Diana Matthes Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Louise HERVIEU (1878-1954) Fly, circa 1925 Charcoal on paper 3,5 × 5 cm frame 19,4 × 14 cm Born in Alençon in 1878, Louise Hervieu showed a talent for drawing from an early age. S...

Louise HERVIEU (1878-1954) Fly, circa 1925 Charcoal on paper Signed "L.H." 5 × 5 cm frame 14 × 14 cm Tiny fold mark at the top Born in Alençon in 1878, Louise Hervieu showed a tale...

The artwork is in simple black frames behind glass. The full signature is on the back of the drawing, on the front is a dated monogram. Hanna Banaszczyk is a graduate of the Facul...

This stunning Baroque study depicts a regatta boat, a type of vessel developed in eighteenth-century Venice for the regattas organized by the Serenissima during visits by royalty and princes. We propose to link this drawing to the work of Alessandro Mauro, an artist who specialized in this type of composition, as illustrated by a drawing from him at the Metropolitan Museum. 1. Description of the boat The greatest decorative fantasy reigns in this preparatory study, which blends mythological and exotic elements with references to ancient Egypt. Our drawing is probably an initial thought, destined to be refined and clarified later in pen and ink (as evidenced by the ink stain in the lower right). A quadriga of seahorses guided by Neptune stands at the stern of the boat, shown well above the waterline (perhaps to outline its empty volume). One of the seahorses is ridden by a newt, while Amphitrite lies at the feet of the sea god. The center of the boat is occupied by a vast baldachin resting on four atlantes and surmounted by a figure riding an animal (a dragon?). Three figures sit beneath the canopy, one of them on a griffin-shaped seat. This allusion to Egyptian antiquity echoes the winged sun (sometimes a symbol of the god Horus, as in the temple of Edfu in Egypt) that adorns the sides of the promontory on which this baldachin rests. Another flag-bearer figure crouches at the stern of the boat on a raised seat, on the reverse of which is a crowned mermaid whose arm, extended backwards, rests on a mascaron decorated with a radiant face (Helios?) and whose torso surmounts an elephant's head. The heads of the rowers and their oars are sketched all along the boat, whose sides are embellished with elongated naiads. 2. The Venetian regatta boats An exhibition held in 2013 at the Ca' Rezzonico (the Venetian eighteenth-century museum) paid tribute to these regatta boats through studies and prints depicting them. The regattas organized by the Serenissima in honor of visiting princes and sovereigns were among the most spectacular ceremonies in Venice. Some important artists of the 18th century contributed to the creation of these extravagant boats which were given exotic names such as bissona, malgarota or peota. The specialists in this field were Andrea Urbani and the brothers Alessandro and Romualdo Mauro. They were born into a family of theater decorators in Piedmont, but little is known about their detailed biography. Alessandro was the architect of the Dresden opera house and of the St. Samuel Theater in Venice (in collaboration with his brother Romualdo), but also worked as stagehand and set designer in Vienna, Rome and Turin. A drawing produced around 1737 from the Metropolitan Museum (7th photo in the gallery) bears witness to his activity as a regatta boat designer. This drawing is a much more elaborate version than the one presented here, having been entirely reworked in brown ink. However, a figure at the bow of the boat, executed solely in black chalk, still bears witness to a technique similar to that of our drawing. It is difficult to know whether the boat depicted in our drawing was a project for an actual boat or whether it remained in the planning stage, but the front of our boat (Neptune and the quadriga of seahorses ridden by a newt) bears several similarities to that of a parade boat depicted in the print published by Michele Marieschi entitled Regatta on the Grand Canal, between the Foscari and Balbi Palaces (last photo in the gallery). This print is dated 1741, which could confirm that our work dates from around 1740. The area between Neptune and the quadriga that precedes him on this strange paddle-boat appears to be partially submerged, confirming that the waterline of our boat was probably intended to be much lower than the one shown in our drawing. The Correr Museum’s collection holds one of the most important collection of engravings and drawings devoted to these specifically Venetian Baroque productions. These boats were intended to last the duration of a festival. Today, they are only documented by preparatory drawings or prints that testify to the sumptuousness of their decoration. This taste for regatta boats lasted throughout the Venetian eighteenth century, and the conception of regatta boats also attracted great masters such as Giambattista Tiepolo, Francesco Guardi or Giambattista Piranesi...

19th Century French School, Studies of horses and small scenes, pencil on paper 14.5 x 21 cm Framed : 25.5 x 32.7 cm This study sheet, which brings together studies of horses and...

Charcoal drawing on archival, 100% cotton paper by Dutch contemporary artist and art teacher Rubins J. Spaans. His drawings are elaborated sketches for his paintings. ***FREE SHIPPI...

A. Lesueur French 19ème siècle Les Mille Et Une Nuits – One Thousand & One Nights, 1892 Charcoal on paper heightened with white. Signed & dated 1892 lower right. Image size 23.6 inc...

WPA Post Office Mural Study Native American Scene Regionalism Social Realism Louise Emerson Ronnebeck (1901 - 1980) Proposal Sketch for Worland Wyoming Post Office WPA Mural Project Image: 7 x 15 inches Board 14 x 22 inches Watercolor on paper, attached to black/gray cardboard/thick paper c. 1937 Signed lower right Written in Louise's hand on mounting paper in white chalk/pencil: "Sketch for Mural...

Michele Bajona's (Mexico based) "Lion" is an Watercolor painting that depicts a closeup of a male Lion with a white background. The painting is ...

GEORGE DENHOLM ARMOUR, RSA, OBE (1864-1949) “Keep your ‘ead in” Signed, inscribed: Cabman: “Now then bunny, you keep your ‘ead in the rabbit-‘...

Antique Horse Study "Heads, Hooves and Rump, 1838" Wouterus Verschuur (Dutch, 1812-1874) Pencil on paper Signed and Dated "W Verschuuur 1838" 10 x 6 1/2 (17 1/2 x 14 frame) inches In his time Wouterus Verschuur was an acclaimed and celebrated painter of horses. Through careful observation he learned to capture their physique and movement to perfection. As a true-born romanticist he was also interested in their character, thereby painting powerful carthorses in their stable, thoroughbred saddled horses during an afternoon ride or harnessed horses in action. He was born to an Amsterdam jeweler and received his training from the landscape and cattle painters Pieter Gerardus van Os and Cornelis Steffelaar. As part of this education Verschuur had to copy works by the 17th century painter Philips Wouwerman. Like Wouwerman, Verschuur's subjects consist mostly of stable scenes, landscapes with horses and coastal landscape. These works reflect the enduring influence of the northern Baroque masters on nineteenth century art, revealing the artist's close study of his Dutch and Flemish predecessors harking back to Peter Paul Rubens. Showing talent from a very early age, at 15 Verschuur had a painting exhibited at the "Exhibition of Living Masters" at Amsterdam in 1828. In 1832 and 1833 he won the gold medal at the annual exhibition at Felix Meritis. In 1833 he was appointed a member of the Royal Academy in Amsterdam. In 1839 he joined the artists' society, Arti et Amicitiae. His reputation was also considerable abroad. He was often featured in the annual exhibitions which travelled the large European cities at that time. In 1855 Napoleon III purchased one of his paintings at the Exposition Universelle* in Paris. The Verschuur horse revels in its physicality, like a quintessential Baroque horse...

Jean-Robert ANGO (Active 1759 – 1773) Man on Horseback Abducting a Woman Red chalk and white chalk 26.1 x 25.9 cm Provenance Libert-Castor sale, November 19, 1993 (lot no. 23, ill...