Coco Rocha in Vogue US December 2008 by Annie Leibovitz

Coco Rocha in Vogue US December 2008 by Annie Leibovitz

Madonna, Rafael Sanzio.

Mario Scalini, state supervisor of fine arts for Modena and Reggio Emilia, was doing inventory of the tens of thousands of art pieces in storage in his area when he found a small portrait of a lady framed by a beautifully elaborate gilded 17th century frame in the vault of the ducal palace of the Este family in Sassuolo, outside of Modena.
He immediately noted the high quality of the painting. The piece was thought to be an 18th century copy of the head of the Madonna in Rafael’s famous Holy Family of the Pearl now in the Prado museum, so Scalini found its exceptional quality incongruous. Also, why would a mere 12 by 16-inch copy be put in such a large, sumptuous frame?
He followed up on his hunch that this might be an actual Raphael by digging through the ducal archives for any reference to the portrait. He found nothing about a copy, but he did find an inventory reference from 1663 to a “portrait of a woman” by Raphael. There is no record of the Raphael portrait currently in the collection, nor was there any trace of it having been ceded to the Elector of Saxony in 1746 when Francesco III d’Este had to sell many of the most valuable pictures after he was bankrupted by the Wars of the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian Successions. There was no record of it being loaned or dispersed at any other time either, so it seems the Rafael was squirreled away somewhere and forgotten, maybe to be mistaken for a copy decades later

"ELEGANT" By ~ Albert Lynch ~ 1851 - 1912.

Lynch specialised in painting female subjects to which he brought a charming elegance and sophistication typical of such belle epoque paintings. He worked most often in pastel or watercolour, although he occasionally used oils, and he provided illustrations for two books, 'La Dame aux Camelias' by Dumas fils and 'La Parisienne' by Henry Becque. He was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur in 1901

Talbot, Photographie, 1911 - 1920.

Photographie du Studio Talbot, Paris, vers 1911-1920

Papier photographique ; épreuve noir et blanc sur papier argentique montée sur carton sous feuille plastique.

Queen Alexandrina Victoria By ~ Franz Xaver Winterhalter.

Creator: 

Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73) (artist)

Creation Date: 

1847

Acquirer: 

Albert, Prince (1819-61)

Provenance: 

Commissioned by Queen Victoria and given to Prince Albert as a present on their wedding anniversary, 10 February 1847

Description: 

Winterhalter was born in the Black Forest where he was encouraged to draw at school. In 1818 he went to Freiburg to study under Karl Ludwig Schüler and then moved to Munich in 1823, where he attended the Academy and studied under Josef Stieler, a fashionable portrait painter.

Woman With Swans ~ By ~ T.C.Chiu.

T. C. Chiu

T. C. Chiu was born in China and developed an interest in art when he was a young child. He began his art studies in China and continued when he came to America in 1974. His delicate work is the combination of the essential qualities of traditional realism and contemporary painting techniques.

Accomplished in a wide range of media, he incessantly challenges his mastery of watercolor, oil and printmaking. Many subjects inspire the widely traveled artist. Pre-eminent among them is an abiding reverence for the peace and beauty of the world of nature that is reflected in his painting.

"The Boudoir Rose" By ~ Henry Thomas Schafer ~ 1873 - 1915.

The Boudoir Rose

Henry Thomas Schafer (1873-1915) The Boudoir Rose