This section will be available this Autumn.
Artimo Fine Arts
Émile Jespers (Deurne 1862-1918 Antwerp) Reclining Female Nude on a Wave, circa 1907 Model created in 1907 Carrara marble H 36 x W 70 cm Signed on the base 'E. Jespers' This refined Carrara marble depicts a reclining female nude stretched across a dynamically carved rocky form evocative of a breaking wave. Resting on her forearms, her head gently raised and turned towards the viewer, the figure follows a long, sinuous movement from the shoulders through the waist and hips to the crossed legs. Jespers exploits the contrasting treatment of the marble to reinforce the composition. The smooth, highly polished surface of the female body emerges from the vigorously worked base, whose rougher texture and irregular contours suggest the movement of water. The sweeping silhouette of the figure follows the rhythm of the wave beneath her, closely associating the female body with the natural element. The composition belongs to the Symbolist and Art Nouveau exploration of the relationship between the female figure and nature that developed in Belgian sculpture around the turn of the twentieth century. It may notably be considered in relation to Charles Van der Stappen’s La Mer of 1902, conceived for Victor Horta’s Hôtel Solvay in Brussels, in which the female figure is similarly associated with the imagery of the sea. The plaster model is documented in 1907 through signed and dated versions of the composition, described as a reclining female nude and, more explicitly, as a nude woman reclining on a wave. The present Carrara marble corresponds closely in composition and dimensions to this documented example.
Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art
Manolo Valdés (Valencia, 1944) 'The Cartier', 2008 Oil and mixed media on canvas 188 x 188 cm H 200 x W 200 x D 10 cm (in artist's frame) Signed 'MAVALDES', dated '2008', titled 'The Cartier' and inscribed with measurements on the reverse Acquired directly from the artist's studio
Edouard Simoens Gallery
Pierre Alechinsky Le trou du souffleur , 1997 Signed and dated on the back Acryl and ink on paper laid on canvas 146 x 113 cm 57 1/2 x 44 1/2 in Provenance "Pierre Alechinsky: Olie, acryl, aquarel, ets, litho..." Atelier 22, Schilde 2004 Literature/Press Wordt opgenomen in de oeuvrecatalogus in voorbereiding door de heer Frédéric Charron onder nr. 3216
Galerie Uzal
Jean Delville (Louvain 1867-1953 Forest) La Libération, 1936 Oil on canvas 188.5 x 240.5 cm (framed) Signed and dated Exhibition: Brussels, Salon de la Société des Beaux-Arts-Salon de Printemps 1936 In a letter addressed to the former owner and dated 1 July 1947, Jean Delville described the work as follows: 'Man, in flight, frees himself and escapes towards broader horizons and spaces of freedom, while the forces of evil hold him back in the lower spheres of the world, where the inert mass of beings remains imprisoned by their prejudices, desires, passions and selfishness.'
Caretto & Occhinegro
The Master of Antwerp Adoration (Active in Antwerp first decades of the 16th century) The Annunciation to Saint Anne, circa 1525 Oil on panel 59 x 62 cm Expertise by Peter van den Brink Literature: Van den Brink 1997, pp. 32, 35 note 22, fig. 5; Van den Brink 2007, pp. 168, 175, 179 note 38, fig. 16b; Cécile Scailliérez, in Paris 2017, pp. 84, 86, fig. 32
Galerie Alexis Pentcheff
Carved wooden frame, gilded with gold leaf, fitted with its original mercury glass Spain, 17th century Symmetrical decoration featuring four cherubs, stylised scrolls, acanthus leaves and gemstones at the corners Provenance: Amedeo Montanari collection Literature: Amedeo Montanari and Roberto Lodi, Directory of European frales, editions Galleria Roberto Lodi, 2003, repr. n° 641, p. 323
Dr. Nöth kunsthandel
Armand Guillaumin (Paris 1841-1927 Orly) Les hauteurs de la Sedelle, Crozant, 1910 Pastel on paper 48 x 63 cm Signed lower left Certificate of authenticity from the Comité Guillaumin This pastel will be included in the second volume of the forthcoming catalogue raisonné currently in preparation Provenance: Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Paris (label on the reverse); collection F., Paris
Galerie de la Présidence
Sonia Delaunay (Ukraine, Hradyzk 1885-1979 Paris) Rythme couleur, 1972 Gouache on paper 54.5 x 38 cm Signed lower right Certificate of authenticity issued by Jean-Louis Delaunay and Richard Riss Provenance: private collection, Paris This is one of the preparatory gouaches for the 'Album Les Illuminations', containing 15 stencils, illustrating 9 poems by Arthur Rimbaud
Argento Gallery
Gerard van Honthorst (Utrecht, 1592–1656) and workshop Four portraits of officers, 1637-1639 Oil on canvas 76.5 x 63.7 cm each Each signed and dated: two 1637, one 1638 and one 1639 Provenance: Charles Marsham collection, 4th Earl of Romney, Mote Park; acquired with Mote Park in 1895 by Marcus Samuel, later 1st Viscount Bearsted; by descent to his son, Colonel Walter Horace Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted; Christie’s, London, 13 December 1929, lots 83, 82, 80 and 79; presumably inherited by his sister, Nellie Ionides, born Samuel; by descent in 1968 to her grandson, Toby Jessel, The Old Court House, Hampton Court; Sotheby’s, London, 30 April 2014, lots 725-728; private collection; Christie’s, London, 1 April 2026, lots 30-33 Literature: Upton House. The Bearsted Collection: Pictures, London: The National Trust, 1964, p. 41, n° 137; J.R. Judson and R.E.O. Ekkart, Gerrit van Honthorst, Doornspijk: Davaco, 1999, pp. 315-316, n° 475, 474, 478 and 479 Four unidentified military officers portrayed in armour with differently coloured sashes, each within a painted oval with a sculptural border. Originally belonging to a larger series, the portraits display Honthorst’s characteristic treatment of faces, fabrics and reflected light on metal. The identities of the officers and the original patron remain unknown.
N. Vrouyr
Etablissements veuve Guillon et fils, Belgium Before 1925 Warp and weft, cellulose, pile, wool 460 x 370 cm Numbered at the back Literature: Arthur De Rudder, International exhibition of modern decorative and industrial arts (Paris, 1925): official catalogue of the belgian section Exhibition: International exhibition of modern decorative and industrial arts, Paris, 1925, Belgian Pavilion, gallery of complete interiors, dining room by the Maison Gustave and Edouard Blondel
Galerie des Modernes
Geer Van Velde (Lisse 1898-1977 Cachan) Composition, circa 1950 Oil on canvas 80 x 85 cm Signed lower right with the artist’s initials Certificate of authenticity by Pierre-François Moget To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Geer van Velde currently in preparation by Pierre-François Moget Provenance: the artist’s studio, Cachan; private collection, The Netherlands; private collection, France
Verdini Antiques
Domenico Morelli (Naples, 1823-1901) Cesare Borgia in Capua, 1854 Oil on canvas 131 x 183.5 cm Provenance: Count Tasca d'Almerita of Palermo Literature: Almerinda Di Benedetto, 'The painted history: Domenico Morelli and the Sack of Capua' in Rosanna Cioffi, Ornella Scogliamiglio, MOSAIC, Themes and methods of art and criticism for Gianni Carlo Sciolla, vol. 2, Luciano Editore, 2012 Exhibition: Exhibition of Fine Arts in Palermo, 1856, presented as: Cesare Borgia after the siege of Capua makes women who had taken refuge in a basement of the castle draw It is above all through the letters to his friend Pasquale Villari that we know the various moments of the work that allow the painter Domenico Morelli to complete the painting 'Cesare Borgia in Capua', commissioned by the wealthy German entrepreneur Ettore Giulio Marstaller. On September 26, 1849 Domenico Morelli wrote to Villari that Marstaller had been very interested in a 'drawing sketch representing Cesare Borgia after the capture of Capua who chooses among the women locked up in a tower 40 of the most beautiful and we agreed that he will execute the painting of the same size as the bodies, with torchlight'. The relationship between the painter and the client was somewhat troubled, to the point that Domenico Morelli proposed the painting to another buyer. Completed in the spring of 54, due to Marsteller's death, the painting was sold in January of the following year to Count Tasca d'Almerita of Palermo. In 1856 the painting was thus presented at the Exhibition of Fine Arts in Palermo with the title 'Cesare Borgia after the siege of Capua makes women who had taken refuge in a basement of the castle draw', obtaining enthusiastic judgments to such an extent that in the magazine 'Il Poligrafo' the regret of not being able to grant the Neapolitan painter a diploma of gratitude, as the regulation provided for it only for Sicilian artists. The certain motivations for Morelli's choice of this dramatic historical event are not known, but, as Almerinda Di Benedetto points out, it is shown 'certain, however, that the identification of an event so historically full of meaning, both for the terribleness with which the events took place, and for the very strong symbolic message transmitted by the behavior of the Capuans, strenuous and indomitable defenders of their own land and of the moral and civil values linked to it, appears more than appropriate in an era permeated by deep Risorgimento and patriotic moods'. In relation to the terrible decision of the ruthless Duke Valentino to perpetrate an unprecedented massacre in Capua to the detriment of the helpless population, which came to count a few thousand victims, the professor and researcher Almerinda Di Benedetto recommends the 'very recent publication by Giancarlo Bova, Il sacco di Capua, July 24, 1501, in which the author contributes, with the contribution of unpublished documents, to make greater clarity on the chilling story of the memorable massacre'. As far as the purely pictorial aspect is concerned, in the year 1925 Vittorio Spinazzola would have condensed the description of the work in the following lines: 'the lush canvas, in which all the virtues of his imagination, his brush, the wise research, the sensuality of the forms, the tumultuous yet Latinally contained impetus of the composition were employed, connecting to our Venetian or seventeenth-century Neapolitan tradition, in which the wonderful bottom of battlemented walls and towers glimpsed in a gold dust and the mastery of the groupings, the glimpses, the nudes, would be enough to show how much his mastery of the drawing, the brush, the form would be enough'.
F. Baulme Fine Arts
Godfried Maes (Antwerp, 1649-1700) Ceres Transforming the Old Woman’s Son into a Lizard Black chalk, pen and black ink, grey and brown wash on paper 18 x 24 cm Provenance: Maes’s widow sold to Jacob de Wit before 1717; Jacob de Wit sale, Amsterdam, 10 March 1755, n° 87; Cronenburgh sale, 22 March 1762, n° 1; anonymous sale, Mak van Waay collection, Sotheby’s, 15 January 1974, n° 1273; Dr. A. Dreesmann sale, Christie’s, 11 April 2002, n° 668-670 Related works: Engravings by Bernard Picart and Peter van Gunst for the 1732 edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses translated and annotated by Abbé Banier, a member of the French Academy
