LONDON.- For the Summer edition of London Art Week 2018,
Tomasso Brothers Fine Art is proud to present a new publication, TOMASSO XXV, a celebratory catalogue marking the many notable sales made in 25 years of activity. London Art Week runs from 29 June to 6 July 2018, and copies of TOMASSO XXV will be available at Marquis House, 67 Jermyn Street, St. Jamess, the London gallery of Tomasso Brothers.
The catalogue features more than 50 works ranging from bronze sculptures to oil paintings, and dating from antiquity to the late Neoclassical periods, demonstrating the breadth and quality of works sold by Tomasso Brothers to museums and private collectors the world over.
Tomasso Brothers Fine Art is recognised internationally for specializing in important European sculpture, thus works in wood, terracotta, marble and bronze feature prominently; however, Dino and Raffaello Tomasso are also passionate about fields such as Old Master paintings and objets dart, represented here by fabulous examples.
The historic sales illustrated in the catalogue range from distinctive sketches, such as Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) terracotta rendering of a Pensiero of Eve Bewailing the Death of Abel, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to rare bronzes, such as the Pacing Bull from a Rape of Europa group, executed in Padua around 1520-1525, re-united with its original figure of Europa thanks to Tomasso Brothers, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; and from the powerful, such as the triumphant Julius Caesar carved in limewood by Giambologna (1529-1608), a statuette now known to be not only the earliest recorded work by the master but also the only surviving sculpture that he executed in wood (today in a private collection, Antwerp), to the intimate, such as Nymph Entering a Bath by Richard James Wyatt (1795-1850) one of the foremost British heirs of Canova, which sold last year from Tomasso Brothers Canova and his Legacy exhibition to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA.
Other highlights in the catalogue are a pair of portraits by the master of miniatures Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789) depicting Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788) and Prince Henry Benedict Stuart (1725-1807) which, subsequent to their presentation and sale (to a private collection, Germany) by Tomasso Brothers at TEFAF 2015, were shown in the Liotard exhibition at Londons Royal Academy, 2015/2016; a white marble Farnese type bust of Emperor Caracalla by Joseph Claus (1718-1788), a milestone in the development of early Neoclassicism in Rome and a signature work by one of the most accomplished German sculptors of the eighteenth century, now with the Saint Louis Art Museum, USA; and a high-relief, boxwood panel by Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721), a magnificent demonstration of sculptural bravura on a reduced scale and one of the earliest known works by Gibbons, who is widely considered to be Britains greatest woodcarver. As attested by the presence of the coat of arms of the Barwick family from Yorkshire, which is visible on a harp in the foreground, the panel, likely carved in York (where Gibbons trained under John Etty after arriving from Rotterdam around 1667) now resides at Fairfax House Museum, York, United Kingdom.
The catalogue also illustrates some major rediscoveries by Tomasso Brothers Fine Art, including The Triumph of Autumn by Jacob Hoefnagel (1573-1632/35), an exquisite oil on copper, signed and dated 1605, painted in Rome for the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612), and The Death of Saint Peter Martyr by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo (c.1480-c.1548), a protagonist of Venetian Renaissance painting, renowned for the hushed brilliance of his palette and uniquely atmospheric quality of his compositions, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, USA.
This catalogue, says Dino Tomasso, represents a selection of some of the finest works of art we have had the privilege of handling over the past quarter of a century. The early years of Tomasso Brothers were a time of learning. Our repeated visits to museums, British and European dealers, and auctions houses taught us to appreciate many different types of art works from antiquities to modern paintings. During this time, we were very fortunate through our endeavours to discover a number of exciting objects.
Raffaello Tomasso adds: Our thirst for knowledge and learning has continued unabated since we held our first catalogued exhibition in New York in 2008, driven by a continual quest to discover great art. It is an honour to be in this remarkable business, and we remain inspired by visiting, and being involved with, museum exhibitions, international fairs and auctions, and by our fellow art dealers.