拍品 49

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE DEANE F. JOHNSON, SOLD TO BENEFIT THE JOHNSON CHARITABLE REMAINDER UNITRUST AND THE DEANE F. JOHNSON ALZHEIMER'S RESEARCH FOUNDATION LOTS 49, 51, 78. The name Deane F. Johnson evokes one of the finest collections of eighteenth century French furniture and fine arts formed in the mid-twentieth century. It was Deane Johnson's consummate taste and extraordinary choices which shaped the collection and included the finest examples of eighteenth and nineteenth century European art. He spent countless hours visiting museums, exhibitions, galleries and collections studying and comparing the works of artists he was interested in acquiring for his growing collection. In addition to paintings and furniture, he was particularly fond of English watercolors, which he started collecting in 1979. Deane was a classic Renaissance man: an eminent lawyer, a successful producer, a philanthropist and an environmentalist, a rancher and a gardener, a connoisseur and a collector. Passionate about horses, dogs and roses, it is not surprising to see that these subjects are represented throughout this collection. His personal rule was to purchase only those works to which he had an emotional response, for this reason the entire collection gave him enormous pleasure throughout his life. Proceeds from this sale will benefit the Deane F. Johnson Alzheimer's Research Foundation, which was stablished by his widow, Kate Edelman Johnson in 1999, following his heroic battle with the disease. Her hope is to find a prevention and a cure for Alzheimer's disease so that others will be spared this 'equal opportunity destroyer'.

Henri-Horace Roland de la Porte (Paris c. 1724-1793)

A brioche, two pastries, two covered jars and a glass of red wine on a stone ledge

细节

Henri-Horace Roland de la Porte (Paris c. 1724-1793)
A brioche, two pastries, two covered jars and a glass of red wine on a stone ledge
oil on canvas
13 x 16¼ in. (33 x 41 cm.)

拍品专文

The pupil of Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Henri-Horace Roland de la Porte was born in Paris and was approved by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1761 as a 'painter of animals and fruit'.

The present composition, bathed in a golden yellow light, depicts simple rustic objects and breads in a restrained, yet realistic fashion, reminiscent of the works of Jean-Siméon Chardin with whose paintings de la Porte's work has often been confused.

Like Chardin, de la Porte's use of a light source coming from the upper left-hand side, throws some of the surfaces into relief and highlights them against the indistinct background (for example see Chardin's La brioche; Louvre, Paris). The two pastries that hang over the edge of the stone plinth, projecting into the viewer's space, are reminiscent of the bread in Chardin's La pourvoyeuse (Louvre, Paris). Regardless of the great similarities between the two artists, the simplicity and balance of the compositional arrangement, the acute observation of light and shadow, and the tonal palettes binded by the white and red pigments of the jars, produce a work of quiet and exceptional monumentality.