Portugal and colonial Brazil, which was under Portuguese rule until 1822. The architecture is  reminiscent of that found in the Brazilian northeastern coastal city of Ceará, settled as a fief of the Portuguese crown whose economy in the 18th century centered on sugar plantations worked by black slaves, and the mining towns of Minas Gerais, such as Ouro Preto, where slave labor was employed during the gold rush and whose magnificent Baroque architecture is well-preserved even today. The slave population in Brazil was the largest in the world, spanning four centuries. In the 1600s, when native Americans were no longer considered a viable labor force due to large numbers of deaths from abuse and disease, the Portuguese began importing black Africans to support their mining and sugarcane ventures, and to work on their large estates. Slaves were owned by the upper and middle classes, however they were also owned by the poor as well as other slaves. Although abolished in Portugal in 1761, it was not until 1881 that Brazil enacted it’s final abolition, the last country in the Western World to do so. Despite this prolonged injustice, slaves in Brazil experienced a less severe lifestyle than those in other parts of the world. Religion played a large role in the treatment of slaves there. Christianization was required and groups of slaves were baptized en masse, and slaves that worked on plantations owned by religious orders were given unusually fair treatment. Working conditions and hours do not appear to have been as harsh for the Brazilian slave, who was often given a portion of the day to tend to his own land. In addition, along with Sundays and Christmas, Brazilian slaves were given approximately thirty additional holidays throughout the year.

It’s Women’s History Month, and we have a very interesting painting of two ladies to share with you!

The painting depicts a black female artist completing a portrait of a well-to-do European lady.  Black female images are extremely uncommon in 18th century art, which begs the question as to whether the picture may be an actual self-portrait, as opposed to a playful fantasy. An eminent painting conservator in NYC has inspected the painting and confirmed that it was painted in the early 18th century, however, it is unclear as to where it was executed.

Interestingly, while we are certain the painting itself dates from the 18th century, the artist is clothed in a dress dating two centuries earlier. Garments with slashed sleeves were typically worn in the 16th century, popular in Italy and Spain. An example of this can be seen in a portrait of a Mother and Son by the female Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532 – 1625). Painting of a Mother and Son by Sofonisba Anguissola A further point of note is that the black artist appears to be fettered with a metal collar around her neck and band around her arm, suggesting that she is or was a victim of slavery.

As you can see, there are many curious aspects to the painting that we are currently researching, and we are happy to hear any thoughts and opinions you’d like to share!

Framed Watercolors Depicting Civil Engineering Projects

French. Circa 1750.

Each within a crossbanded sycamore veneered frame and pink wash mounts. The watercolors variously depicting bridges, sluices, mills, dykes, excavating machines, etc.  Inscribed extensively including the Bridges,  Pont Du Mas, Pont De Cleroye, Pont De Marcny, and Pont Coutard.

Measurements: Of Various Sizes

La Toilette. Turkish School, 18th century. Carlton Hobbs LLC.

“La toilette,” a term first used in the 16th century, describes “the process by which aristocrats prepared themselves every morning to face the world.”1 It was a long and complex exercise, which could be estimated to last at three hours from start to finish, and included the preparation of the skin, makeup, perfume and coiffure. In the 18th century the toilette evolved from a dressing procedure to an all-out ceremony or performance. “The most stylish citizens of Versailles adored showing themselves off while they were in the process of being dressed.”2 The term is also applied to furniture of the boudoir such; a dressing table, such as the one below, and all appurtenances are also considered the toilette or table de toilette. French dressing table, circa 1765-70 by Jacques Bircklé. Victoria &Albert Museum.

The 18th century Turkish school painting above, entitled “La Toilette,” is a recent addition to the Carlton Hobbs collection. It belongs to a long history of paintings illustrating this grooming ritual. Below are five other examples of women at their toilette, which span the 16th through the 20th century. Vénus à sa Toilette. Titien, 1555.

Die eitle Alte (Vain Old Woman). Bernardo Strozzi, c. 1625.

La Toilette. François Boucher, 1742.

La Toilette. Eva Gonzalès, 1879. Femme à la Toilette. Pablo Picasso, 1906.

Footnotes: 1.DeJean, Joan E. The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour. New York: Free Press, 2005. 251. 2. Ibid. 252.

This alchemical painting of an open hand dates back to 1633 according to one of the many inscriptions on the canvas.  Measuring 49 inches high, 28 inches wide, this intriguing painting containings multiple cryptic Latin phrases and is of uncertain origin. According to Dr. George Szabo, former director of the Lehman collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,  the painting is probably a unique example of an instructive work of art that may have adorned the study of a Late Renaissance patron with a strong bent to the philosophic or scientific. The lettering and numerals, being highly accomplished ,leads one to believe that it probably was painted in one of the leading Italian centers with a strong tradition of calligraphy. The hand is pictured with a cuff at the wrist, meaning it is most likely secular, as the hand of God would not be clothed. The Latin phrase positioned at the bottom of the piece: “Omnia in mensum numo et ponderi disposuisti Sap. Cap 11.” is a quote from Wisdom 11: “You  arranged them all according to their weight and number”, which was famously to be taken up as a motto by Sir Isaac Newton. Also noted is the deliberate punning found within the language which was a didactic device used at the time.  The Latin phrase “Ancipit. a .B. anna 1633.” translates; “this painting was begun in ‘B’ in 1633″ lending the extraordinary image an even greater sense of mystery. The image of the hand formed part of the complex symbolic vocabulary of seventeenth century alchemical illustration. The true meanings of such “Hermetick Emblems” were known only to the initiated. Though it resembles various images of hands from the same period, such as those in Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis and in Agrippa von Nettesheim’s De occulta philosophia, such hands usually bear planetary symbols. We are still looking into what the word and number combinations on our painting mean, and would love you hear your ideas! A special thanks to Dr. George Szabo and Clare Gibson for their input.

This set of eight large watercolors of World War I Airplanes was painted by Riccardo Caviglioli (1895 -1975), an Italian aviator and painter born in Milan. Caviglioli received multiple decorations during World War I, and during his lifetime worked as an aeronautical writer, designer and illustrator for advertising campaigns. Additionally, he wrote a book entitled Austrian-Hungary Aviation on the Italian Front between 1915 and 1918 published in 1930.

Caviglioli’s aviation watercolors were first presented at the Torino Exposition in 1928. His designs represent true historic reconstructions of a glorious past, and through his artistic style he was able to depict the impression of flight, glides, turns and takeoffs.

Caviglioli offered an important contribution to the development of Italian aeronautics, carefully recording the advances of technology during this time of mechanical transformation. His works depict a fundamental knowledge and precise technical description of aircraft during World War I and “contain the duel movement of the airplane and the hand of the painter, who moves the brush…”

Among the German, Italian and Austro-Hungarian aircraft illustrated are the Albatros D III, a biplane fighter aircraft; the Gotha GIV, a heavy bomber; the Aero da Caccia, used for in-flight fighting; the Junkers J7, an all-metal monoplane; and the Macchi M 316, an Italian biplane flying boat (or aquatic plane).

These fantastic watercolors will be exhibited in the Carlton Hobbs booth at the Los Angeles Antiques Show, April 22-25, 2010. If you’re in town, be sure to stop by and check them out first hand!

You might remember our Halloween blog, “Trick or Treat,” in which we focused on a number of artworks that feature skeletons. The last work we mentioned was full of quotes and symbolism, and we’re back to tell you a bit more about this curious picture. This engraving is titled Life and Death Contrasted, or, An Essay on Woman. It belongs to the genre of symbolic still life painting known as Vanitas (Latin for “vanity”) intended to remind us of our own mortality and the transience of earthly possessions and vices. Like Memento Mori painting (from the Latin “Remember you will die”), the most popular symbols found in these works are skeletons or skulls, but they may also include symbols of vanity (such as mirrors and musical instruments), expressing the emptiness and worthless nature of worldly goods.

Here a lady is depicted in two halves, shown both in life and in death. On the left she is represented in elaborate aristocratic costume, standing in a garden and surrounded by her earthly pleasures and holding a fan. The superficial trappings of a life of leisure and gambling lay at her feet, including playing cards, books and papers instructing on gaming and masquerade. On the right we see only her skeleton  standing within a cemetery with worms coiling around a skull and bone at her foot.  She holds an arrow in her hands, used to symbolize death. The arrow is sometimes also used to represent disease, specifically the Plague.

Beside the skeleton stands an obelisk inscribed with proverbs, bible verses and sermon excerpts decrying worldly pursuits and reminding us, and women in particular, that “she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth” (1 Timothy 5:6) and that they should be wary of their mortal pursuits while striving toward heavenly salvation.Other phrases contained on the obelisk come from the “Gravedigger Scene” of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (5.1): “Now get you to my lady’s table and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this complexion she must come at last.” Another author represented is the Reverend James Hervey (1714-1758), and Anglican Divine and zealous writer, whose oeuvre influenced the work of artists like William Blake. The excerpt on the obelisk comes from his 1746 volume Meditations Among the Tombs: “One night, Corinna was all gaiety in her spirits, all finery in her apparel, at a magnificent ball. The next night, she lay pale and stiff, an extended corpse, and ready to be mingled with the mouldering dead.” Perhaps something to reflect upon at the beginning of this New Year…

Melchior de Hondecoeter (1636-1695) A Pelican, a Crested Crane and Other Birds in a Park. Oil on canvas. Labelled on back Pce Poniatowski, no. 911. Melchior de Hondecoeter (1636-1695) Provenance: Prince Poniatowski Measurements: Unframed: 66″ x 70 3/4″ (168 x 180 cm). Framed: 69 3/4″ x 74 1/2″ (177 x 189 cm).

Jan Wyck (1640-1702) Portrait of an Arab Charger before Battle. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated ‘London 1686′. Jan Wyck Measurements: Unframed: 47 1/2″ x 491/2″ (121 cm x 126 cm). Framed: 58 1/2″ x 60″ (149 cm x 152 cm).

PAIR OF PANORAMIC VIEWS OF LONDON ATTRIBUTED TO H.W. BREWER English. Circa 1895. Provenance: Julia Overing Beals, Massachussets. The pair of paintings Measurements: Height: 60 1/4″ (153 cm); Width: 100″ (254 cm).

PAINTING OF VIEW OF CHATHAM DOCKS ON THE MEDWAY BY ELIAS MARTIN Circa 1775. View of Chatham Docks on the Medway Measurements: 94 1/2″ (238 cm) by 58″ (147 cm).

LION AND TIGER AND TIGRESS WITH HER CUBS AND A CROCODILE BY PAUL DE VOS Flemish. 17th century. Paintings Measurements: 66 1/2″ (169 cm) by 48″ (122 cm).

PORTRAIT OF A LADY, BY JULES CHARLES AVIAT Paris. Circa 1890. Marks: Signed, lower right. Portrait of a Lady Measurements: 71″ (180 cm) by 53″ (135 cm).

Painting of Vestal by Pietro Saja, now in the Palazzo Reale, Caserta. Pictured in "Civiltà dell'Ottocento: Le Arti Figurative."   We have just discovered a painting very similar to one of our own, in the book Civiltà dell’Ottocento: Le Arti Figurative. This painting by Pietro Saja (1779-1833) depicting a  Vestal condemned to death for breaking her vow of chastity, apparently won the artist great praise and recognition when he presented it in Rome in 1803: within a month Saja was invited to join the prestigious Academy of Saint Luke. The neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova, another member of the Academy, wrote to a friend to “make many praises of [Saja]… assuring me that he is a youth of highest ability… and that he is going to make great profit and progress.” 1     This painting by Saja, which is now in the Palazzo Reale in Caserta, appears to be about contemporary to the one  Painting of Vestal in the collection of Carlton Hobbs. in the Carlton Hobbs collection. The paintings share the same subject, composition and lighting, with a only few small differences. These include the Vestal’s veil (which falls in front of her face in the Palazzo Reale painting but not in the Carlton Hobbs painting), the placement of the drapery and the shape of the bed, and the positions of the vases. The Palazzo Reale painting shows a small vase at the edge of the window sill and a large vase at the foot of the bed. In the Carlton Hobbs painting the large vase is near the head of the bed, and the small vase seems to be farther back on the window sill, almost entirely out of sight, though its shadow is visible on the wall.   We are going to look into getting into more information on the two paintings, starting with a full translation of the entry in Civilità dell’Ottocento. Keep checking in for updates!   Footnotes: 1. Cassani, Silvia, ed. Civiltà dell’Ottocento: Le Arti Figurative. Naples: Electa Napoli, 1997. 433, Fig. 17.1.

The present pair of oval paintings represent the mythological figures of Hercules and Cronos. The composition of the paintings is closely related to the forms of antique sculpture, here given greater animation and a baroque sense of drama. Hercules is shown at the height of his powers with a massive, bulky presence and the closely trimmed beard of a young man. He is often depicted in a similar pose, astride the Nemean lion, whose slaying was the first of his twelve labors. The second painting depicts Cronos or Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture who, in his Greek manifestation, features in the myth of creation and came to be associated with Time. He is always shown as an aged man, with a long beard and without the strident virility of the younger Hercules. As the deity of agriculture and of time, he rests on a scythe with a snake consuming itself, an ancient symbol of eternity, hanging from the withered branch on which he leans.

Watercolors on paper depict the following aircraft:

Albatros D III: Height 21.7" (55 cm); Width 26.8" (68 cm). Aereo de Caccia: Height 39.4" (100 cm); Width 29.9" (76 cm). AV Berg D I e Fiat R 2: Height 29.9" (76 cm); Width 39.4" (100 cm). Brandenburg A; Height 35.4" (90 cm); Width 28.3" (72 cm). Gotha G IV: Height 29.1" (74 cm); Width 41.3" (105 cm). Junkers J 7: Height 41.7" (106 cm); Width 29.5" (75 cm). Macchi M 316; Height 25.6" (65 cm); Width 38.6" (98 cm). SIA 7 B 2: Height 21.7" (55 cm); Width 30.7" (78 cm).

Of tempera on wooden board. Provenance: Galleria d'Arte Galatea, Torino.