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The Twinight Collection
Lot 59Ф,Y
Ferdinando Paul Louis Quaglia(Italian, 1780-1853)Ignazio Degotti (d. 1824), celebrated scenographer at the Paris Opéra, wearing fur-trimmed coat, over embroidered red jacket and open-necked white chemise, seated in a gilded Empire fauteuil carved with lion heads
4 July 2024, 12:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £51,200 inc. premium
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Ferdinando Paul Louis Quaglia (Italian, 1780-1853)
Ignazio Degotti (d. 1824), celebrated scenographer at the Paris Opéra, wearing fur-trimmed coat, over embroidered red jacket and open-necked white chemise, seated in a gilded Empire fauteuil carved with lion heads.
on ivory, signed and dated Quaglia f. 1812, gilt-bronze frame..
Rectangular, 217mm (8 9/16in) high
Provenance:
Helft Bensimon Collection, Paris
With Leo R. Schidlof, from whom acquired by Ernst Holzscheiter in Paris, 5 May 1936 (inv. nos. MD/0682 and 465)
Treasured Portraits from the Collection of Ernst Holzscheiter, Christie's London, 4 July 2018, lot 23
The Twinight Collection
Exhibited:
Paris, Salon, 1812, no 750 (as a portrait of M. Degotti)
Arenenberg, Napoleonmuseum, Miniaturen und Karikaturen, 1954, no. 33 (as a portrait of Talma)
Geneva, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Chefs-d'œuvre de la miniature et de la gouache, 1956, no. 367, illustrated (as a presumed portrait of François-Joseph Talma)
Zurich, Haus am Zurich, 1957-58 and 1961
Vienna, Albertina, Meisterwerke der Europäischen Miniaturmalerei von 1750-1850, 1965, no. 311 illustrated fig. 19 (as Talma)
London, Royal Academy and Victoria & Albert Museum, The Age of Neoclassicism, 1972, no. 976 (as a portrait of Talma)
Literature:
Gabet 1831, p. 575
Jeannerat 1922, p. 543, illustrated p. 545 (as a portrait of Degotti
Isler-Hungerbühler 1961, pp. 32-33, illustrated fig. 4
Schidlof 1964, II, pp. 657 (described as 'a masterpiece' and 'important'), and 1026, illustrated IV, pl. 468, fig. 962 (the sitter identified as the actor François Joseph Talma)
Cavalli-Björkman 1981, p. 141, illustrated (as a portrait of Talma)
Parisio 2012, pp. 35-36, illustrated (as Ignazio Degotti)
on ivory, signed and dated Quaglia f. 1812, gilt-bronze frame..
Rectangular, 217mm (8 9/16in) high
Provenance:
Helft Bensimon Collection, Paris
With Leo R. Schidlof, from whom acquired by Ernst Holzscheiter in Paris, 5 May 1936 (inv. nos. MD/0682 and 465)
Treasured Portraits from the Collection of Ernst Holzscheiter, Christie's London, 4 July 2018, lot 23
The Twinight Collection
Exhibited:
Paris, Salon, 1812, no 750 (as a portrait of M. Degotti)
Arenenberg, Napoleonmuseum, Miniaturen und Karikaturen, 1954, no. 33 (as a portrait of Talma)
Geneva, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Chefs-d'œuvre de la miniature et de la gouache, 1956, no. 367, illustrated (as a presumed portrait of François-Joseph Talma)
Zurich, Haus am Zurich, 1957-58 and 1961
Vienna, Albertina, Meisterwerke der Europäischen Miniaturmalerei von 1750-1850, 1965, no. 311 illustrated fig. 19 (as Talma)
London, Royal Academy and Victoria & Albert Museum, The Age of Neoclassicism, 1972, no. 976 (as a portrait of Talma)
Literature:
Gabet 1831, p. 575
Jeannerat 1922, p. 543, illustrated p. 545 (as a portrait of Degotti
Isler-Hungerbühler 1961, pp. 32-33, illustrated fig. 4
Schidlof 1964, II, pp. 657 (described as 'a masterpiece' and 'important'), and 1026, illustrated IV, pl. 468, fig. 962 (the sitter identified as the actor François Joseph Talma)
Cavalli-Björkman 1981, p. 141, illustrated (as a portrait of Talma)
Parisio 2012, pp. 35-36, illustrated (as Ignazio Degotti)
Footnotes
Ignazio Degotti was born in Turin and was a celebrated painter and scenographer at the Paris Opéra specialising in perspective architecture and landscapes. Under the stewardship of Ignazio Galliari, he learnt the art of perspective painting at the Royal Academy of painting and sculpture in Turin. In 1796, he was appointed dessinateur des decorations at the Paris Opéra for the staging of Gluck's Alceste and he held this position until 1817. The present miniature was painted during this period and suitably positions the scenographer in a suitably theatrical fur lined cape sitting on an ornate gilded Empire fauteuil carved with lion heads.
Ferdinando Quaglia was one of the most important miniature painters of the early 19th century. He studied in Parma, Florence and Milan before travelling to Paris in 1805 where he worked in Napoleon's court. There, he worked closely with Jean-Baptiste Isabey and was heavily influence by him. His portraits, much like the present work, are characterised by their level of detail and execution, expression and freshness of colour.
The present lot is sold with a DEFRA Ivory Act 2018 certificate for a pre-1918 item of outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historic value.
Certificate Number: YE3IML30
Date of Issue: 16 November 2023
We are grateful to Emma Rutherford of the Limner Company for her further research into the present lot.
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