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13 mars 2010

Old Master drawings exhibited by Katrin Bellinger @ TEFAF

D1_Heemskerck_Susannah

Maarten Van Heemskerck (1498-1574)? The Story of Susannah: as Susannah is led away to be put to death, the boy Daniel denounces his Elders. Traces of black chalk, pen and brown ink, indented with the stylus; 193 x 248 mm

A superb group of Old Master drawings will be shown by Katrin Bellinger on the stand of Bernheimer-Colnaghi at TEFAF, the world’s leading art and antiques fair, which takes place at the Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre (MECC) in the Netherlands from Friday 12 to Sunday 21 March 2010. Stand 306

Celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2010, Colnaghi is renowned for dealing in drawings of the highest quality such as those from Prince Liechtenstein’s Collection, many of which were sold in the late 1940s to the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Under Jim Byam Shaw, the firm also helped to create the great collection of Old Master drawings formed by Count Antoine Seilern, now in The Courtauld Institute of Art. This reputation has been maintained by Katrin Bellinger who became a partner in the venerable firm in 2002 after it was acquired by fellow Munich dealer Konrad Bernheimer. At TEFAF, Katrin will show some twenty drawings, mainly focusing on Dutch, Flemish and German works, most of which come from two private collections and have not been on the market for over 30 years. 

Among the more important is The Story of Susannah: as Susannah is led away to be put to death, the boy Daniel denounces his Elders by Maarten Van Heemskerck (1498-1574). Unseen since the legendary sale of the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatsworth Collection in 1984, this precise and meticulous pen and ink drawing is signed and dated 1562. It is identical in handling and format to the companion sheet Susannah Accused by the Elders which remains at Chatsworth and exemplifies the artist’s Haarlem Mannerist style. (fig. above)

A black chalk and grey wash of a Village Scene with an Open Market is a superb example of the work of Jan Josefsz. Van Goyen (1596-1656), one of the greatest 17th century Dutch landscapists by whom over 800 paintings and some 1,500 drawings survive. Often Van Goyen’s scenes were invented, built up from notes in sketchbooks he used on his travels, so while many drawings depict similar scenes, the compositions are variations on a theme rather than repetitions. This drawing is monogrammed and dated VG 1653. Son of a shoemaker, Van Goyen was born in Leiden in 1596 and moved to The Hague in 1634 where he spent the rest of his career. He died in 1656 in extreme poverty having suffered severe financial losses by speculating in tulips and real estate. (fig. below)

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Jan Josefsz. Van Goyen (1596-1656), Village Scene with an Open Market. Black chalk, grey wash, 205 x 304 mm

Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1681) came from a family of artists, his father and two brothers also painted, and as a draughtsman he is best known for his studies of animals and his black chalk drawings of single figures, such as this fine example of Standing man from the rear. After training in Rotterdam, Cornelis travelled to Antwerp, before moving to Utrecht. By 1637 he had returned to Rotterdam where he became dean of the guild of Saint Luke in 1667. (fig. below)

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Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1681), Standing man from the rear. Black chalk, 296 x 209 mm

A signed and dated watercolour and gouache Study of a Knight and Suit of Armour is by Adolph von Menzel (1815-1905) who was one of the most prominent German artists of the 19th century. Between 1862 and 1865, Menzel used the Garde-du-Corps hall in Berlin’s royal palace as a studio for his large-scale painting of the Coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm I. While the room was virtually empty, some Renaissance arms and armour remained which inspired Menzel’s intriguing series of about twenty watercolours and gouaches. It is thought that Menzel asked fellow artist Fritz Werner to wear the armour. Menzel received many honours in his own country and was also made a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Royal Academy in London. After his death in 1905 his funeral arrangements were directed by the Kaiser who walked behind his coffin. (fig. below)

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Adolph Von Menzel (1815-1905), Study of a knight and suit of armour, 1866. Watercolour and gouache, heightened with white, over pencil, 292 x 224 mm

An earlier German painter, engraver, draughtsman and publisher, Johann Elias Riedinger (1698-1767), is represented by a pen and ink, grey and brown wash drawing, Dog hunting a pheasant in a Cornfield. Born in Ulm in 1698, Riedinger went in 1716 to study in Augsburg where he produced depictions of animals, above all horses and his famous hunting scenes. After 1723 he founded an art publishing house, selling prints that he had designed and engraved, the most popular of which were reprinted well into the 19th century.

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Johann Elias Riedinger (1698-1767), Dog hunting a pheasant in a Cornfield. Pen and ink, grey and brown wash on blue paper, 263 x 264 mm

While Katrin Bellinger celebrates 25 years in the business, Colnaghi, London’s oldest commercial art gallery, celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2010 and continues to provide collectors with some of the finest drawings on the market.

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