In the spring of 1800, Francisco de Goya, who had been named the King of Spain's First Chamber Painter just a few months earlier, received a commission to paint a group portrait of the royal family. The work's development can be meticulously traced through letters. To avoid long, tedious posing sessions for the protagonists, Goya conducted individual sittings to create oil studies of 10 out of the 14 people depicted. Among these individuals was a representation of himself, added in homage to Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas (1656). Five of these studies have survived, along with the completed painting, one of Goya's most famous works, and one which faced significant contemporary criticism for its candid representation. They are housed in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Another study that depicts the Infanta Maria Isabel will be up for auction during Dorotheum's Classic Week in Vienna. It marks the first time that the Goya-attributed work will be offered on the auction market. Initially, it was likely in the possession of Maria Isabel, who, a year after the completion of the family portrait, was married to the Crown Prince of Naples-Sicily at just 13 years old. The piece was passed down through the family before hitting the market at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Spanish princess' portrait is one of the sale's top lots, going to auction on April 24 at 6pm.
Another highlight of the sale is an important work by Louyse Moillon, one of the most significant female painters in 17th-century France, whose works were also appreciated and purchased by King Charles I of England. Moillon specialized in fruit still lifes, which she occasionally enhanced with figures, as is the case with the painting in question, Marchandes de fruit. The model is likely to be the same one that appears in The Fruit and Vegetable Merchant (1630), which is displayed in the Louvre.
Other lots worth mentioning include The Holy Francis in Prayer by Jusepe de Ribera, known as Spagnoletto, Winter Landscape with Ice Pleasures, executed by Hendrick Avercamp along with an assistant, and Michele Marieschi's St. Mark's Square in Venice from the Clock Tower.
On April 25, the auction of 19th-century painting will also take place, featuring paintings of several young women.
One of these works transports us to Istanbul (then still Constantinople) at the turn of the century. Lute-Playing Odalisque on the Bosphorus was executed by the Italian painter Fausto Zonaro, who moved to Istanbul in 1891 and was soon appointed the official court painter to Sultan Abdül Hamid II. Zonaro painted historical scenes, but also everyday life in the city on the Bosphorus strait. After the fall of the Sultan, he returned to Italy. The painting in question closely resembles a pastel, dated before 1908, and is part of the collection at the Pera Museum in Istanbul.
Here, we encounter a young woman on the steps of a Venetian church. The painting, dated 1883, is one of four works by Eugen von Blaas that will be offered in the auction. Von Blaas, the son of Austrian parents, grew up in Venice. Throughout his life, he remained loyal to the city which served as the backdrop for most of his genre paintings.
Finally, attention must be drawn to this impressive work by the Austrian landscape painter Theodor von Hörmann, who is regarded as a pioneer of modern painting in his homeland. Von Hörmann spent a long time as an officer before turning to painting as a self-taught artist, with the Impressionists, whose works he encountered in Paris. In 1890, Theodor von Hörmann moved to the Moravian town of Znaim (Czech: Znojmo), where the piled-up ice floes on the banks of the Thaya inspired this particular work in March 1891. After decades in private ownership, the painting is likely one of Hörmann's last major works that can be offered on the market.
The auction week will also include furniture, antiques, glass, and porcelain; notably, beautiful Meissen creations will be featured.
Classic Week will be held on April 24 and 25 at the Palais Dorotheum, Dorotheergasse 17, in Vienna. The exhibition will be open to the public starting on April 13.
