NEW YORK, NY.- Sothebys auction of 19th Century European Art on 1 February 2019 will present over 200 works that reflect the rich diversity of artistic production of the period. Paintings by Rosa Bonheur, Virginie Demont-Breton and Elizabeth Gardner Bouguereau are among the highlights from The Female Triumphant a group of masterworks by trailblazing female artists from the 16th through the 19th centuries, which will be offered across the Masters Week sales this January. The sale is further distinguished by William Bouguereau and Jules Bretons portraits of rural life, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and John William Godwards epic visions on the Ancient world, and Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret and Jean Bérauds views of life in the Belle Époque many of which are from private collections and resurfacing at auction for the first time in over a century.
Open to the public on 25 January, the sale will be presented alongside Sothebys Masters Week exhibitions.
THE FEMALE TRIUMPHANT: WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE PREMODERN ERA
In the late nineteenth century, Paris invited innovation, experimentation and boundary breaking, yet the advancements made by women artists in the public sphere were met with challenges. Thanks to their irrefutable talent and perseverance, women certainly found success, as illustrated in the vital careers of the artists featured in The Female Triumphant, including Rosa Bonheur, Virginie Demont-Breton and Elizabeth Gardner Bouguereau.
A precocious talent from a young age, Rosa Bonheur first exhibited at the Salon in 1841. Four years later, she presented Le labourage, and earned a third place medal for its characteristically meticulous craftsmanship and photographic realism (estimate $80/120,000). Her achievement not only cemented her as a success, but led to further commissions and ultimately the French Légion dhonneur, which was presented to her in 1865 and marked the first time a woman received the honor.
Elizabeth Gardner Bouguereau was one of the most accomplished Salon artists among expatriates in mid-nineteenth century Paris and in 1887 had the distinction of becoming the only American woman to receive a Salon medal. In addition, Gardners personal and professional attachment to her husband William Bouguereau was instrumental in establishing her style and in marketing her work such as La captive, exhibited at the Salon of 1883 (estimate $250/350,000), and Les trois amis (estimate $250/350,000).
Virginie Demont-Breton enjoyed an artistic upbringing and cultivated her talent from an early age, having trained under her father, Jules Breton, who work is also represented in the auction. Winning Demont-Bretons first medal at the Salon of 1881, Femme de pêcheur venant de baigner ses enfants is the artists earliest masterpiece, propelling her distinguished career as a painter and as a pioneering advocate for women artists (estimate $100/150,000). In 1894, Demont-Breton was the second woman in France to be awarded the Légion dhonneur and from 1895-1901 served as the president of the Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs where she was instrumental in the fight to grant women entrance to Paris École des Beaux Arts.
WILLIAM BOUGUEREAU: MASTER OF FRENCH ACADEMIC PAINTING
A selection of 10 works by William Bouguereau will be highlighted by Le livre de prix, one of the finest canvases of the artists mature period to come to auction (estimate $1/1.5 million). The young girl in the present work is Yvonne, one of the artists favorite models, who appears in many of Bouguereaus compositions from 1893. Formerly in the collection of Henry May, Vice President and General Manager of the Pierce-Arrow Motor Company, the work has remained in the same familys collection for over 100 years. Known only through a black and white photograph from Bouguereaus studio, its presentation today marks an important and long-awaited rediscovery.
Also featured in the January sale is Bacchante from 1894 (estimate $600/800,000). The painting was likely inspired by the mythological subjects favored by many nineteenth century artists, including Bouguereaus English contemporaries Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and John William Godward. The woman in the present work, a Dionysian devotee, belongs to a series the artist referred to as "fantasy paintings, a theme that the artist established through earlier works that illustrate Classical narratives.
JULES BRETON: THE PAINTER OF PEASANTS
The January sale features four exceptional works spanning three decades of Jules Bretons career. La Glaneuse is a recent discovery, compelling a renewed appreciation of the pivotal production of the self-proclaimed "painter of peasants" early oeuvre (estimate $150/200,000). Known for his Realist, rural landscapes populated by shepherdesses, harvesters and gleaners, the atmospheric tour-de-force of Le Matin (estimate $400/600,00) received widespread admiration upon its exhibition at the Salon of 1883, while La Falaises enigmatic subject of a peasant girl looking out to sea has captivated audiences since the late 1870s (estimate $200/300,000).
VICTORIAN & BRITISH PAINTINGS
Featured on the sales catalogue cover is Sir Frank Dicksees Yseult, which the artist presented at the Royal Academy in 1901 (estimate $1/2 million). Inspired by Sir Thomas Malorys Le Morte dArthur, the painting depicts Princess Yseult of the White Hands, the wife of Sir Tristram, who gazes out of her window looking for a ship on the horizon. Female beauty would always be an important element of Dicksees paintings and his gorgeously decorative single-figure subjects like the present work are among his most celebrated pictures.
Completed in 1922, A Dilettante by John William Godward marks an important rediscovery for the artist, reappearing for the first time in nearly a century (estimate $400/600,000). Regarded as one of his last great paintings, A Dilettante demonstrates Godwards painstaking attention to detail and depicts the artists vision of idyllic Antiquity.
Painted in 1894, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tademas jewel-like Past and Present Generations embodies the artists connection to the antique subjects which he cherished (estimate $300/500,000). In addition to painting subtle narratives with emotional depth, Alma-Tadema was known for his diligent sourcing of historical references, such as the marble Roman funerary busts of the balustrade, which are based on precise drawings Alma-Tadema made in the Uffizi in Florence and the Capitoline Museum in Rome.
The auction also offers an extraordinary oil painting by the great English Victorian-era artist John Atkinson Grimshaw. A prime example of the artists trademark street scenes throughout the 1880s, A November Morning, exhibits the hallmarks of Grimshaws mature style, and his atmospheric depiction of the evening and the first light of the morning (estimate $200/300,000).
Among the selection of outstanding maritime paintings to be offered is Fresh Winds, High Seas by British artist Montague Dawson (estimate $200/300,000). Sailing on the white-capped ocean, with its sails fully unfurled, the sea spray and sunlight tangible, the monumental canvas of the racing clipper is being offered by The Saint Louis Art Museum To Benefit Future Acquisitions.