Hungarian Auction House Finds

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I had a few minutes this morning and I did a quick review of Hungarian auctions over the past six months looking for nude and figurative studies. Some are non-nudes but are still worth a second look at technique and composition. Enjoy.

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 Janos Vaszary (1867-1939) Academic Study of a Nude Boy

Laszlo Mednyanszk (1852-1919) Study of a Semi-nude Boy

Gyula Benczur (1844-1920)

Karoly Ferenczy (1862-1912) Three Nude Bathers (Study) 1912

Gabor Moric (1889-1987) Arkadia

Oszkar Glatz (1872-1958) Bujaki  gyerekek - 1922

Hatvany-Ferenc Muterems - Female Nude 1915

Laszlo Hegedus (1870-1911) Family

 

17th Century Italian school - Merkur es Argus

Izsak Perlmutter (1866-1932) Male Nude

 

Gaiger Miklos Jobbagyi (1892-1959) Three Graces

 

Hungarian school 1920

Nandor Viday Brenner (1903-?) Miner

Albert Sschickedanz (1846-1915) Male Nude

 

Venitian school - 17th century - David es Goliat

19th Century (?) Szent Janos

Maria Szantho (1902-1994) Jozsef es Putifarne (1935)

Baroque Ivory Sculpture of the Crucified Christ, circa 1700

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Auktionshaus Michael Zeller, Lindau, DE has recently listed this beautifully executed Baroque ivory sculpture of the crucified Christ, circa 1700. I am amazed at the extraordinary detail in this semi-nude male figure.

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Gerard de Lairesse (1640 or 1641 -1711): Adam & Eve in Paradise with Laughing Snake - Intaglio Print 1680

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Rembrandt's Portrait of the Artist Gerard de Lairesse(Above)(1665-7)

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This morning when I went on eBay Austria I paid a visit to one of my favorite gallery sellers and I bought this beautiful 17th century intaglio print (directly below) by the Dutch painter and art theorist Gerard de Lairesse (1640*41*-1711). I just could not resist owning this beautiful print. I have trained as a painter but I have always been in love with printmaking ever since I bought my first Thomas Hart Benton lithograph in a second hand shop in NYC decades ago and took my first printmaking class at University. If you have been following this blog for any length of time you know how dear the subject of "Adam & Eve" is to my artistic heart. The subject gives an artist the opportunity to depict both the male and female nude in one composition and this one is really superb in its execution (no fig leaves for one thing).

Gerard de Lairesse was active during the Golden Age of Dutch Painting. Graphic arts and painting endeavors were not his only talents. His talents also included music, poetry, and theater. He was probably the most celebrated Dutch painter in the years following the death of Rembrandt. His academic treatises on painting and drawing were highly influential on later 18th century painters. He studied art under his father, Renier Lairesse, and Bertholet Flemalle. Gerard de Lairesse was a disciplined intellectual fiercely believing that only correct theory could produce good artistic results.

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Here is a small sampling of his mature works:

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Late 18th Century French Academy: Male Nude in Pierre Noire

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Self portrait of the artist (Anne-Louis Girodet)in pierre noire (above)

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The sleep of Endymion (1791)(above)

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A seller on eBay France has just listed this male nude study (below) which the seller dates to the 1790-1800 time period. He has made the somewhat bold attribution of the work to Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson (1767-1824), thus justifying the ridiculous asking price. If wishes were horses we would all be riding big white ponies with carefully groomed manes. Girodet was, of course, a pupil of Jacques-Louis David and was noted for his paintings of the Napoleonic family. One of his iconic works is The Sleep of Endymion (1791)(above), which I am sure you all recognize immediately. I will be the first to let you know if the asking price gets a sucker, excuse me, I mean a legitimate buyer. It would take more than an eBay seller's word to support that kind of investment for me, perhaps a signature? Oh well, you can't have everything, or, perhaps if you wish hard enough you can have everything.

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William Mulready (1786-1863); Nude Academic Studies (19th Century Book Plates)

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Portrait of the Artist

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A Seller on one of the European eBay sites has apparently pulled several book plates from a 19th century publication and has listed them for sale. Although not original works, they do illustrate the fine artistic hand of Irish genre painter William Mulready (1786-1863). Mulready is best known for his romanticized paintings of 19th century rural scenes. He was educated in London and was taught painting skills that allowed him to be admitted to the Royal Academy School at the age of fourteen, quite an accomplishment. From around 1808 he started building a reputation as a genre painter of rural scenes. He also illustrated books. With his romanticism his works were very popular during the Victorian era. In 1815 he became an Associate of the Royal Academy.

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Unknown Artist - German School: Standing Male Nude (1880-1900)

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Last night I bought this nicely executed male nude from a seller on eBay Germany. It is unsigned but dates from the 1880-1900 time period. The seller listed it simply as "pencil drawing from life."

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Johann Sperl (1840-1914): Early Academic Nudes

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Portrait of the artist (above)

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A seller on eBay Austria has listed a nicely executed series of early works by the German artist Johann Sperl (1840-1914) at what has to be prices on the "very dear" level. He trained early on as a lithographer and colorist. In the winter of 1858-59 he attended drawing classes at the Nurnberger Kunstgewerbeschule under August von Kreling, a versatile history painter and sculptor. It was during this time that Sperl met the painters Rudolf Hirth du Frenes and Theodor Alt and in 1865 the three artists became members of the Leibl-Circle in Munich. Sperl later became director of the Lithographic Institution in 1863. In the spring of 1865 he joined the painting classes of history painter Hermann Anschutz at the Munich Academy. He also studied under Karl von Piloty, a well known history painter, and in 1866, under Arthur von Ramberg.

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Here is a sampling of his mature genre paintings:

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