JAN CROCQ

ACQUIRED BY THE MUSÉE NATIONAL DU MOYEN ÂGE ( PARIS ) - JAN CROCQ (active 1486-1510) - SAINT JAMES THE MINOR

Polychrome limestone
Lorraine
Late 15th Century
H. 42 cm

Flemish sculptor from Antwerp or Bruges, Jan Crocq probably settled in Lorraine around 1486-1487 where he worked for Duke Rene II between Nancy and Bar-le-Duc. He participated in the decoration of the Ducal Palace in Nancy including the library, and was commissioned by the Duke to make the Tomb of Charles the Bold in the church of Saint-Georges de Nancy (executed in 1506-1507 and destroyed in 1742) . Forerunner of the art of the Renaissance in Lorraine, Jan Crocq played a leading role and strongly influenced the artists of the time, in whom we find stylistic elements of Flemish origin.
Crocq's work is poorly documented and his productions are extremely rare. The Saint Catherine of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Coronation of the Virgin at the Musée National du Moyen Âge in Paris, the Saint Jean held at the Lorrain Museum in Nancy, The Virgin of the Litany of the Church of Notre- Lady of Bar-le-Duc, and the Saint Adrien and Saint Roch of the collegiate Saint-Etienne of Bar-le-Duc.
Standing, slightly swayed, our Saint James the Minor wears a robe and a cloak which give it an imposing appearance; the size of the dress with the powerful and wide pleats increases this impression of strong presence. With his head turned to the right, the apostle, with a firm right hand, holds open the book of his Gospel, which is here associated with his confessor status. Finally, in the left hand, he holds the staff, the instrument of his martyrdom.
 
Exceptional in its monumentality and graphic precision, this statue is similar in style to all the works attributed to it in public collections.
In all his sculptures, Jan Crocq, who probably used the same model for his male characters, hardly represents personalities but rather an archetypal face that he systematically repeats with slight variations in the details. The resemblance of the apostle's face to that of Emperor Maximus in the Saint Catherine's group at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is striking: the sculptor paid the same attention to the execution of anatomical details as the exaggeratedly pointed chin.
It can also be noted that, as in all his figures, the stern and striking face of the apostle is framed by the graphical and exaggerated ripples of the beard and the hair, contrasting with the same precision and the same fineness to the modeling of the features. Beyond the conventional aspect, the technical mastery of the sculptor is here prodigious.
 
The discovery of this unrecorded sculpture by Mathieu Sismann and its attribution by Gabriela Sismann in 2007 bring an additional testimony of the work of this sculptor in the service of the Duke of Lorraine specialized in religious commands. 

 

ACQUIRED BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART OF NEW YORK - U.S.A - SAINT PHILIP

SAINT PHILIP
Alabaster, with traces of gilding and polychromy
Made in Meuse Valley, France or Netherlands
Mid XV th Century
Dimensions : Overall (with base): 16 1/8 x 5 7/8 x 3 11/16 in. (41 x 15 x 9.4 cm)
Figure only: 13 1/8 x 5 7/8 x 3 11/16 in. (33.4 x 14.9 x 9.4 cm)
Base: 2 7/8 x 5 5/8 x 3 1/4in. (7.3 x 14.3 x 8.3cm)

PROVENANCE : Robert Lehman Collection
 

ACQUIRED BY FONDATION GANDUR POUR L'ART, GENEVE - IMPORTANT MEDIEVAL FIGURE FROM THE MEDIEVAL LORRAIN SCHOOL

APOSTLE
Limestone with traces of polychromy and gilt
Lorraine 1330 -1340
H. 90 cm
 

ACQUIRED BY THE PALAIS FESCH - Musée des Beaux-Arts ( Ajaccio ) - THE DEPOSITION FROM THE CROSS

THE DEPOSITION FROM THE CROSS
Painting on slate (with it's box)
Roman School Escuela Romana
Inicios del siglo 17
44 cm x 56 cm x 5 cm 
Provenance : Fesch Collection

Domenico Guidi

ACQUIRED BY A FOREIGN PRIVATE COLLECTION - DOMENICO GUIDI (1625-1701) - CRISTO VIVO

CRISTO VIVO
Gilt bronze
Rome
End of the 17 th
Century H. 56 cm


The author of this Cristo vivo, in perfect state of preservation and uniformly covered with an exceptional gilding, is Domenico Guidi (1625-1701), one of the main protagonists of the Roman sculpture of the second half of the 17th century (glued to figure and exponent) century with L'Algarde (1598-1654) and Bernini (1598-1680). Born in Carrara, Guidi organized his own workshop in Rome after working with L'Algarde. He surrounded himself with a team of craftsmen, thanks to whom he worked as fast as his competitors. Thus, Guidi was at the origin of a very large production, destined not only to Rome and the rest of Italy but also to Germany, France and Malta.
He was the main person in charge of the change from the high Roman Baroque to the new language of the late Baroque, an evolution well illustrated by his great relief of the Monte di Pietà chapel in Rome, circa 1670. Neutralizing the dramatic language, relaxing tensions, Domenico Guidi brought a powerful dynamism to the Roman art of the second half of the 17th century.

The discovery of this sculpture by Gabriela and Mathieu Sismann aroused the interest of the Historian Tomaso Montanari who published it in a study in 2009.
Bringing a testimony of the highest interest on the work of Domenico Guidi, this bronze is today the main Cristo Vivo by the artist on the art market.

 

ACQUIRED BY THE MUSEE SAINTE CROIX - POITIERS - FRANCE - ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT FROM THE CHATEAU DE BONNIVET

ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT FROM THE CHATEAU DE BONNIVET
Limestone
France
Early 16th Century

TERILLI FRANCESCO

ACQUIRED BY A PRIVATE FOREIGN COLLECTION - FRANCESCO TERILLI ( ACTIVE BETWEEN 1596 AND 1633/5) - EXCEPTIONAL SIGNED PAIR OF IVORY FIGURES OF MARY AND SAINT JOHN

FRANCESCO TERILLI ( ACTIVE BETWEEN 1596 AND 1633/5) 
EXCEPTIONAL SIGNED PAIR OF IVORY FIGURES OF MARY AND SAINT JOHN 
Northern Italy 
Circa 1600 
H. 18 cm ; H. 18 cm

Native from Feltro in Veneto, Francesco Terilli (known between 1596 and 1633 to 1635 ) was a versatile sculptor of the early Baroque period working wood, bronze and earth. Particularly active in Feltre as in Venice, some of his productions can be seen in the Basilica of San Giovanni and San Paolo and the Chiesa Redentore, on the Island of Giudecca. The treatment of Terilli's figures are characterized by the sculptor's search of contrast between technical sophistication and deep expressiveness. 

There are a very limited number of ivory statuettes signed by Terilli or that can be assigned to him unambiguously such as the two Crucified Christs at the Museo Civico of Feltre and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (No. Inv. S28S2), and the Scourged Christ kept at the Musée du Louvre ( Inv. N° OA3917), all dated towards 1600. Luckily, Francesco Terilli monogrammed some of his ivories "FTF" or "FFF", a common practice in Germanic countries. No such practice occurs in Italy, which partly explains the lack of knowledge of Italian ivories from the 17th and 18th centuries. 

Our two figures, Mary and Saint John, each have a monogram stamped under their base. Saint John is accompanied by the monogram "FFF" ( Francisco Feltrensis Fecit ) and Mary is accompanied by the monogram "FTF" ( Francisco Terilli Fecit ). They belong to the same typology as the pair signed by Francesco Terilli kept at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna ( Inv. N° KK - 4534 and KK - 4536), as our figures share the same quality of execution, plastic density, scale forms and softness of the features. They differ only in a few minor variations. 

The scarcity of existing signed works by Francesco Terilli make the discovery of this pair of ivories all the more important due to its historical and artistic interest. 



 

GUGLIEMO DELLA PORTA

ACQUIRED BY A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION - GUGLIEMO DELLA PORTA ( 1500 - 1577 ) - CHRIST CRUCIFIED

GUGLIEMO DELLA PORTA ( 1500 - 1577 )
CHRIST CRUCIFIED 
Rome
Gilt bronze
Between 1569 and 1577
H. 42cm

PRIVATE COLLECTION - U.S.A - FORMER YVES SAINT LAURENT AND PIERRE BERGE COLLECTION FROM THE CHÂTEAU GABRIEL

PAIRE OF CARYATIDES
Polychrome walnut
Venice Mid 16 th Century
H. 204 cm

These caryatids have been designed to fit into an interior design for the  unique  purpose of decorating the room.
Represented by three quarters, wrapped in drapes and accompanied by garlands of flowers and fruit, both figures lift their arms asymmetrically. Their attitude has been designed according to a common vision and a common point of view, showing that they were intended to remain detached . This makes an  assumption of a destination for a single structure likely because their small bases have limited  surfaces and make it necessary to fix them on a wall due to balance issues. 
Our pair of caryatids truly marks the transition from Mannerism to the Baroque : built on a pattern of contortion and Michelangelesque monumentality, the theatrical mise en scène imposes itself spectacularly.
The Moorish features and the style of these sculptures take us to Venice, a city where sculptors and craftsmen specialized in these great achievements brought to life by a generation working around the fantastic and prolific Andrea Brustolon (1662-1732). The spectacular Altar of souls (1685) in the church of San Floriano in the  municipality of Pieve di Zoldo, is a reference in the matter .
In a general way, and in particular the proportions of the bodies, these two caryatids are comparable to the famous caryatids in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (1665-1670) and those of Pietro Morando  (1662-1672) in the church of San Pietro Martire in Murano. It is also possible to connect them to the typology of the telamons developed by  Giacomo Piazzetta (1640-1705) in the Chapel of the Rosary in San Giovanni e Paolo, dated from the 1680s , or his  Telamons at the  Ca'd'Oro, whose arrangement of the drapery are reflected in ours.
However, the softer contours of the body, the use of gilding and ornamental vocabulary combining geometric and plant motifs, allow earlier dating to the years 1630-1650, a period in which we find these features on the site of the parish church of San Pietro Martire. Another comparison of interest is a frame from Murano carved in 1634 by Francesco Mezzanotte, and now visible in the Old Sacristy of Santa Maria della Salute, in which we can recognize  the same scrolls and garlands of fruit and flowers than in our caryatids.
A second frame decorated with a pair of figures comparable to ours, exhibited at the Civic Museum of Padua, shows these same similarities as well as the extravagance of the attitudes and the combination of dark wood and gilding .

Colin Nouailher

ACQUIRED BY THE MUSEE NATIONAL DE LA RENAISSANCE - ECOUEN - FRANCE - Nouailher Colin (active 1539 - known until 1567) - Pair of enamel plaques depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ

Nouailher Colin (active 1539 - known until 1567)
Pair of enamel plaques depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ
Limoges
Mid 16th century

ACQUIRED BY THE TASSENMUSEUM HENDRIKJE - MUSEUM OF BAGS AND PURSES - AMSTERDAM - NETHERLANDS

CLUTCH BAG
Velvet
Renaisance period