Ben Benn

“woman portrait”

Florentine, Probably Seventeenth Century Titled L’ultime parti note nel Indie occidentali Dated on the edge of the cartouche: “M.D. LXIII. M.AG” [1564…the month of August] In the 1560s Cosimo I de’Medici, the powerful Duke of Florence, undertook a major renovation of the Palazzo Vecchio, the venerable palace that to this day dominates the city at the Piazza della Signoria. For the Sala della Guardaroba, literally the wardrobe room, but in fact the storeroom of the Duke’s most precious holdings, Cosimo conceived of a grand decorative project that was to reflect in one space the entire cosmos --both an indication of the Duke’s ambition and an allusion to his name. The plan, supervised by Giorgio Vasari, involved the construction of walnut cabinets to contain the Medici treasures, on the outside doors of which were to be placed large hand-painted maps specially commissioned to document and illustrate the current knowledge of the world. Portraits of famous men were to decorate the tops of the cabinets and two large globes –one representing the terrestrial world, the other celestial—were to descend from openings in the ceiling. The commission for the maps, inspired by Ptolemy’s Geographia, was given to the celebrated mathematician and cosmographer, Fra Egnazio Danti (Perugia 1536-1585 Alatri). Fifty-three maps were ultimately created. Thirty were conceived and executed by Danti between 1563 and 1575. The remaining twenty-three were completed by Stefano Bonsignori between 1576 and 1686. They remain in place in Florence in the room for which they were created. The present work is an exact-size painted, drawn and inscribed copy of Danti’s map of California...

In this series entitled "The People People," Tracy Crump uses washes of grey, white and aqua to both conceal and reveal sensitively drawn figures. Each figure stands alone as an indi...

Chicago-based artist Michael Thompson creates unique kites crafted from split bamboo frames covered with stretched muslin and a collage of vintage Asian ephemera—including fragments ...

In this series entitled "The People People," Tracy Crump uses washes of grey, white and aqua to both conceal and reveal sensitively drawn figures. Each figure stands alone as an indi...

Wilhelm Heine (Dresden 30 January 1827-Löbnitz 5 October 1885) ‘Funeral of Robert Williams in the cemetery of the Temple Gyokusen-ji at Shimoda in April 1854’ With a sticker on the reverse of the frame by Coupil & Co. 1855 Watercolour on paper, H. 57 x W. 92 cm Depicted is the Bay of Shimoda with seven American ships including the two paddle-wheel warships USS Mississippi and Susquehanna. On the Gyokus- en-ji temple grounds on the right is the coffin in the middle with the remains of US marine Robert Williams, ready to be lowered into the grave. Looking on from the left are the Buddhist monks and Japanese officials who joined the first Christian funeral on Japanese soil. Around the grave are US marines, Commodore Perry...

FRANÇOIS MATHURIN ADALBERT, BARON DE COURCY (1805-1839) 'Le Negrito à l’ancre. Dans le port de la havanne' Indistinctly signed lower left Titled on the mount Pencil and watercolour, heightened with white, on paper, 24.8 x 34.6 cm Literature: The present watercolour will be illustrated in: - Prof. Manuel Garcia’s projected book on the disease and the slave trade provisionally titled “Fighting the Yellow Demon of Fever: The Struggle against Disease in the Illegal Slave Trade”. - Prof. Micael Zeuske’s forthcoming Global history of slave trade. Exhibited: Mexico City, 1998, Palacio Virreinal, El Barón de Courcy, illustrationes de un viaje, 1831-1833, no. 108 Note: Baron de Courcy was in the Caribbean in late 1832 and early 1833, following his tour of Mexico in 1832, on the last leg of his “Grand Voyage...

Charles Frederick de Brocktorff (1775–1850) ‘Camelopard – a present from the Pacha of Egypt to the King – at Malta on its way to England’ Signed and dated C.F. de Brocktorff. / 1827. lower right, inscribed as titled in the painted margins lower centre. Pencil and watercolour heightened with gold paint and gum arabic on paper, 36.8 x 27.9 cm A gift so majestic, it made kings blush, and a gift so grand, it would startle Europe into a craze. Pasha Muhammad Ali of Egypt (1805-1848) did it in 1827: he sent to Europe three magical spotted, horned creatures, each with a neck reaching the skies and legs as long as a house is high. One giraffe to King Charles X of France, one to Francis I of Austria and the most fabled one to King George IV of England. A curious sight for Europeans, who had not seen such a beast since the Medici giraffe in 1487. Few animals created more of a stir in Europe than these royal...

Follower of Zacharias Wagener (1614-1688) Tamanuâguasû (Giant Anteater) On Italian 17th or 18th-century paper, H. 28 x W. 43.5 cm ​The present painting is a copy after Wagener’s painting of the anteater, Tamanduá-bandeira, which is illustrated in his “Thier Buch”, with 109 drawings of Brazilian fish, birds and mammals, published in Amsterdam c. 1641, in German. ​ Zacharias Wagener, or Wagenaer in Dutch, (Dresden 1614 – Amsterdam 1668) was a real adventurer who became Opperhoofd on Deshima and Governor of the Cape of Good Hope in the service of the VOC. During the Thirty-Year War in Germany Wagener tried his luck in Amsterdam where he worked for the map-maker Willem Blaeu. In 1634 he joined the WIC and left for Dutch Brazil where he worked as writer and painter, together with Frans Post...

Marius Bauer (1867-1932) ‘Devotie in de Woestijn’ (Devotion in the Dessert near the pyramids of Gizeh, circa 1919) Signed lower right and titled lower left Watercolour on paper, H...

Itzchak Tarkay (1935 -2012) "Enjoying the Afternoon" 2002, Mixed media watercolor on Paper - signed lower right. COA provided. Sheet Size 12"H x 12"W Frame Size 24 "H x 2...