TITIAN’S MYSTERIOUS "LADY IN WHITE" VISITS PASADENA

This article is provided by Art & Object

She looks sideways at the viewer, limpid dark pools for eyes, strawberry curls setting off the flush of her cheeks and lips of faded fuschia. Who is she? She is the Lady in White. More than that, none can say. Sprung from the brush of Tiziano Vecelli, or Titian, she was referred to by the artist as “my most beloved object” and “a portrait of she who is the absolute mistress of my soul.” Some say she is an idealized figure of feminine beauty, others a favorite model, and still more think she is the artist’s eldest daughter, Lavinia, on her wedding day. Name or none, she has landed at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, making her first stop ever in California, through March 25.

The unnamed figure beguiled Titian enough to make several copies of the painting, none of them extant, though Rubens painted a nearly identical version, and another by an unknown artist (possibly Titian), hangs in a museum in Kassel, Germany. Lady in White is in some ways a typical example of Titian’s later work. By this point in his career, about 15 years before he succumbed to the plague in 1576, the artist famous for his use of color seemingly turned in the opposite direction.

To the untrained eye, Lady in White could be mistaken for the work of an artist different than the colorist behind masterpieces like the Pesaro Madonna altarpiece (1519-1526). Saint Peter’s blue robe echoes the sky behind him, a faded saffron banner displaying the papal arms, frame left, joins a lighter shade of the same worn by the Virgin on the right. By contrast, Lady in White employs subdued tones and a modest use of red.

“He does some spectacular pictures that are all very monochromatic with no color in them whatsoever,” Togneri says of Titian’s later work. “This one is veering toward that. You can see a reddish background, but except for her lips and some of the jewels in her bracelet, it is not very colorful. Those cheeks and those lips and those beautiful brown eyes are about the most coloristic you will find on the whole canvas.”

Whatever dynamism Titian loses in his pallet by this period, he gains in his brushwork. Studying the folds in her dress at the bottom of the painting, his brush is plainly evident, adding a texture that prefigures 19th Century artists by roughly 300 years. “He’s painting pictures that are much more impressionistic as we know them today. This one’s tight, but it’s not nearly as tight as some of his earlier portraits from the 1540s. He gets woolier over the next 10 years,” offers Togneri.

Tizziani Vicelli began life some time around the end of the 15th Century in Pieve di Cadore, a mountain town near the Eastern Dolomites, roughly 110 kilometers north of Venice. At an early age he found an apprenticeship with the Bellini brothers, Giovanni and Gentile, one of Venice’s most successful studios. There he met Giorgione and the two went on to found the Venice school of late Renaissance art, one that favored color over form. His clientele included Pope Paul III, Emperor Charles V and the House of Hapsburg. Titian’s revolutionary impact on the use of color resonates in the works of great masters that followed, including Tintoretto, El Greco, Rubens and Delacroix through to the impressionists.

Beginning in 1561, Lady in White hung in the ducal palaces of Alfonso d’Este in Modena and Ferrara. In 1746, August III, Elector of Saxony and later King of Poland, purchased it and has held it since. It has undergone three restorations beginning around 1826, the latest being 2007, when various coats of yellowing varnish were removed. Today, Lady in White, stripped of her dingy layers, wears white again, her visage as beguiling as the day Titian’s brush dried. And behind her demure smile and limpid brown eyes, still she holds her centuries-spanning mystery.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jordan Riefe

Jordan Riefe has been covering the film business since the late 90s for outlets like Reuters, THR.com, and The Wrap. He wrote a movie that was produced in China in 2007. Riefe currently serves as West Coast theatre critic for The Hollywood Reporter, while also covering art and culture for The Guardian, Cultured Magazine, LA Weekly and KCET Artbound.

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR UNKNOWINGLY HOUSED NAZI-LOOTED PAINTING FOR DECADES

This article is provided by Art& Object

When David and Gabby Tracy prepared to downsize into a smaller home, they realized that a massive, treasured painting that they’d lived with for years wouldn’t fit in their new condo. Standing at nearly eight feet tall, the painting of Ivan the Terrible on horseback had come with Ridgefield, Connecticut, home they had purchased in 1987. The couple admired the quality of the painting, and came to love it, moving it with them to a new home. They assumed the canvas was a common copy, and estimated its value at only $5,000 when a Washington, D.C. auction house listed it last year.

But the auction house soon received an urgent message from the Dnepropetrovsk Art Museum in Ukraine, claiming the painting had once been in their collection and had been stolen during World War II. One of the paintings on display when the then Ekaterinoslav City Art Museum opened in 1914, the painting disappeared during Nazi occupation of the city from 1941 to 1943.

The museum identified the painting as the original 1911 work by Mikhail Panin, titled Secret Departure of Ivan the Terrible Before the Oprichnina. It depicts a dejected looking Ivan the Terrible and his loyalists secretly fleeing the Kremlin as he abdicated the throne in 1564. Ivan eventually returned from his exile in Alexandrovskya Sloboda to reclaim power and create a new policy where he ruled absolutely, oprochnina.

The Tracy’s were stunned to learn the history behind their painting, though it is still unclear how the previous owner of their home, a former Swiss soldier who died in 1986, acquired the work. Gabby Tracy, now 84, survived the Holocaust but lost her father in a concentration camp. According to an interview with the Associated Press, the couple are happy to return the work to its original owners, with the help of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In a statement, Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara said, “As the FBI returns this painting to the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, D.C., we do so with the purpose of preserving history. This piece of artwork is of significance not just for its monetary value, but for its place in the world of art and culture. The FBI continues to commit investigative resources to recover cultural property.”

5 INFLUENTIAL AMERICAN TOY COMPANIES OF THE 19TH CENTURY

This article is provided by Jasper52
In the early 1800s, most American children played with homemade toys. That started to change with the arrival of the industrial revolution and the application of American ingenuity toward playthings.

Names like Marx, Tonka, Mattel and Hasbro, which are familiar to baby boomers and subsequent generations, didn’t emerge until the 20th century. To explore the American toy industry’s beginnings, one has to go back in time to before the Civil War, when pioneering toy manufacturers staked their claim on a still-developing sector.

Here are five companies that were on the ground floor of American toy production:

Francis, Field & Francis

The first toy manufacturer of record was based in Philadelphia. Known as Francis, Field & Francis, a.k.a Philadelphia Tin Toy Manufactory, this business was in operation as early as 1838. Francis, Field & Francis produced the first manufactured American toy, a horse-drawn fire apparatus. The company claimed their japanned (lacquered) tin toys were “superior to any imported.”

George W. Brown & Co.

By the mid-19th century, New England was the hotbed of toy making. George W. Brown of Forestville, Conn., apprenticed as a clock maker before co-founding George W. Brown & Co., to manufacture toys. Brown applied his knowledge of clocks in designing the first American clockwork tin toys, including a train that the company marketed in 1856. His company also produced many animal-drawn conveyances, platform toys, wagons, fire engines, ships and trains.

Crandall Toys

Charles M. Crandall of Montrose, Pennsylvania, whose father and brothers were also toy makers, had his greatest success manufacturing building block sets. His sets patented in 1867 featured a tongue-and-groove arrangement that held the pieces together. Crandall introduced lithographed paper-on-wood building block sets in the 1870s. It was said that by the end of the 19th century, Crandall’s building block sets were seen in almost every civilized nation.

J. & E. Stevens Co.

J. & E. Stevens Co. of Cromwell, Connecticut, is credited as the first American company to produce cast-iron toys. John & Elisha Stevens started out making hardware but switched to simple toys like sadirons, garden tools and, later, pistols. J. & E. Stevens supplied cast-iron wheels to numerous toy makers. They are best known as prolific manufacturers of cast-iron mechanical banks in the late 1800s.

Ives & Co.

Of the many toy makers to emerge after the Civil War, the undisputed leader was Ives & Co. Edward Ives joined his father, Riley, around 1860. They moved their company from New York City to Bridgeport, Connecticut, a clock-making center, to facilitate their transition to manufacturing clockwork toys. The first were No. 1 Boy on Velocipede and No. 2 Single Oarsman, which replicated a man rowing a boat. Within a few years, Ives & Co. was producing about 20 high-quality clockwork tin toys. Ives set the pace with the trend toward cast iron in the 1870s, making the first mechanical bell toys on wheels. By the 1880s, Ives, Blakeslee & Co. was exporting toys to Europe and South America. In 1890, Harry Ives joined his father, Edward, in the business and continued manufacturing popular toys and trains well into the 20th century.

Information sourced from The Story of American Toys by Richard O’Brien (Abbeville Press, 1990)

DOS & DON'TS FOR STARTING A BOOK COLLECTION (FROM INVALUABLE.COM)

In the world of book collecting, one trend seems to recur: our literary favorites are one day likely to become the collectibles adorning our bookshelves.

This year marks the anniversary of the births of two of the most beloved children’s authors of all time: Roald Dahl, author of classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, who would have turned 100 years old on September 13; and Beatrix Potter, renowned writer and illustrator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, who would have turned 150 this past July.

Stemming from the fanfare around these milestones, as well as a renewed, nostalgic interest in these authors, recent book auctions have focused on children’s, illustrated, and picture books. Top sales have featured editions by the beloved Dahl and Potter, among other reputed authors
and illustrators of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Seasoned bibliophiles around the world have flocked to win these rare editions of children’s and modern adult classics, but those who are new to collecting 19th- and 20th-century rare books may question where exactly to start. To help provide some guidance, we turned to Deborah Macke, manager of the London branch of Potterton Books, a bookseller of over 30 years which specializes in “books for inspiration”; Max Hasler, specialist in modern first editions at the recently established London-based Forum Auctions; and Cathy Marsden, specialist in Rare Books and Works on Paper at Lyon & Turnbull.

Tips for New Collectors

Buy what you love.

It may seem obvious, but the first piece of advice from each of our specialists was to make sure everything you buy speaks to you. Popular purchases that you think might make you a quick buck have their own karma and, as Hasler says, “They may stay on your bookshelf a lot longer than you expect!” If you purchase something you enjoy, you’ll offset any pressure sell right away.

Ask questions.

According to Hasler, there are some basic questions you should ask yourself when considering a new edition to your collection, especially if your goal is ultimately to offer it for resale:

• Why would another person want to buy it?

• Is it beautiful?

• Is it unique?

• Was it illustrated by an artist/illustrator of note?

• Is it informative, or would it appeal to a niche area of interest?

• How old is it?

• Of what quality is the printing?

Go niche, and do your research.

Once you’ve found a field you love, get to know it intimately. The best way to research your niche, says Marsden, is to find a bibliography you can trust and use that as a guide. You can normally find reference to one of these in an auction catalog.

Condition is paramount.

If you’re looking to re-sell, the importance of condition cannot be overstated. Up to 80 percent of the sale value of a book can depend upon the presence and condition of a dust jacket. So if you’re starting to collect, look for books with their original dust jackets, and try to find them in the best condition possible.

Keep an eye out for the unique.

Rarity is crucial to increasing value. Start by learning the basics behind identifying first editions, number lines, original dust jackets, advanced review copies, and more. A good place to begin learning is by exploring auction house sales results. You can also check out the latest edition of “Collected Books: The Guide to Identification and Values” by Allen and Patricia Ahearn.

While fully understanding what makes a particular 19th- or 20th-century book rare, however, will come with years of experience as a book collector, it’s never too early to start learning the ropes.