Blog

Some might nominate Manet, drawing crowds right now at the Royal Academy, for that historic role. There’s no doubt that Manet’s realism had incendiary effects on 19th-century French art. Yet years of looking at his paintings – searching for the reason he is seen as so much more radical than, say, Monet – have left me unconvinced. Instead, the artist who strikes me as the true father of modern art is a painter who began by emulating Manet then struck out in his own deeply subversive direction: Paul Cézanne.Cézanne was doing the same thing more than a century ago. I look at his paintings and see the seeds of everything artists have attempted since – right up to Arcangel’s Colors. Consider Cézanne’s painting Hillside in Provence, painted between 1890 and 1892, which hangs in London’s National Gallery. A (very) rapid glance might tell you this is a tranquil picture of the Provençal countryside. Looking at Cézanne’s remade and fragmented visual world, I want to call his isolated colours “pixels”. Anachronistic as it is, this word from the video age somehow seems accurate. Cézanne directly inspired Picasso and Braque in their Cubist experiments. But echoes of his revolutionary art reach further than that, from abstract painting to the strips of colour that float in Arcangel’s art of the future. Look again. It is rather an incredibly charged and overwrought personal struggle with the view in front of Cézanne’s eyes. Every dab of colour seems to be the result of days of thought and internal argument. Is this what is there? Is it like that? And what lies beyond what can be seen? By the time he has won his battle with the landscape, Cézanne has turned it inside out. We are looking at the geological structures of nature laid bare in the hot sun. Look closer still. Nothing is certain. In the distance, green-and-olive fields become squares and rectangles of green and olive, painted as the heat haze has simplified them in his eyes, transformed into abstract visual notations.

The modernist passion to look deeper, including deeper within oneself – to record not a simplistic picture of the world but a complex and hesitant perception of it – starts in the paintings of Cézanne. The abstract lines to which Arcangel can reduce a police thriller are born in that same fractured vision.

The other day, I was looking at a video installation by American artist Cory Arcangel in Tate Modern. Colors consists of narrow bands of colour sliding across a screen while (at least in the bit I experienced) fragments of pop pulse on the soundtrack. It is actually a massively slowed down version of the Dennis Hopper-directed feature film Colors. Arcangel has done something archetypally modernist to this raw material: analysed it, picked it apart, until he reveals a strange, abstract beauty deep in the heart of things.

Without these technologies, things like personalized recommendations, your account preferences, or localisation may not work correctly. Find out more in our Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy.

Personalized advertising may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have a right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in our Privacy Policy., Help Center, and Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy.Some of the technologies we use are necessary for critical functions like security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and to make the site work correctly for browsing and transactions.

His best-known paintings depict peasants working in the fields. His paintings of flocks of sheep were especially popular with American patrons, so popular that a price differential developed between scenes of “sheep coming” and “sheep going”.Anthonij “Anton” Rudolf Mauve (18 September 1838 – 5 February 1888) was a Dutch realist painter who was a leading member of the Hague School. He signed his paintings ‘A. Mauve’ or with a monogrammed ‘A.M.’. A master colorist, he was a very significant early influence on his cousin-in-law Vincent van Gogh.

These Conditions of Sale shall bind the successors and assigns of all bidders and purchasers and inure to the benefit of our successors and assigns. No waiver, amendment, nor modification of the terms hereof (other than posted notices or oral announcements during the sale) shall bind us unless specifically stated in writing and signed by us. If any part of these Conditions of Sale is for any reason invalid or unenforceable, the rest shall remain valid and enforceable.Condition Reports: Charlton Hall Galleries, Inc., and its employees are pleased to provide you with the condition of lots offered for auction. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to inspect each lot yourself or have your agent do so on your behalf. Prospective buyers should satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Charlton Hall Galleries, Inc., or its employees is merely a subjective qualified opinion, NOTWITHSTANDING WRITTEN REPORTS OR ANY DISCUSSION CONCERNING CONDITION IN THIS CATALOGUE ALL LOTS ARE SOLD ‘AS IS’, AND ALL SALES ARE FINAL.

CHARLTON HALL DOES NOT SHIP: Charlton Hall will be pleased to provide a list of shippers and packers that will our worldwide base of clients has successfully used, or you can have your own shipper handle your purchases. Please contact the shipper of your choice to arrange for packing and pick up your items. Your items will be released as soon as payment cleans our bank. We requests that your shippers schedule pick up times at least 24 hours in advance, this will insure no delays in pick up, and release of your purchases. SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BIDDERS/BUYERS MAY NOT PICKUP PURCHASES UNTIL MONDAY AFTER THE AUCTION.The term Flemish painting refers to works produced from the 15th to the 17th centuries in the region that approximately coincides with modern-day Belgium. In the 15th century paintings began to be produced there wich captivated art lovers across Europe due to the realism of the details and the lustre of the surfaces, achieved through the new use of oil paint. Given that, from the late 15th century onwards, Spain and the old Low Countries were under the joint rule of the Habsburg dynasty, the Spanish monarchs were in an advantageous position to collect painting from this region. As a result, the Museo del Prado has one of the best and largest collections of Flemish painting in existence, numbering almost 1,000 works.

The great figure of 17th-century Flemish painting was Rubens (1577-1640), who became the most celebrated artist in Europe and was also the favourite painter of his great Spanish patron, Philip IV. Rubens produced a sensual and majestic body of work inspired by the art of antiquity. The Museo del Prado has the largest collection of his works in existence, numbering around ninety paintings (depending on the acceptance or rejection of one or two attributions). Also extremely important are the Museum’s works by other 17th-century Flemish artists such as Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625), Jordaens (1593-1678) and Van Dyck (1599-1641).Hieronymus Bosch, known in Spain as El Bosco, is one of the painters who most fascinates modern museum visitors due to the remarkable fantastical world to be seen in his paintings and the satirical tone that he employed to criticise human behaviour. Some decades after the artist’s death, Philip II became the principal collector of his works, explaining why the Museo del Prado has the best and largest collection anywhere in the world.

The Museum’s holdings of 17th-century Dutch painting are also small, due to the war between the Spanish monarchy and the northern provinces of the Low Countries at the time that the royal collections were principally assembled. Nonetheless, the Prado has an important painting by Rembrandt, Judith at Holofernes’ Banquet, and a notable group of landscapes by Jan Both (1618/22-1652) and Herman van Swanevelt (1603/4-1655), two Dutch artists who worked in Rome.Notable within the collection of 15th-century painting is The Descent from the Cross by Rogier van der Weyden (ca. 1399-1464), one of the great canonical works of the history of European art. Also well represented in the Prado are Robert Campin (ca.1375-1444), Hans Memling (active from 1465 to 1494) and, in the early 16th century, Gerard David (ca.1460-1523) and Jan Gossaert (ca.1478-1532).

The Prado’s collection of German Renaissance painting is small but of high quality. It includes four important paintings by Dürer (1471-1528), including a self-portrait, and two important hunting scenes by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553).Martin van Waning was a Dutch painter who was born in 1889. Martin van Waning’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 100 USD to 2,966 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 1998 the record price for this artist at auction is 2,966 USD for Horsemen riding on a beach, sold at Christie’s Amsterdam in 2001. The artist died in 1972.One of Van Gogh’s best-loved pieces from his time in Arles has found its way to the halls of the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.

A new touring multi-sensory exhibition of his work has led to a surge in interest in the 19th century artist, but, when it comes to uncovering Van Gogh’s life and legacy, there is so much more to see.Two other landscape paintings by Van Gogh, one depicting an orchard and another of a square in Paris, are also on display at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Though his painting career spanned only 10 years, Van Gogh was prolific, creating over 2000 works that are now scattered in museums and galleries around the world, from Cardiff (Landscape at Auvers in the Rain; National Museum) to Mexico City (Shepherd with a Flock of Sheep; Museo Soumaya).Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, which Anna Boch, an impressionist painter, bought for 400 Francs in the final year of Van Gogh’s life. The work now hangs in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.

Another still life, Van Gogh’s Chair, which depicts the artist’s simple wooden seat and was painted the same year, also hangs in the London gallery. Its spiritual companion piece, Paul Gauguin’s Armchair, which depicts the pew of the artist’s long-time friend (Gaugin was living with Van Gogh in Arles during this period), is displayed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Art critics have made much of the symbolism in the two works, suggesting the complementing colours but contrasting style of the chairs (Van Gogh’s simple, Gauguin’s ornate) denotes the highly tumultuous relationship between the pair.

While here, visitors should also make time to see The Painter of Sunflowers, a portrait of Van Gogh at his easel painted by his long-time friend, occasional enemy and artistic contemporary, Paul Gauguin (though Van Gogh was initially not a fan of the work, saying Gaugin had painted him as a ‘madman’).

From the bright blue hues of Jodhpur, Rajasthan’s medieval metropolis, to the deep purples of Provence’s lavender fields, discover the world through a stunning collection of photographs with the first and only travel guide by color palette.Van Gogh left Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in 1890 and moved to the Parisian suburb of Auvers, where he spent the final year of his life. He initially moved to Auvers to be treated by homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet, but in a letter to his brother, Van Gogh confided that he thought Gachet was “iller than I am.”

Alongside the first version of Daubigny’s Garden, Basel’s Kunstmuseum also displays Marguerite Gachet at the Piano, a portrait of Paul Gachet’s daughter also painted in Auvers, and the landscape work View of Paris from Montmartre painted in 1886.

It was in 1888, towards the end of his time in Arles, that Van Gogh worked on the second of his well-known sunflower series, a project that harked back to his early still life days. One of the best recognised work from the series, Sunflowers Fourth Version, takes pride of place in the National Gallery in London. Other works from the set can be seen at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia and Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo.Some of the artist’s earliest works hang in the Kröller-Müller Museum, a sleek, glass-walled venue in forested parkland near the village of Otterlo, the Netherlands. Still Life with Yellow Straw Hat shows a collection of objects on a desk, and probably dates to late-1881, making it one of three artworks that vie for the title of being Van Gogh’s oldest-known painting. A number of sketches are also on display here that are even older, mostly comprising of portraits of labourers in the village of Etten, where Van Gogh returned to live with his parents to pursue art in earnest (something his parents weren’t overly enthused about). The artist’s final completed work is contested, but generally agreed to be Daubigny’s Garden. The painting, produced in the summer of 1890, depicts the enclosed garden of the house of Charles-François Daubigny in Auvers, a painter whom Van Gogh admired throughout his life, and hangs in Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, with another edition in the Hiroshima Museum of Art, Hiroshima and a smaller study in the Van Gogh Museum. The painter likely shot himself within weeks of finishing the piece. With the second-largest Van Gogh collection in the world, the Kröller-Müller also displays many other noted works by the artist from throughout his career, with the highlight of the collection arguably Café Terrace at Night. The painting of diners outside a coffee shop in Arles, France, is the first known example of Van Gogh using a starry background, a motif the artist would reuse in many of his best-known works.

The Musée d’Orsay also houses perhaps the most iconic self-portrait of the artist, with the wavy blue background. Another famous self-portrait, with the painter sporting his bandaged ear (which he cut off to give to a brothel worker; more on that later), hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London, while a third, depicting the artist in the throes of mental illness, and only officially authenticated in 2020, is on display in the Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo.

Having spent many years working as an art dealer (and sincerely flirting with the idea of becoming a priest), Van Gogh did not actually start painting until the ripe old age of 28.As the de facto hub of Van Gogh’s artistic legacy, the museum is practically bursting with important works from throughout the artist’s life, including The Yellow House, depicting the building where the painter lived and worked in Arles, and Almond Blossoms, which was a gift from Van Gogh to his brother Theo (who supported him financially throughout his art career) following the birth of his son.Two more works of note from this period are on display at the MoMA. The first is Olive Trees in a Mountainous Landscape, considered by Van Gogh to be a daytime complement to The Starry Night, and Wheat Fields with Cypresses, which the artist felt to be his best day-time work. Both share the emblematic wavy brushstroke technique found in The Starry Night. His time in Auvers was productive, with the artist producing a number of landscape works including The Church at Auvers, which hangs in the Musée d’Orsay (alongside the aforementioned second portrait of Gachet), Tree Roots, on display at the Van Gogh Museum and the, probably unfinished, Farms near Auvers, now in the National Gallery, London. The Night Café depicts the interior of an all-night Arles pub, with drunks sprawled over tables, while the owner stands alone next to an empty billiards table in the painting’s centre. The clashing colours and thick paint strokes evoke the raw emotions associated with such a venue, a place where, as Van Gogh said in a letter to his brother, ‘one can ruin oneself’. The world’s largest collection of Van Gogh art can – fittingly – be found in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. It is here that art lovers will also find what is considered by many to be the Dutchman’s first masterpiece, The Potato Eaters. Must-see ‘Arles’ works in the Left Bank museum include the evocative landscape Starry Night Over The Rhone and a smaller version of Bedroom in Arles (the original hangs in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam). Though painted later in his career, Portrait of Dr Gachet is another gem in the museum’s collection. The painting is a second version of the portrait; the first edition of which became the most expensive artwork of all time when it sold for $82.5 million in 1990. Following the sale, the painting disappeared from all public records, and its current whereabouts are unknown.Following spells living in Nuenen, Antwerp and Paris, all of which resulted in relatively little noteworthy artistic output, Van Gogh decamped to the quiet French commune of Arles in 1888. The change of surroundings spurred something of a creative awakening in the painter, and a number of his most beloved works from this prolific period adorn the walls of Paris’s cavernous Musée d’Orsay.

There are few names more renowned in the world of art than Vincent Van Gogh. The Dutch post-impressionist is revered for his colourful, innovative style and romanticised for his tragic life (which saw him die before his work gained recognition), a combination that ensures the painter’s popularity endures to this day.

Despite his struggles with his mental health, it was at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole that Van Gogh created what many consider his magnus opus, The Starry Night, based on the night-time view from the window of his small room. The painting hangs in the The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and is today deemed to be one of the most recognisable works in western art.

Another of Cranach’s popular styles was political commentary woodcuts. His main target in these commentaries was the Catholic Church. Once he was in Wittenberg he became an important political actor as well as a painter, and his own print shop produced flyers, leaflets, and woodcuts debasing the Catholic Church. The woodcut above, while seemingly unintelligible to modern viewers, would have been instantly recognizable to a 16th century audience. On the left is an image from the life of Jesus (another popular Protestant depiction) where he cast out the money lenders. On the right, the current Pope gladly sells indulgences and collects a large sum of money in Rome. The message was clear: the Pope and the Church were corrupt and literally (according to the woodcut) was the Antichrist. Cranach produced a number of woodcuts that were, by most scholars’ approximations, quite popular.In Vienna, he developed a very lively and expressive style in his works, which contrasts with his more subdued work in his later years. His hard work paid off as he was eventually recognized by Frederick III, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Frederick was enormously impressed with Cranach’s work and appointed him to be the chief painter of his court. Frederick then relocated Cranach to Wittenberg, which was a major turning point in Cranach’s life and career.

Lucas Cranach the Elder was an important painter of the Protestant Reformation. He grew up in Germany, studied and worked in Vienna, and was eventually sponsored by the Holy Roman Emperor. When he moved to Wittenberg, he became close friends with Martin Luther and became deeply involved in the inner workings of the Reformation. This shift also marked a change in his artwork, as his early paintings focused on action, saints, and lively portraits, his later paintings focused on political commentary, the life of Jesus, and Protestant Reformers. This shift is paradigmatic of the shift in styles that was going on in 16th century Germany.

Lucas Cranach the Elder was a German painter known for his portraits and woodcuts. Though his work has genuine artistic significance, it is also notable because of its place within the Protestant Reformation. A Protestant himself, Cranach depicted many of the most notable Reformers of the 1500s. He is remembered as one of the greatest painters of the Renaissance in Central Europe.Lucas Cranach the Elder is remembered as one of the greatest artists of the German Reformation. His studio produced hundreds of works over the course of his lifetime. In his early career, he contributed to Vienna’s Danube School of landscape painting and woodcuts, or carvings used to print artworks. However, after he moved to Wittenberg to become the court painter for Saxony, he turned more to portraiture. This is because he supported the cause of the Reformation, led by Martin Luther, and because portraits paid well.

While in Wittenberg, where he spent much of the rest of his life, Cranach’s artistic style changed remarkably. One of the most important changes was what he depicted in his artwork. While in his twenties, Cranach painted in the style of the times; namely, in the Catholic style. His early works often featured important local saints or the Madonna. However, when he moved to Wittenberg and became close friends with Luther, these images stopped featuring in his works. Instead, he focused on images of Christ’s Crucifixion, the salvation of men through faith alone, and the Resurrection; all important scenes and ideas in the new Protestant Reformation. Cranach also became somewhat of a political cartoonist, and provided many woodcuts that could then be printed and distributed that satirized the Papacy and suggested the Catholic Church was corrupt at the deepest levels.Lucas Cranach the Elder grew up in a small village, and his father, Hans Muller, was his art teacher. As a young man, he moved to Vienna, a thriving cultural center, and changed his last name to Cranach to signify the place of his birth.

In the court of Saxony, Lucas Cranach was exposed to all the notables of German life in the 1500s. He painted well over 100 portraits over the course of his life. Some notables include –

The last few years of Cranach’s life were hectic, as he was taken prisoner and eventually returned to his homeland over a series of negotiations involving his friend Charles V, then the Holy Roman Emperor. He continued his prolific painting well into his 70s, and his workshop would routinely produce hundreds of paintings a year even in his old age. Cranach died when he was 81 in 1553.The painting above, the Martyrdom of St. Catherine, represents another of the type of early work Cranach produced. Saints were popular in paintings of the time and a good way to find wealthy patrons and supporters for a fledgling artist. When Cranach moved to Wittenberg and became involved in the Protestant Reformation, these depictions stopped completely as early leaders of the movements pushed hard against the depiction and recognition of saints.Lucas Cranach the Elder is one of the most prolific artists of the German Renaissance. His portraits captured the individuality of significant Protestant Reformers.

Cranach made his living in his years before the patronage of the Holy Roman Emperor by providing contract paintings of wealthy and influential people. The above image of Johannes Cuspinian, a renown naturalist, was one of many portraits he was commissioned to make during his early years in Vienna. This particular painting is fairly typical of Cranach’s earlier style that emphasized motion, vibrancy, and action. Pay particular attention to the scenes in the background, such as the birds in flight or children playing by the river. This lively scene reflected the times and values in Vienna.Lucas Cranach the Elder was born in 1472 in what was then the Holy Roman Empire and what is today Germany. His early years must have been extremely chaotic, as he was the oldest of nine children! Little is known about his formative years, but records have shown that he most likely learned the art of painting and woodcutting from his father. Cranach must have been a quick study, as letters between his friends suggest that even his very early work was exceptional.In 1500, Cranach moved to Vienna, then and now one of the intellectual hotbeds of Europe. There, he practiced his craft and was particularly drawn to portraits. His work attracted attention from many well-connected people in Vienna who encouraged him to exhibit and show off his artwork.

Once in Wittenberg and involved in the Protestant Reformation, Cranach produced a tremendous number of portraits of Protestant leaders. John Frederick I, pictured above, was one of Cranach’s main patrons and was considered to be a ‘Champion of the Reformation.’ Notice how the painting, while still technically adept, has no action in the background and focuses completely on the subject. This is paradigmatic of Protestant style portraits that focused on the reality, humanism, and character of the subject rather than evoking fancy ideas that could remind the viewer of Catholicism. Cranach’s portrait of Martin Luther, pictured further above, also demonstrates this style.

In Wittenberg, Cranach became somewhat of a celebrity. He befriended the Holy Roman Emperor and served on the city council several times. Though he made works for both Catholics and Protestants, he was a Protestant himself. In his political pamphlets, he critiques the Church’s corruption and promotes the Reformation vision of a purer Christianity.In Vienna, Cranach became a well-known painter and carver, and he was appointed to the court of Frederick the Wise of Saxony, one of the leading German states, in 1505. He served as the court painter for 45 years in Wittenberg, at the heart of the Protestant Reformation.

Adam has taught history, government, and economics to students in grades 6-12 for five years. He has a BA in Philosophy from UC Santa Barbara, and an MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from CEVRO Institute, Prague, Czech Republic.Religion was an important part of Cranach’s life, and his early works, such as Rest of the Virgin during the Flight into Egypt, followed the Catholic artistic tradition. His early works often featured captivating natural scenes and Biblical themes. He was a leading member of the Danube School, which is noted as the first movement to focus on landscapes.