Month: May 2021

English Victorian crowd scenes. Maybe it looked just like that, maybe not. Either way they are fun. William Powell Frith, artist. Living from 1819 to 1909, he specialized in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works.

“The Derby Day:” the ‘first study’ for the celebrated painting. Sold by the artist in 1857. English. Oil on canvas. Image © Christie’s 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5521063
“The Private View.” 1883. English. Image © Condé Nast Britain 2021. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.tatler.com/article/william-powell-frith-peoples-painter-harrogate-exhibition
“The Railway Station.” 1862. English. Oil on canvas. Royal Collection Trust. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.rct.uk/collection/405292/the-railway-station
“Ramsgate Sands (Life at the Seaside).”  1851-54. English. Oil on canvas. Royal Collection Trust. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/1/collection/405068

Designs for southern Italian tile ornaments, perfect for the conservatory whenever you get around to getting it finished. Plates from Johann Eduard Jacobsthal’s work “Süd-italienische Fliesen-Ornamente,” published in Germany in 1886. The idea for the post being taken from an idea on the art blog www.design-is-fine.org.

Figures 1 and 2, page 23. Wilhelm Greve, lithographer. Collections of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. Boston Public Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/suditalienischef00jaco/page/n23/mode/1up
Figures 1, 2, and 3. Page 25. Wilhelm Greve, lithographer. Collections of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. Boston Public Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/suditalienischef00jaco/page/n25/mode/1up
Figures 1 and 2. Page 27. Wilhelm Greve, lithographer. Collections of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. Boston Public Library, digitalizing sponsor. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/suditalienischef00jaco/page/n27/mode/1up
Figures 1 and 2. Taf. (Plate) 4. Page 30 of Süd-italienische Fliesen-Ornamente. E. Jacobsthal, editor. Institut of Wilhelm Greve, Berlin, lithographers. Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin printer and publisher. Collections of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/suditalienischef00jaco/page/n30/mode/1up
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4. Taf. (Plate) 8. Page 38 of Süd-italienische Fliesen-Ornamente. E. Jacobsthal, editor. Institut of Wilhelm Greve, Berlin, lithographers. Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin printer and publisher. Collections of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/suditalienischef00jaco/page/n38/mode/1up
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4. Taf. (Plate) 22. Page 66 of Süd-italienische Fliesen-Ornamente. E. Jacobsthal, editor. Institut of Wilhelm Greve, Berlin, lithographers. Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin printer and publisher. Collections of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/suditalienischef00jaco/page/n66/mode/1up
Figures 1, and 2.Taf. (Plate) 30. Page 82 of Süd-italienische Fliesen-Ornamente. E. Jacobsthal, editor. Institut of Wilhelm Greve, Berlin, lithographers. Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin printer and publisher. Collections of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/suditalienischef00jaco/page/n82/mode/1up

Novelty animal inkwells in brass. A menagerie for your desk.

Novelty brass crab inkwell. Partially articulated with a hinged lid opening to a small well and screw hinged front claws. Vintage. Maker not known. Image  © 1995-2021 eBay Inc. Fair use license. via https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-NOVELTY-ARTICULATED-BRASS-CRAB-INKWELL-/233565345458?_ul=IL
Novelty brass inkwell in the form of a lobster, naturistically modeled with the hinged thorax opening to reveal two blue glass inkwells. Victorian. Maker’s marks: Registration mark 136502 to the underside. Image © Bonhams 2001-2021. Fair use license. via https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21124/lot/660/
Novelty brass inkwell modeled as an armadillo. Antique. Image © 1986-2021 Invaluable, LLC. and Adam Partridge Auctioneers & Valuers. Fair use license. via https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/a-novelty-brass-inkwell-in-the-form-of-an-26a-c-8d4488200a#
Crocodile/alligator inkwell or desk tidy. Sold brass with the hinged lid to the center lifting to reveal a central section with two original removable ceramic ink chambers. On either side of this central section are additional sections to store pen nibs, sealing wax, etc. ca. 1880. English. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/decorative-objects/desk-accessories/inkwells/antique-english-crocodile-alligator-inkwell-desk-tidy-circa-1880/id-f_12516862/#skuId=f_12516862S1
Novelty brass inkwell modeled as a box camera operated by an anthropomorphic fox who is taking an image of a hare with a carrot. Undated. Image © COPYRIGHT 2020 DREWEATTS 1759 LTD. Fair use license. via https://auctions.dreweatts.com/auctions/7833/drewea1-10229/lot-details/2b7469b4-acda-4a5c-aa5a-ad2d00a1d20b

Life lived dramatically. Very dramatically. Theodor von Holst, painter. Living from 1810 to 1844, he was born in London where his artistic talents were noticed by Henri Fuseli and society portraitist Sir Thomas Lawrence with Lawrence buying drawings from von Holst who was only 10 at the time.

“The Fairy Lovers”. ca. 1840. English. Oil on canvas. Collections of the Tate Galleries. Cc0 License 3.0. via http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T01518
“The Dice: Mephistopheles plays for Faust’s soul.” 19th c. English. Oil on canvas. Attributed to von Holst. Image © Christie’s 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6062559
“Devilish Scenery.” ca. 1838. English. Watercolor. Signed and dated. Image © 1986-2021 Invaluable, LLC and Galerie Moenius. Fair use license. via https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/theodore-von-holst-1810-1844-453-c-dfd40b5925#
“Fantasy based on Goethe’s Faust.” 1834. English. Oil on canvas. Image source; Tate Britain. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theodor_von_Holst_Fantasy_based_on_Goethe%27s_Faust_1834.jpg

Dinner menus from the Red Star steamship line. Food looks good and they have a lot of Jugendstil imagery as they are from 1901 along with seeing what their steamships looked like. Jugendstil because the lithography was done in Germany. Collections of the New York Public Library.

Dinner menu for October 31st, 1901 on the S.S. Zeeland. Fritz Schneller and Company, Nurnberg lithographers. Archival ID# b16981665. From The New York Public Library, The Buttolph collection of menus. In the public domain due to age. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-6fa1-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Dinner menu for November 19th, 1901 on the S.S. Zeeland. Fritz Schneller and Company, Nurnberg lithographers. Archival ID#b16981665. From The New York Public Library, The Buttolph collection of menus. In the public domain due to age. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-704b-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Dinner menu for November 20th, 1901 on the S.S. Zeeland. Fritz Schneller and Company, Nurnberg lithographers. Archival ID#b16981665. From The New York Public Library, The Buttolph collection of menus. In the public domain due to age. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-7051-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Dinner menu for November 20th, 1901 on the S.S. Vaderland. Fritz Schneller and Company, Nurnberg lithographers. Archival ID#471853. From The New York Public Library, The Buttolph collection of menus. In the public domain due to age. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-7057-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Promotional ephemera connected with the l’Exposition Internationale de Paris which happened in 1937.

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, Paris, 1937 showing the German (Nazi) pavilion and the Eiffel tower in the background. 1937. Image source lartnouveau.com. In the public domain in its country of origin and other countries where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paris-1937Expo.jpg
Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, Paris, 1937. In the public domain due to age. via http://www.paris-unplugged.fr/1937-lexposition-universelle/
Colored sketch of the proposed Soviet pavilion with a statue of Lenin on the top. 1930s. Boris Iofan, architect. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via http://www.expositions-universelles.fr/1937-exposition-internationale-urss.html
 Exposition de 1937, Vue de la Tour Eiffel. 1937. French. Oil on canvas. André Devambez, painter. Signed and dated “André Devambez – Tour Eiffel – 1937.” Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes. In the public domain in its country of origin and other countries where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Devambez_-_Exposition_1937.jpg

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Designs for textiles with hints for which room to use them in by Koloman Moser of the Wiener Werkstätte. Selections from a 1902 portfolio in the collections of Harvard University. Archival ID#2009.10.

“Möbelstoff : Mondblume.” Plate 3. Image © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Fair use license. via https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/56214
“Donauwellen: Wandoekor fur ein Bádezimmer.” Plate 4. Image © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Fair use license. via https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/56214
“Wandoekor Scylla.” Plate 5. Image © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Fair use license. via https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/56214

More flowers, these being English and designs for china taken from a folio entitled “Majolica Vases and Plates: designs by Alfred Stevens who worked for Minton Pottery. All of these dating to 1850-1860. Archival ID#SD 1705/MS1728.

Flowers on blue background. Design sketch. 1850-1860. British. Alfred Stevens for Minton. Archival ID#SD 1705/MS1728. Image © Minton Archive. Fair use license. via themintonarchive.org.uk/folio-friday-may-6/#more-12515
Floral design. Design sketch. 1850-1860. British. Alfred Stevens for Minton. Archival ID#SD 1705/MS1728. Image © Minton Archive. Fair use license. via themintonarchive.org.uk/folio-friday-may-6/#more-12515
Bouquet with blue border. Design sketch. 1850-1860. British. Alfred Stevens for Minton. Archival ID#SD 1705/MS1728. Image © Minton Archive. Fair use license. via themintonarchive.org.uk/folio-friday-may-6/#more-12515

Flower pictures, these from 1878. Illustrations taken from “Vick’s Flower and Vegetable Garden” Published by James Vick in Rochester, New York.

“Annuals.” Page 74. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46834115?utm_medium=social_media&utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=Collections%20Highlight&utm_content=Smithsonian%20Libraries#page/74/mode/1up
“Perennials.” Page 120. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46834115?utm_medium=social_media&utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=Collections%20Highlight&utm_content=Smithsonian%20Libraries#page/120/mode/1up
“Lillies.” Page 144. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46834115?utm_medium=social_media&utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=Collections%20Highlight&utm_content=Smithsonian%20Libraries#page/144/mode/1up
“Hardy bulbs.” Page 154. Collections of the Smithsonian Libraries. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46834115?utm_medium=social_media&utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=Collections%20Highlight&utm_content=Smithsonian%20Libraries#page/154/mode/1up

Views of Greece seen with a Romantic eye, done by British watercolorist Hugh William Williams who was known as “Grecian Williams.” Living from 1773 to 1829, Williams was an original member of the Associated Artists in Watercolour.

“La vue de Parthénon par le Propylées.” 1820. British. Watercolor and pencil on card. Signed and dated “H. W. Williams 1820” on the lower left. Image © 1986-2021 Invaluable, LLC and Bonhams. Fair use license. via https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/hugh-william-grecian-williams-british-1773-1829-l-1-c-07b4bbaba7
“Athens from the Hill of the Museum.” ca. 1820. British. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://sites.google.com/site/hughwilliamwilliams/home/hugh-william-williams-1773-1829?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2Ftemplates%2Fprint%2F&showPrintDialog=1
“Interior of the Acropolis of Athens, from the Propylea.” ca. 1823. British. British. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://sites.google.com/site/hughwilliamwilliams/home/hugh-william-williams-1773-1829?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2Ftemplates%2Fprint%2F&showPrintDialog=1