Sunday, February 27, 2022

Shaming nature - jeweled bouquets by Jérémie Pauzié, circa 1740s

 

Jérémie Pauzié (sometimes spelled "Posier", which appears to be a re-transliteration back from the Cyrillic: 6 December 1716, Geneva – 30 November 1779, Geneva), Swiss jeweler, artist, and memoirist, best known for his work for the Russian Imperial court and for the Imperial Crown of Russia, which he created in conjunction with court jeweler Georg Friedrich Ekart.


He studied for seven years with Benedict Gravero in Saint Petersburg, but soon the student surpassed the skill of the master. In 1740, under the patronage of Empress Anna Ioannovna, he opened his own small workshop and received the title of the court jeweler. He specialized in setting diamonds and other precious stones; for work with unornamented metals, he hired subcontractors. During the reign of Anna's successor, the Empress Elizabeth, his fame and influence continued to grow, which often put him at odds with  Ekart, the chief court jeweler. Besides his work for the empress, he produced much jewelry for the aristocracy.


The Empress Elizabeth died in 1761, and after disposing of her inconvenient husband, Catherine the Great ascended the throne the following year. For her coronation - rushed to gloss over her usurping of power - both of the rival jewelers were entrusted with the making of a new Imperial Crown, the creation of which proved contentious. Pauzié's artistry prevailed, though, and the massive crown was a great success in spite of everything and was subsequently worn at every coronation until the fall of the empire. Having survived the Soviet sales of Romanov treasure, the crown remains today on display in the Moscow Kremlin Armoury Museum.


Pauzié left Saint Petersburg in 1764 and returned to Switzerland. In 1770 he once again settled in the place of his birth where he died nine years later. His "Memoirs of a Court Jeweler" were published in Russia in 1870.

Portrait of Pauzié by an unknown artist, 1762.





Friday, February 25, 2022

New work and first solo show at TEW Galleries in Atlanta

 
Expectant (brown-headed nuthatch) - acrylic on panel - 8x8 - 2022.

I was very excited to be invited to participate in a group show at TEW Galleries in Atlanta in January of 2020. Our last pre-Covid adventure, Gigi and I flew out for the opening. It was our first time in Atlanta, and everyone there was so incredibly welcoming and kind to us. I've been happy to send them new work since then. Today sees the opening of my first solo show there, running through March 25th. These are the fifteen pieces - ranging from six by six inches to sixteen by sixteen - that are showing:

Gift (tufted capuchin) - acrylic on panel - 10x10 - 2022.
Pinch (cherry headed conure) - acrylic on panel - 8x8 - 2022.
Rewards (American red squirrel) - acrylic on panel - 10x10 - 2022.
Salvage (little blue heron) - acrylic on panel - 16x16 - 2022.
Dash (boat-tailed grackle) - acrylic on panel - 10x10 - 2022.
Focus (peregrine falcon) - acrylic on panel - 8x8 - 2022.
Encounter (house mouse) - acrylic on panel - 6x6 - 2022.
Tuft - acrylic on panel - 8x8 - 2021.
Mouthpiece - acrylic on panel - 10x10 - 2021.
Seed - acrylic on panel - 8x8 - 2021.
Mislaid (eastern cottontail) - acrylic on panel - 12x12 - 2022.
Scrutiny (eastern bluebird) - acrylic on panel - 8x8 - 2022.
Competition (summer tanager) - acrylic on panel - 8x8 - 2022.
Youth (mule deer) - acrylic on panel - 16x16 - 2022.





Sunday, February 20, 2022

La délicieuse simplicité de la perfection - ball gown, Maison Worth, circa 1900



ROBE de BAL en satin duchesse champagne, important décolleté sur poitrine pigeonnante drapée ornée de tulle et de dentelle mécanique à la couleur, manches papillon, corsage muni d'un bustier baleiné lacé sous fermeture agrafes dans le dos, jupe à lés formant longue traîne, griffe ivoire tissée gris - (lacet intérieur non d'origine) - Maison WORTH n° 79288, vers 1900


BALL GOWN in champagne-colored duchess satin, deep neckline with a draped and accentuated bustline adorned with tulle and tinted machine lace, "butterfly" sleeves, bodice with an incorporated laced whalebone bustier beneath a hook-and-eye back fastening, paneled skirt forming a long train, ivory label with gray woven signature - (inner lacing is not original) - House of WORTH n° 79288, circa 1900


This magnificent gown sold at auction in Paris in June of 2012 for 21,270 € - over $24,000.00.





Friday, February 18, 2022

Zwei junge Männer - two portraits by Georg Pencz


Portrait of a Young Man Aged Eighteen, circa 1544.
Portrait of a Man Aged Twenty-eight, 1549.

*

Georg Pencz (c. 1500 – 11 October 1550), German painter and engraver. Probably born in Westheim, he travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 where he joined the atelier of Albrecht Dürer. Like Dürer, he visited Italy and was profoundly influenced by Venetian art. In 1525, he was imprisoned with the brothers Barthel Beham and Hans Sebald Beham, the so-called "godless painters", for spreading the radical views of Thomas Müntzer. The three were pardoned shortly afterwards and became part of the group known as the "Little Masters" because of their tiny, intricate, and influential prints. Influenced by works he had seen in Italy, he also painted a number of trompe-l'œil ceilings in the houses of patrician families. Around 1539, he briefly returned to Italy, visiting Rome before returning to Nuremberg, where he became the city painter and earned his greatest success as a portraitist. In 1550, he was named court painter by Albrecht, Duke of Prussia, but died in Leipzig before arriving at the court.




Sunday, February 13, 2022

Randomly XXIII


Monsieur de Buissy, by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, circa 1780.
 Kiosk – Stone Island (editorial), by James Pearson-Howes, contemporary.
 Le salon vert de Cécile Sorel quai Voltaire, by Paul Thomas, reproduced in L'illustration, 1926.
Atelier Mannasé, circa 1920s.
Bronze and silver figure, Roman, 1st-3rd Century AD.
Edwina Booth, circa late 1920s.
Portrait of an Elderly Lady, circle of David, circa 1820.
Aftenlandskab (evening landscape), by Julius Paulsen, 1901.
Countess Kitty von Schönborn-Buchheim, future Baroness de Rothschild, Atelier d'Ora, circa 1916.
Portrait said to be of Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese and former Duchess of Guastalla, by Louis-Benjamin-Marie Devouges, 1811.
Gertrude Lawrence, by Bertram Park, 1928.
 Alexis Champagne, by Auguste Flandrin, 1842.
Table attributed to Charles Topino, circa 1780s. (The two back feet, visible elsewhere, are missing in this photograph.)
Dama a caballo (lady on horseback), by José Campeche y Jordán, 1785.
"John Hosea, football (Gridiron) player for Texas Wesleyan College, working out on rowing machine at YMCA Fort Worth", 1938.
Lo Psiconauta (The Psychonaut), by Agostino Arrivabene, 2007.
Woman and child, by Toshikata Mizuno 水野年方, 1892.
Madame Hamon des Roches de Bournay, by Antoine Vestier, 1786.
Kitty Carlisle, circa 1934-35.
 "Men dressed for dancing", Tahiti, 1887.
David & Saul, Flemish School, circa second half of the nineteenth century.
Portrait d'une élégante dame ("Portrait de Mme A. B."), by Camille-Joseph-Étienne Roqueplan, circa 1836.
Peter Lorre, circa early 1930s.
Young man, possibly a member of the Strozzi family, by Jacopo Chimenti, called Jacopo da Empoli, circa 1593. 
Pelt Merchant of Cairo, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1869.
Unknown young woman, by Thomas Martin Easterly, circa early 1850s.
Courtesy Stephen Rutledge.
Nude study, by Pelle Swedlund, 1890.
1911.
 Ringende Jünglinge (wrestling youths), by Max Bernuth, 1913.
Alan Ford, by Bernard Hoffman for Life Magazine, circa 1945.
Mort pour la patrie (death for the fatherland), by Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ, 1892.
Portrait of a Young Gentleman in Rome, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, 1790.
 Handyman (study), by R.H. Ives Gammell 1938.
The Victorious Samson, by Guido Reni, 1614-16.
 "Bob Malone, 2816 Purington, tries to choose a new hat to wear on felt hat day Friday. He favors the soft sage green felt he is wearing....", Ft. Worth, 1941.
Madame Barbier-Walbonne, by Alexandre Kucharsky, circa 1808-10.
Nude study, by Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, 1877.
Maria Walpole, Duchess of Gloucester, by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, circa 1766-69.
Anonymous self-portrait. Courtesy Stephen Rutledge. 
Portrait of a Lady in a Red Dress, attributed to Gabriël Metsu, circa 1660.
Male Figure Study, circle of William Mulready, circa first half of the nineteenth century .
Henriette Grevedon, by François Gabriel Guillaume Lépaulle, circa 1830s.
Man in Theater Seat, by Paul Citroen, 1932.