PARIS.- Sotheby’s announced the sale of the collection of renowned Paris dealers, Bacri Frères - Antiquaires Paris, on 30 March in Paris. Heirs to the 18th century "connoisseur", collectors and leading dealers, like the Fabius and Seligmann dynasties, also working in antiques, they were prominent art dealers of the mid-20th century. Their collection reflects both the individual taste of the private collector and the professional competence of the antique dealer. We owe them several discoveries now gracing the walls of major museums: Lucas Cranach the Elder's Naiad in the Bremen Kunsthalle, a portrait attributed to Corneille de Lyon now in New York's Metropolitan Museum, medieval sculptures now housed in the Musée Rodin, and one of the best-known tapestries of the late Middle Ages: the Life of the Virgin, bequeathed to the Musée de Cluny.
The core of the collection is dominated by Old Master paintings and drawings but it also illustrates their passion for works from different periods and civilisations. Medieval tapestries, one of Jacques Bacri's great specialities, respond to paintings by Flemish masters; antique torsos mingle with sculptures from Burgundy, and remarkable Iznik ceramics rub shoulders with porcelain vases from China and Sèvres.
According to Clotilde Bacri Herbo: "My father Jacques adored discovering things, and was very keen on research, leaving behind valuable documentation on every object that passed through his hands. Curators from all over the world loved talking with him, and they would chat for hours on end about the provenance, history or attribution of a piece. Collectors were his friends, and they all trusted him implicitly. Florence Gould gave him a free hand to design an entire room in her Cannes house for her mediaeval objects, which he chose with care and displayed with love. The Middle Ages and Renaissance were his great passion."
One the highlights of this collection is the portrait of Anne de Pisseleu, Duchesse d'Étampes (1508-1580), painted c. 1545 by Corneille de La Haye, known as Corneille de Lyon (estimate: €200,000-300,000). This painting is one of two versions by Corneille. The first, now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, is the liveliest and most touching picture of the Duchesse d'Étampes: the "amye parfaite" of the knight-king, and "the most learned among the beautiful and most beautiful among the learned."
The favourite of François I, she was the first to be not only a king's lover but also mistress of his heart and ear. François I never tired of her, and was captivated by her charm and intelligence. Her influence grew constantly, and she was the first of the main official mistresses of the French court to wield real political power, right up to the arrival of Henri II, which led to her downfall.
While both versions are comparable, the treatment differs considerably, the one here being more precise and meticulous. Each pearl, each enamelled link in the necklace and each golden thread in the embroidery work is depicted with a fine touch. At the same time, the modelling of the face is light and fluid, and we can perceive the underlying drawing, consisting of simple contours. Lastly, the background of the portrait is blueish in the New York painting, but here it is a strong green darkening towards the edges, more typical of Corneille's style.
Outstanding lots include two wings of a triptych by the extremely rare Master Johannes, belonging to a very small corpus of five paintings now found in Flanders and Spain. Only these two sections, showing St John the Baptist and St Agnes and the baptism of Christ, were still in private hands.
It was through the discovery of a bill of payment dated 1513 for the altarpiece now in the church of Maria-ter-Heide, made out to one "Johannes", that a first – if not a full – name could be given to the painter of these five works. While we have to accept that his surname, native city and birth and death dates are still mysteries, we can certainly attribute these refined paintings to him.
A remarkable image of a man in a turban stirring a bowl of soup is probably a fragment of a larger painting of the Holy Family. We know of at least seven versions of this religious subject by Gerard David, set in an everyday context – a composition very much in vogue in 17th-century Holland and Flanders (estimate: €50,000-70,000).
Its iconography, specific to early 16th century Flanders, is characterised by detailed, expressive faces and painting so clearly delineated that it seems almost drawn. The strong reds and figures standing out clearly against their background of Flemish architecture are also typical of the style found in Bruges at that time.
The Messe de Saint Grégoire, a popular pictorial theme of the late Middle Ages/early Renaissance, is fairly characteristic of the 15th century School of Amiens (estimate: €80,000-100,000). The region, ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, was going through a particularly flourishing period in art at the time. Exponents of this school were greatly influenced by Flemish painting and illuminated books, which were produced in great quantities in Rouen. But apart from these various influences, the painting is, above all, typical of the Amiens style, as can be seen in the faces with their Picard features and "fierce, unbridled expressions."
In the drawings section, one of the highlights will certainly be a landscape by Jean-Honoré Fragonard of c. 1760 (estimate: €25,000-35,000). This ink wash drawing of a couple embracing, rapidly painted against a background of luxuriant vegetation, marvellously embodies the qualities that made the artist successful. Here we can see his penchant for love scenes. This composition, marked by his stay in Italy and discovery of Tivoli, is no longer a minutely detailed observation of nature, but an interpretation now free of any formal constraints.
The Bacri collection contains some magnificent tapestries, mostly from the 15th and 16th centuries, woven in the major production centres of the southern Netherlands, when the Dukes of Burgundy governed Artois, Flanders and Brabant. One of these shows an impressive battle scene with knights fighting among a horde of foot soldiers (estimate: €70,000-100,000), while another, halfway between a scene of courtly love and allegorical representation, features three elegantly clothed figures on a ravishing mille-fleurs background (estimate: €30,000-50,000).
Tapestries from the 17th century include a pair of "entre-fenêtres" from the Manufacture de Beauvais, which are part of the Grotesque series and show animal tamers (estimate: €20,000-30,000), and a delicate, beautifully preserved valance embroidered in petit point de Saint-Cyr with a blue background, illustrating the story of Psyche (estimate: €8,000-12,000).
Among the sculpture, an alabaster Madonna of the Calvary, c. 1480, was certainly placed at the foot of a Calvary scene to begin with, as a pendant to St John. It is a perfect example of the Burgundy style during the period of Jean de la Huerta (1413-1462) and Antoine le Moiturier (1425-1497): the meditative position, the treatment of the face and the folds in the heavy drapery she wears are also found in various Pietàs now in the Dijon Musée des Beaux-Arts (estimate: €30,000-50,000).
Another major sculpture in the collection is a quatrefoil relief carved on both sides, forming the centre of a Calvary cross, which illustrates the Crucifixion and the Last Judgement (Paris region or Normandy, early 14th century). The deep folds of the robe and movement of the bodies follow the form of the relief marvellously, reminiscent of the illustrated example of a sandstone Enthroned Virgin acquired by the Musée Lorrain in Nancy (estimate: €30,000-50,000).
A silver statuette of St Sebastian from Mantua or Padua in Northern Italy, c. 1500, similar to the work of Andrea Riccio (estimate: €10,000-15,000), and a miniature ivory statuette of a Madonna and Child beneath a canopy from the former Henri Oppenheimer collection round off this fine collection of Mediaeval and Renaissance works on a high note (estimate: €20,000-30,000).
Bacri's eclectic taste can also be seen in works from antiquity, like this marble torso of Aesculapius, 2nd century AD: a reduced Roman copy of a Greek statue of the 4th century BC (estimate: €50,000-80,000), and a collection of Ottoman ceramics from the celebrated Iznik group, dating from the first half of the 16th century to the 17th century. This collection includes a large and remarkable dish from the rare and impressive "Damascus pottery" category, c. 1540-1555 (estimate: €40,000-60,000). This group, produced in Turkey, stands out for its colour range, which differs from all other Iznik work. The dish here, a perfect example of this type of pottery, now becomes one of the very few examples to appear on the market. It features the colours characteristic of this style: a mix of cobalt blue, manganese purple and sage green.
