Early on in his artistic training, Merson developed a great taste for colour and mystical compositions. In this case, the subject of his drawing is far from mystical, however. The sheet is focused on the sleeping face of a young adolescent, surrounded by bounteous layers of draped fabric. Hiding part of his face, the folds … Continue reading “Luc Olivier Merson”

This is a very fine impression of the 1st state, called the “black state” to distinguish it from the second. Redon lightened and reworked this extensively, scraping-back and employing liquid tusche on the horse’s wing, probably in 1891, around three years later. Along with the Spider and the Tree, the present composition Pégase Captif is … Continue reading “Odilon Redon”

A rare and unique original plaster cast, served as the preparatory model for the marble medallion depicting Lady Trevelyan still in his original place today, in the central hall of Wallington House. Furthermore, Lady Trevelyan, the woman elegantly portrayed by Munro here, is a key personality of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. She was the wife of … Continue reading “Alexander Munro”

This fascinating and top-end quality engraving after a composition by Titian is not signed in the plate and so would remain the work of an anonymous engraver. However, given the technically highly distinguished, refined printmaking method, it could be argued to assign the engraving to a Nordic artist in Rome, at the time. The author … Continue reading “Attributed to Cornelis Cort”

« Le frontispice du Concile féerique par Vuillard, avec ses deux amants enlacés au sein d’un réseau d’ondes d’allure Jugendstil, est un sommet de sensualité tristanesque et décadente. Le futur peintre des Jardins publics est alors au faîte de son engagement envers l’idéal et son imaginaire symboliste est en crue. »   Such as Guy Cogeval wrote in Vuillard’s catalogue raisonné, this … Continue reading “Edouard Vuillard”

The Double Portrait of the Painter Konrad Eberhard and his Brother Franz is one of the most significant friendships of German Romanticism and Nazarenes. Artistically and technically, Johann Anton Ramboux’s Double Portrait has been described as masterpiece and one of the great accomplishments of the early stage of the lithography. The present sheet is one of … Continue reading “Johann Anton Ramboux”

Stunning pointillist still life by the talented and famous Hendricus Bremmer. In 1906 Bremmer wrote Een inleiding tot het zien van beeldende kunst (An Introduction on How to Look at Art). Between 1903 and 1910 he was the editor of monthly portfolios called Moderne Kunstwerken (Modern Works of Art), each containing nine art reproductions with … Continue reading “Hendricus Petrus Bremmer”

Regarded now as one of the most fascinating landscape painters of the early Belgian scene of 19th century, Gilles-François-Joseph Closson remained almost unknown until the revival of a group of his works at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Liège in the 1980s, and the discovery, in 1994, of an ensemble, in private hands, of canvas … Continue reading “Gilles-François-Joseph Closson”