Telemaco Signorini - Sketch for 'Straw Weavers at Settignano' [c.1880]

Telemaco Signorini - Sketch for 'Straw Weavers at Settignano' [c.1880], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This small oil sketch is a first idea for a painting in a private collection. It shows a craft worker in Settignano, a village in the hills above Florence. Telemaco Signorini was born in Florence in 1835. He was a key figure in the Macchiaioli – a group of artists centred in Florence who were forerunners of the Impressionists. The Macchiaioli rejected the conventions taught by Italian art academies in favour of an art based on modern life. They worked outdoors in order to capture natural colour and light.

Signorini travelled frequently to London and Paris. He established a wide circle of artistic contacts, including Degas who was a lifelong friend. He was a writer and critic as well as an artist, publishing reviews of exhibitions and articles on art throughout his career. He died in 1901.

[Oil on laminated board, 16.1 x 13.2 cm]

Itō Shinsui - Washing The Hair [1953]

Itō Shinsui - Washing The Hair [1953], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Washing the Hair was published in 1953 to celebrate the artist being made an Intangible Cultural Property in 1952. Shinsui (Fukagawa, Tokyo, February 4, 1898 - May 8, 1972) supervised the printing and a mica ground was used, the usual symbol of a special edition. The figure closely follows the right-hand figure on his painted two-fold screen called Tresses , published in 1949.

[Woodblock print, 49.3 x 35 cm]

Jean Etienne Liotard - Portrait of Maria Adelaide of France in Turkish-style Clothes [1753]

Jean Etienne Liotard - Portrait of Maria Adelaide of France in Turkish-style Clothes [1753], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting entered the Uffizi collection in 1932. An inscription on the back of the painting allows us to identify the subject as Maria Adelaide, daughter of Louis XV and sister of Luisa Elisabetta, Duchess of Parma. Liotard (Venice, 1702 - Venice, 1789), a portrait artist of Swiss origin but trained in France, lived in Constantinople and in Vienna. He often represented his subjects in exotic costumes.

[Oil on canvas, 50 x 56 cm]

Charles Cromwell Ingham - The Flower Girl [1846]

Charles Cromwell Ingham - The Flower Girl [1846], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Flower Girl is a highly unusual subject for Ingham (Dublin, Ireland, 1796 – New York City, 1863), an artist who rarely strayed from portraiture. He may have painted it as a speculative work, or on commission from Jonathan Sturges, who owned the work by the time it appeared on exhibition in the spring of 1847 at the National Academy of Design. Images of street vendors were popular in American and European painting at the time, but more often the subjects were enterprising boys rather than girls. Ingham may well have been familiar with a popular image of the same title by the Spanish painter Esteban Murillo. The setting for Murillo’s picture is virtually identical to Ingham’s and the Spanish flower girl offers her wares with a direct appeal to her viewer, as does Ingham’s American girl. Under her left arm, Ingham's girl carries a magnificent bouquet of flowers that he must have painted from life, but were beyond compare not only in contemporary still life painting but also on the streets of New York. In her right hand, she offers a potted fuchia, the gesture emblematic of the goddess Flora. The plant itself is symbolic of frustrated love.

[Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 72.1 cm]

Ivar Kamke - Nude Models [1918]

Ivar Kamke - Nude Models [1918], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ivar Kamke (1882 - 1936) was a Swedish painter and graphic artist famous for his portraits, landscapes and figures from the Netherlands, Italy and North Africa, rendered in vibrant bright colours and bold brushstrokes. His artistic style was similar to the graphic style of the Swedish artist Anders Leonard Zorn (1860-1920).

[Oil on canvas, 97.5 x 80 cm]

Ivar Kamke - Afternoon Dip

Ivar Kamke - Afternoon Dip, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ivar Kamke (1882 - 1936) was a Swedish painter and printmaker.

[Oil on canvas, 50 x 62 cm]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Maturity [c.1735]

Nicolas Lancret - The Four Ages of Man: Maturity [c.1735], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In the foreground stand two archers, one of whom shoots at an unseen target on top of the pole. Behind them are men and women engaged in amorous pursuits. Such encounters in wooded settings, as shown at left and in the background, had become a popular theme in art, inspired in particular by the paintings of Watteau and prints after them. 

[Oil on canvas, 34.3 x 45.2 cm]