from The Magazine ANTIQUES, November/December 2013 | Fig. 7. Melons and Morning Glories by Peale, 1813. Inscribed “Raphaelle Peale Painted/Philadelphia Septr. 3d. 1813” at lower right. Oil on canvas, 20 ¾ by 25 ¾ inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of Paul Mellon. Not so long ago you could learn how to cook an opossum by consulting The Joy of Cooking. …
On the money
By Laura Beach Yorkshire calendar and almanac Calendar and almanac, probably York or Ripon, Yorkshire, England, c. 1425. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on parchment, each page 6 by 4 1/8 inches. WHY: Priced in the six figures by Les Enluminures of Paris, New York, and Chicago, this calendar and almanac of about 1425, with prognostications in Latin, illustrates the English …
Upcoming auctions
October 22 Prints & Multiples at Bonhams, San Francisco, CA bonhams.com October 24 Fine American and European Painting, Drawings, and Sculpture at Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers, Milford, CT shannons.com October 25 Works of Art, Rarities, and Collectibles, online auctionata.com October 28 Fine European Furniture and Decorative Arts at Bonhams, San Francisco, CA bonhams.com October 30 Old Master through Modern Prints …
New Light on the Old Masters
from The Magazine ANTIQUES, September/October 2013. In its ceremony and its symbolism, the staircase that leads up to the Metropolitan Museum’s galleries of Old Master paintings is one of the grandest theatrical experiences that New York has to offer. There are elevators, of course, and an escalator has been discreetly tucked away on the left. But to use them is …
Life Studies: Edward Hopper’s drawings
from The Magazine ANTIQUES, September/October 2013. The hope of the artist is to resist interpretation. Emerson said that “to be great is to be misunderstood” and, pressed to explain his troubles, Hamlet cried to his interlocutors, “You would pluck out the heart of my mystery.” Among contemporary artists, Jasper Johns has made a creed of reticence, and Edward Hopper was …
Clare Leighton’s
from The Magazine ANTIQUES, January/February 2011 | In 1948 Josiah Wedgwood and Sons commissioned printmaker and author Clare Leighton to make wood engravings for a set of twelve plates depicting New England industries. Leighton was in many ways a perfect choice with strong appeal to audiences in both England and the United States. She had established her reputation in Britain …
Parisian jewelry and American patrons, real and fictional
By SHIRLEY BURY; from The Magazine ANTIQUES, April 1992. The formidable skill of Parisian jewelers in interpreting the work of innovative designers was the prime cause of their international popularity. Although craftsmen elsewhere practiced the late eighteenth-century technique of open-backed, or à jour, setting, which allowed light to refract and reflect through the stones, greatly enhancing their brilliance, the contrast …
The jewelry of René Lalique
By GEOFFREY C. MUNN; from The Magazine ANTIQUES, June 1987. Even if the word genius was used as sparingly as it should be, the late nineteenth- and early twentieth century jeweler René Lalique would always be so described. Rather than a craftsman with a leaning toward the artistic, he was an accomplished artist who chose to express himself primarily in …
John Trumbull’s portrait of Alexander Hamilton
A full-length portrait by the celebrated Revolutionary-era painter John Trumbull of Alexander Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury under President George Washington, has joined the permanent collections of both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, thanks to a gift from the painting’s former owner, the global wealth manager and investment bank Credit Suisse. Each …
Pictures within pictures: Photographs of American folk paintings, 1840-1880
from The Magazine ANTIQUES, September/October 2013. Early photographs of American folk paintings constitute a unique archive of works by both recognized and unknown artists,1 frequently even preserving a visual record of otherwise unknown paintings. A large number of early daguerreotypists practiced this lucrative work at a time when photography afforded Americans their first opportunity to have accurate copies of works …