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NEW ACQUISITIONS EUROPEAN PAINTINGS, WATERCOLORS, DRAWINGS AND SCULPTURE 1730 – 1920 SPRING EXHIBITION May 3 rd through July 1 st, 2011 Exhibition organized by Robert Kashey and David Wojciechowski Catalog by Jennifer S. Brown SHEPHERD & DEROM GALLERIES 58 East 79 th Street New York, N. Y. 10075 Tel: 1 212 861 4050 Fax: 1 212 772 1314 [email protected] www.shepherdgallery.com © Copyright: Robert J. F. Kashey for Shepherd Gallery, Associates, 20 11 COVER ILLUSTRATION: Jean-François Millet, Rape of the Sabines, circa 1844-47 cat. no. 9. GRAPHIC DESIGN: Keith Stout PHOTOGRAPHY: Hisao Oka TECHNICAL NOTES: All measurements are in inches and in centimeters; height precedes width. All drawings and paintings are framed. Prices on request. All works subject to prior sale. SHEPHERD GALLERY SERVICES has framed, matted, and restored all of the objects in this exhibition, if required. The Service Department is open to the public by appointment, Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tel: (212) 744 3392; fax (212) 744 1525; e-mail: [email protected]. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: We are especially grateful to the following for their assistance with individual catalog entries: Gerd Pichler, catalog nos. 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 Dirk Breiding, Assistant Curator, Arms and Amor Department, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, catalog no. 23 Janos Gat, catalog no. 28 Vose Galleries for permitting access to their records, catalog no. 9 Elisabeth Kashey, catalog nos. 18, 29, 31, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 Leanne M. Zalewski, catalog nos. 5, 9, 11, 15, 20, 21, 23, 28, 34, 39 CATALOG 1 SERVANDONI, Giovanni Niccolò 1695 - 1766 Italian-French School RUINS WITH COWS AND FIGURES Gouache on carton. 19 1/16” x 25 1/8” (48.4 x 63.8 cm). viously the sense of spatial depth was only percep - On verso, center top in graphite: M. Dupolan ; in differ - tible to a handful of elite members seated close to ent hand in graphite: Rue des Iinturiers [sic] 19 ; encircled the stage and at center. He was especially lauded at center in graphite: avay 92 / allertes Magnos/Magvos [?] / 1864 (partially encircled). On old framing backboard ver - for his scena par angolo (buildings turned on a so: title page from Plaza Art Gallery, sale October 28-30, forty-five degree angle). He received such critical 1943; pasted at bottom of title page: lot 468, description acclaim for his theatrical designs that when of present gouache. Sold erroneously as Hubert Robert. François Boucher, Servandoni’s assistant who suc - Formerly inscribed and dated at lower right: HR / 1785 . ceeded him as principal painter and designer, was criticized for “not having what . Servandoni pos - Note: Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni’s training as sessed to the highest degree: the science of archi - both architect and painter placed him in a unique tecture and perspective.” (Bouché, p. 132) position to become one of the most prominent Servandoni left the Académie Royale de Musique stage designers in Europe during the mid- to experiment with a new kind of theater. With eighteenth century. The son of an Italian mother singing and ballet forbidden outside the Opera, the and French father, his citizenship is unclear. It has artist began producing pantomime spectacles in been suggested that he was born in a carriage trav - the Salles des Machines in the Tuileries. These eling between the two countries (his father was a “machine plays” placed the spectator in the middle carriage maker and driver), however scholar Bert O. of the drama. Servandoni designed elaborate States asserts unequivocally in his dissertation on panoramic sets with machines that created brightly Servandoni’s scenography that the artist was born colored light shows, shimmering water spouts, bil - in Florence. Servandoni studied with Paolo Pannini lowing clouds, and fireworks amidst ever-changing (1691-1765), whose genius for painting scenes of scenes in which passing boats and flying chariots great space and distance became the foundation of dazzled the audience. These theatrical innovations Servandoni’s own art. Servandoni moved to Rome became widely popular among some of Europe’s where, as a student of Giovanni Giuseppe Rossi, he largest and most important courts, including that mastered the principles of perspective and architec - of August III, who employed Servandoni for two ture. In fact, Servandoni is most remembered today years to design lavish productions in Dresden’s as the architect of the St. Sulpice façade in Paris. magnificent opera house. He was also commis - Servandoni’s talent for depicting vedute ideate or sioned to plan and execute public fêtes celebrating vedute di fantasia (imaginary views with pic - major royal events, such as the marriage of turesque ruins) was recognized soon after his move Madame Élisabeth, eldest daughter of Louis XV, to to Paris when, in 1728, he was appointed principal Philip of Spain, Duke of Parma, son of Philip V, as painter and designer to the Académie Royale de well as a grand celebration of the Peace of Aix-la- Musique . The present work is a perfect example of Chapelle in London’s St. James’ Park. the fantasy landscapes with ancient ruins, similar to J.S.B. those that won him admission to the Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture in 1731. References: Servandoni’s monumental landscapes were well Jeanne Bouché, “Servandoni,” Gazette des Beaux- suited to the mythological stories set in pastoral Arts , 4 th ser., IV (August, 1910): pp. 121-146. environments that were popular in eighteenth- Ellen G. Landau, “‘A Fairytale Circumstance’: The century theater. He was highly sought after by Influence of Stage Design on the Work of royal courts throughout Europe, including Lisbon, François Boucher,” The Bulletin of the Cleveland London, Dresden, Brussels, Vienna, and Stuttgart. Museum of Art , 70, no. 9 (November 1983): pp. Replacing one-point perspective with oblique and 360-378. diagonal arrangements, Servandoni revolutionized Marc Olivier, “Jean-Nicolas Servandoni’s Spectacles theater; he effectively extended the illusion of per - of Nature and Technology,” French Forum , 30, no. spectival space to the broader audience, where pre - 2 (Spring 2005): pp. 31-47. 2 HOOGERS, Hendrik 1747 - 1814 Dutch School ALEXANDER THE GREAT RIDING BUCEPHALUS, 1776 Grey and brown ink wash and graphite on off-white laid Alexander the Great made a bid for Bucephalus, a paper. Watermark at left center: D & CE … (with crown massive horse his father, King Phillip II of and posthorn). 15 1/8” x 18 7/8” (38.4 x 47.9 cm). Brown Macedonia, refused to purchase since many ink border drawn around image. Signed at lower right in believed the beast untamable. The young Alexander brown ink: H. Hoogers fe 1776 . Inscribed inside border along boldly proclaimed he would pay the high sum top in brown ink: Alexander bereid de Búchephaal. requested by the horse dealer only if he was unable Plútarchus in’t leeven van Alex: in’t laatste der 2 de afdeel - to break Bucephalus. Wise and brave beyond his ing en Qúintus Curtiús in de byvoegselen van Freinshemiús s years, Alexander recognized Bucephalus’ fear of his boek 4 cap: van Allexanders [sic] leeven en daaden (Alexan - own shadow; speaking softly to the horse as he der rides Bucephalus. Plutarch in The Life of Alexander; turned the equine to face the sun, the future the end of the second volume of [ Historiae Alexandri Mag - emperor soon mounted and rode him. ni by] Quintus Curtius; in the addenda of Freinshemius’ A common thread connects the biographers cited book, chapter 4 of Alexander’s Life and Works ). Label by Hoogers along the top border of the present draw - printed in black ink on verso of the old mount: REED AND ing: the defeat of tyrannical and oppressive rulers by STEVENSON. INC / 27 East 61st St., New York 21 N.Y. a man of great character. Some biographies, such as Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander (circa 140-150 A.D.), Note: The present drawing is a radical departure provide important accounts of military campaigns from Hendrik Hoogers’ oeuvre , comprised mostly and wartime strategies. Plutarch’s Parallel Lives (96- of landscapes and genre scenes specific to 98 A.D.), Quintus Curtius’ Historiae Alexandri Nijmegen – a town near the eastern border of the Magni (circa 41-54 A.D.), and Johann Freinsheim’s Netherlands that is considered the nation’s oldest Life and Death of Alexander the Great (1673) all city. The legendary episode depicted by Hoogers emphasize Alexander’s noble character – perhaps at may be seen as a commemoration of the American the expense of historical accuracy – as the key factor Revolution, which many Dutch recognized as a in his conquests over emperors he considered potential model for reform in their own country. tyrants. The subject may have had special appeal to When William V of Orange, the Stadtholder of Hoogers around the time of the American the Dutch Republic, was willing to grant British Revolution; like Van der Cappellen, Hoogers was an King George III’s request that a unit of mercenar - outspoken critic of the authoritarian regime of ies in Dutch service – the Scotch Brigade – be Stadtholder William V. deployed in the war with the American Republic, Hoogers was both an artist and a civic leader. A one nobleman successfully lobbied against it: Joan self-trained painter, draughtsman, and printmaker, van der Capellen tot den Pol. Van der Capellen he was awarded the gold medal of the Felix Meritis played a prominent role in the formation of the Society in 1801. Founded on Enlightenment ideals, Batavian Republic (1795-1806). He, like Hoogers, the society promoted the arts and sciences through was a member of the Patriots, a political faction several distinguished departments: Music, Drawing that was inspired by the American Revolution.