Discounted Items

An original aquatint print entitled “Dr Syntax Visits a Boarding School for young Ladies”. The image was drawn and etched by Thomas Rowlandson and published in “The Second Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of Consolation”, by William Combe. [Ackermann, London, 1820]. Dr. Syntax is pictured here seated alongside the school mistress, addressing a group of schoolgirls below a tree.

The various tours of Dr. Syntax follow the escapades of a fictional rural schoolteacher and pastor who attempts to make his fortune by going travelling, and then writing and illustrating a book about his experiences of quaint and unusual places. The story was first told and published in verse and serial form in 1809, in Rudolph Ackermann's The Poetical magazine under the title "The Schoolmaster's Tour". The series was written by William Combe (1742-1823), a prolific English writer of miscellaneous prose and satirical verse, and illustrated with colour plates by Thomas Rowlandson. Combe wrote the text to elucidate the illustrations. The work was then collected in 1812 as a "by popular demand" book entitled “The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque” and was reprinted a number of times during the following decades. This collaboration of designer, author and publisher went on to produce a further two "Tours": The Second Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of Consolation (1820), and The Third Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of a Wife (1821).

It was said that the amount of copper Thomas Rowlandson etched would sheathe the British Navy. An inveterate gambler, for much of his life Rowlandson had to produce a flood of his comic prints to stay ahead of financial losses. A wealthy uncle and aunt raised Rowlandson after his textile-merchant father went bankrupt. His career developed quickly. He entered London's Royal Academy Schools in 1772, visited Paris in 1774, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775, and won a silver medal in 1777. He left school in 1778 to set up in business. Rowlandson's depictions of life in Georgian England exposed human foibles and vanity with sympathy and rollicking humour. During the 1780s he consolidated the delicate style he used for his coarse subjects. He worked mainly in ink and watercolour, his rhythmic compositions, flowing line, and relaxed elegance inspired by French Rococo art. In 1789, at the height of critical and popular success, Rowlandson's aunt died, leaving him a large sum. He ran through the money quickly, travelling across Europe and gambling: by 1793 he was impoverished. His fortunes changed in 1797, when he began working for fine-art publisher Rudolph Ackermann, who published most of Rowlandson's finest work for twenty years.

Sources: The J. Paul Getty Museum; Royal Academy.

Artist/Etcher: Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827)
Medium: Hand-coloured etching with aquatint.
Condition: Good condition.
Dimensions: 15 x 22 cm. / 6 x 8 ½ in. (sheet).
Frame: 28 x 34.5 cm. / 11 x 13 ½ in. Gilt wood, contemporary. Light grey acid free matting and glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

Amusing early edition aquatint drawn and etched by Thomas Rowlandson entitled "Dr. Syntax Setting out on his Tour to the Lakes". It was published in "The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque", (London 1812, pl.1), a story of a fictional rural schoolteacher and pastor who attempts to make his fortune by going travelling, and then writing and illustrating a book about his experiences of quaint and unusual places. The story was first told and published in verse and serial form in 1809, in Rudolph Ackermann's The Poetical magazine under the title "The Schoolmaster's Tour". The series was written by William Combe (1742-1823), a prolific English writer of miscellaneous prose and satirical verse, and illustrated with colour plates by Thomas Rowlandson. Combe wrote the text to elucidate the illustrations. The work was then collected in 1812 as a "by popular demand" book and was reprinted a number of times during the following decades. This collaboration of designer, author and publisher went on to produce a further two "Tours": The Second Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of Consolation (1820), and The Third Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of a Wife (1821).

This print was likely produced for the book’s second edition, and is dated 1 April, 1813.
 
It was said that the amount of copper Thomas Rowlandson etched would sheathe the British Navy. An inveterate gambler, for much of his life Rowlandson had to produce a flood of his comic prints to stay ahead of financial losses. A wealthy uncle and aunt raised Rowlandson after his textile-merchant father went bankrupt. His career developed quickly. He entered London's Royal Academy Schools in 1772, visited Paris in 1774, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775, and won a silver medal in 1777. He left school in 1778 to set up in business. Rowlandson's depictions of life in Georgian England exposed human foibles and vanity with sympathy and rollicking humour. During the 1780s he consolidated the delicate style he used for his coarse subjects. He worked mainly in ink and watercolour, his rhythmic compositions, flowing line, and relaxed elegance inspired by French Rococo art. In 1789, at the height of critical and popular success, Rowlandson's aunt died, leaving him a large sum. He ran through the money quickly, travelling across Europe and gambling: by 1793 he was impoverished. His fortunes changed in 1797, when he began working for fine-art publisher Rudolph Ackermann, who published most of Rowlandson's finest work for twenty years.

Sources: The J. Paul Getty Museum; Royal Academy.

Artist/Etcher: Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827)
Medium: Hand-coloured etching with aquatint.
Condition: Good condition.
Dimensions: 12.5 x 20.5 cm. / 5 x 8 in. (sheet).
Frame: 25 x 33 cm. / 10 x 13 in. Bronzed wood, contemporary classic. Sage-coloured acid free matting and glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.
 

Amusing early edition aquatint drawn and etched by Thomas Rowlandson entitled " Doctor Syntax Meditating on the Tomb Stones". It was published in "The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque", (London 1812, pl.10), a story of a fictional rural schoolteacher and pastor who attempts to make his fortune by going travelling, and then writing and illustrating a book about his experiences of quaint and unusual places. The story was first told and published in verse and serial form in 1809, in Rudolph Ackermann's The Poetical magazine under the title "The Schoolmaster's Tour". The series was written by William Combe (1742-1823), a prolific English writer of miscellaneous prose and satirical verse, and illustrated with colour plates by Thomas Rowlandson. Combe wrote the text to elucidate the illustrations. The work was then collected in 1812 as a "by popular demand" book and was reprinted a number of times during the following decades. This collaboration of designer, author and publisher went on to produce a further two "Tours": The Second Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of Consolation (1820), and The Third Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of a Wife (1821).

This print was likely produced for the book’s second edition, and is dated 1 April, 1813.

It was said that the amount of copper Thomas Rowlandson etched would sheathe the British Navy. An inveterate gambler, for much of his life Rowlandson had to produce a flood of his comic prints to stay ahead of financial losses. A wealthy uncle and aunt raised Rowlandson after his textile-merchant father went bankrupt. His career developed quickly. He entered London's Royal Academy Schools in 1772, visited Paris in 1774, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775, and won a silver medal in 1777. He left school in 1778 to set up in business. Rowlandson's depictions of life in Georgian England exposed human foibles and vanity with sympathy and rollicking humour. During the 1780s he consolidated the delicate style he used for his coarse subjects. He worked mainly in ink and watercolour, his rhythmic compositions, flowing line, and relaxed elegance inspired by French Rococo art. In 1789, at the height of critical and popular success, Rowlandson's aunt died, leaving him a large sum. He ran through the money quickly, travelling across Europe and gambling: by 1793 he was impoverished. His fortunes changed in 1797, when he began working for fine-art publisher Rudolph Ackermann, who published most of Rowlandson's finest work for twenty years.

Sources: The J. Paul Getty Museum; Royal Academy. 

Artist/Etcher: Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827)
Medium: Hand-coloured etching with aquatint.
Condition: Good condition.
Dimensions: 14 x 21.5 cm. / 5 ½ x 8 ½ in. (sheet).
Frame: 28 x 34.5 cm. / 11 x 13 ½ in. Silver wood, contemporary. Olive green-coloured acid free matting and glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

A theatre company is disbanded after a charge of blasphemy. Actors, actresses and stage painters react in shock to the news. Hand-coloured copperplate engraving after an illustration by Thomas Rowlandson from “Journal of Sentimental Travels in the Southern Provinces of France, Shortly Before the Revolution”, London, 1812.

It was said that the amount of copper Thomas Rowlandson etched would sheathe the British Navy. An inveterate gambler, for much of his life Rowlandson had to produce a flood of his comic prints to stay ahead of financial losses. A wealthy uncle and aunt raised Rowlandson after his textile-merchant father went bankrupt. His career developed quickly. He entered London's Royal Academy Schools in 1772, visited Paris in 1774, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775, and won a silver medal in 1777. He left school in 1778 to set up in business. Rowlandson's depictions of life in Georgian England exposed human foibles and vanity with sympathy and rollicking humour. During the 1780s he consolidated the delicate style he used for his coarse subjects. He worked mainly in ink and watercolour, his rhythmic compositions, flowing line, and relaxed elegance inspired by French Rococo art. In 1789, at the height of critical and popular success, Rowlandson's aunt died, leaving him a large sum. He ran through the money quickly, travelling across Europe and gambling: by 1793 he was impoverished. His fortunes changed in 1797, when he began working for fine-art publisher Rudolph Ackermann, who published most of Rowlandson's finest work for twenty years.

Artist: Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827).
Medium: Hand-coloured etching
Condition: Good condition.
Dimensions: 12.5 x 19 cm. / 5 x 7 ½ in. (view)
Frame: 28 x 34.5 cm. / 11 x 13 ½ in. Gilt wood, contemporary classic. Beige acid free matting and glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

Amusing early edition aquatints drawn and etched by Thomas Rowlandson entitled "Dr. Syntax Stopt by Highwaymen" and “Bound to a Tree by Highwaymen”. They were published in "The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque", (London 1812, plates 3 and 4), a story of a fictional rural schoolteacher and pastor who attempts to make his fortune by going travelling, and then writing and illustrating a book about his experiences of quaint and unusual places. The story was first told and published in verse and serial form in 1809, in Rudolph Ackermann's The Poetical magazine under the title "The Schoolmaster's Tour". The series was written by William Combe (1742-1823), a prolific English writer of miscellaneous prose and satirical verse, and illustrated with colour plates by Thomas Rowlandson. Combe wrote the text to elucidate the illustrations. The work was then collected in 1812 as a "by popular demand" book and was reprinted a number of times during the following decades. This collaboration of designer, author and publisher went on to produce a further two "Tours": The Second Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of Consolation (1820), and The Third Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of a Wife (1821).

These prints were likely produced for the book’s second edition, and are both dated 1 April, 1813.

It was said that the amount of copper Thomas Rowlandson etched would sheathe the British Navy. An inveterate gambler, for much of his life Rowlandson had to produce a flood of his comic prints to stay ahead of financial losses. A wealthy uncle and aunt raised Rowlandson after his textile-merchant father went bankrupt. His career developed quickly. He entered London's Royal Academy Schools in 1772, visited Paris in 1774, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775, and won a silver medal in 1777. He left school in 1778 to set up in business. Rowlandson's depictions of life in Georgian England exposed human foibles and vanity with sympathy and rollicking humour. During the 1780s he consolidated the delicate style he used for his coarse subjects. He worked mainly in ink and watercolour, his rhythmic compositions, flowing line, and relaxed elegance inspired by French Rococo art. In 1789, at the height of critical and popular success, Rowlandson's aunt died, leaving him a large sum. He ran through the money quickly, travelling across Europe and gambling: by 1793 he was impoverished. His fortunes changed in 1797, when he began working for fine-art publisher Rudolph Ackermann, who published most of Rowlandson's finest work for twenty years.

Sources: The J. Paul Getty Museum; Royal Academy.

Artist/Etcher: Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827)
Medium: Hand-coloured etching with aquatint.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 14 x 21 cm. / 5 ½ x 8 ¼ in. (sheet) / each.
Frame: 50 x 38 cm. / 19 ¾ x 15 in. Gilt wood, contemporary. Brown acid free matting and glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

A coloured print representing a lively crowd cheering on three scantily clad girls racing barefoot at a country fair. A fourth girl appears to have tripped over a dog left of centre. Musicians on stilts provide further entertainment on the far right of the image.

It was said that the amount of copper Thomas Rowlandson etched would sheathe the British Navy. An inveterate gambler, for much of his life Rowlandson had to produce a flood of his comic prints to stay ahead of financial losses. A wealthy uncle and aunt raised Rowlandson after his textile-merchant father went bankrupt. His career developed quickly. He entered London's Royal Academy Schools in 1772, visited Paris in 1774, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775, and won a silver medal in 1777. He left school in 1778 to set up in business. Rowlandson's depictions of life in Georgian England exposed human foibles and vanity with sympathy and rollicking humour. During the 1780s he consolidated the delicate style he used for his coarse subjects. He worked mainly in ink and watercolour, his rhythmic compositions, flowing line, and relaxed elegance inspired by French Rococo art. In 1789, at the height of critical and popular success, Rowlandson's aunt died, leaving him a large sum. He ran through the money quickly, travelling across Europe and gambling: by 1793 he was impoverished. His fortunes changed in 1797, when he began working for fine-art publisher Rudolph Ackermann, who published most of Rowlandson's finest work for twenty years.

Source: The J. Paul Getty Museum.

Artist: Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827).
Medium: Hand-coloured etching.
Condition: Good condition, some creasing.
Dimensions: 24.5 x 35 cm. / 9 ¾ x 13 ¾ in. (visible)
Frame: 41.5 x 50.5 cm. / 16 ¼ x 19 ¾ in.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

Two versions of the same coloured print entitled “Dr Syntax and his Counterpart”. The image was drawn and etched by Thomas Rowlandson and published in “The Second Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of Consolation”, by William Combe. [Ackermann, London, 1820]. Dr. Syntax is pictured here seated at a table in a formal dining room, in lively conversation with a near identical man; two maids are watching and snickering at the doorway.

The various tours of Dr. Syntax follow the escapades of a fictional rural schoolteacher and pastor who attempts to make his fortune by going travelling, and then writing and illustrating a book about his experiences of quaint and unusual places. The story was first told and published in verse and serial form in 1809, in Rudolph Ackermann's The Poetical magazine under the title "The Schoolmaster's Tour". The series was written by William Combe (1742-1823), a prolific English writer of miscellaneous prose and satirical verse, and illustrated with colour plates by Thomas Rowlandson. Combe wrote the text to elucidate the illustrations. The work was then collected in 1812 as a "by popular demand" book entitled “The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque” and was reprinted a number of times during the following decades. This collaboration of designer, author and publisher went on to produce a further two "Tours": The Second Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of Consolation (1820), and The Third Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of a Wife (1821).

It was said that the amount of copper Thomas Rowlandson etched would sheathe the British Navy. An inveterate gambler, for much of his life Rowlandson had to produce a flood of his comic prints to stay ahead of financial losses. A wealthy uncle and aunt raised Rowlandson after his textile-merchant father went bankrupt. His career developed quickly. He entered London's Royal Academy Schools in 1772, visited Paris in 1774, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775, and won a silver medal in 1777. He left school in 1778 to set up in business. Rowlandson's depictions of life in Georgian England exposed human foibles and vanity with sympathy and rollicking humour. During the 1780s he consolidated the delicate style he used for his coarse subjects. He worked mainly in ink and watercolour, his rhythmic compositions, flowing line, and relaxed elegance inspired by French Rococo art. In 1789, at the height of critical and popular success, Rowlandson's aunt died, leaving him a large sum. He ran through the money quickly, travelling across Europe and gambling: by 1793 he was impoverished. His fortunes changed in 1797, when he began working for fine-art publisher Rudolph Ackermann, who published most of Rowlandson's finest work for twenty years.

Sources: The J. Paul Getty Museum; Royal Academy.

Artist/Etcher: Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827)
Medium: Hand-coloured etching with aquatint.
Condition: Good condition.
Dimensions: 13.5 x 20 cm. / 5 ¼ x 8 in. (view).
Frame: 45.5 x 34.5 cm. / 18 x 13 ½ in. Gilt wood, contemporary. Cream-coloured acid free matting and glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

This famous Rowlandson print entitled “An Italian Family”, represents a humble artistic Italian family practising opera. A young man stands in the centre of the image, singing energetically with his hands on his chest. Beside him to the right, an old man plays a baroque 4-string double bass. To the singer’s left, a man seated on the floor sings along while playing a harpsicord low to the ground and next to him on the far left a little boy plays the violin. On the far right, a young woman sits next to a fireplace with an infant in her lap; she holds up a cloth to dry, while singing over her shoulder. Her score, 'Affetuoso', is pinned to the mantlepiece in front of her. A greyhound sits at her side, appearing to partake in the singing. Several elements throughout the room further attest that we are viewing an Italian scene: a large macaroni bowl below the harpsicord on the far left, scattered wine bottles and an amphora to the right, a cross on the mantlepiece, Italian playbills, etc. This is part of a two-print companion series that included another print entitled: The French Family”. Below the image: “London, Pub. Dec. 1785 by S Alken. N°3 Dufours Place Broad Street Soho. Sold by W. Hinton N°5 Sweeting Alley Cornhill”.

Thomas Rowlandson (London, 13 July 1756 – 21 April 1827, London) was a prolific British artist, caricaturist and printmaker, noted for his political satire and social observation. He produced a wide variety of illustrations for novels, joke books, and topographical works. As a schoolboy at the school of Dr. Barvis in Soho Square he drew humorous characters of his master and class-mates before the age of ten. At 16, he was sent to Paris for two years, where he studied in a drawing academy and developed his skills drawing the human figure and caricature. On his return to London, he took classes at the Royal Academy. In 1775 he exhibited a drawing at the Royal Academy and two years later received a silver medal for a bas-relief figure. He was spoken of as a promising student. His drawing of Vauxhall, shown in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1784, had been engraved by Pollard, and the print was a success. Rowlandson was then largely employed by Rudolph Ackermann, the art publisher, where he illustrated many popular publications. Rowlandson died at home in London in 1827 after a prolonged illness. He was buried at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden.

Samuel Alken Sr. (London, 22 October 1756 – 9 November 1815, London) was an English artist, a leading exponent of the newly developed technique of aquatint. He entered the Royal Academy Schools, London, as a sculptor in 1772. He published A New Book of Ornaments Designed and Etched by Samuel Alken in 1779, and later established himself as one of the most competent engravers in the new technique of aquatint.

Sources: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Encyclopedia Britannica; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Sherry, James (1978). "Distance and Humor; The Art of Thomas Rowlandson". Eighteenth-Century Studies.

Artists: Thomas Rowlandson / Samuel Alken (aquatint)
Medium: Hand-coloured etching and aquatint.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 40 x 52 cm. / 15 ¾ x 20 ½ in. (View).
Frame: 56.2 x 66.5 cm. / 22 ¼ x 26 ¼ in. Gilt wood, contemporary classic. Matting and glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

Rowlandson & Pugin del. et sculpt. J. Bluck aquat. Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), prolific British artist, caricaturist and printmaker and accomplished French-born architectural draughtsman and printmaker Augustus Charles Pugin (1769-1832) combined their talents and jointly created the illustrations for The Microcosm of London (1808-1810) written by William Henry Pyne, published in London by Rudolf Ackermann in his “Ackermann’s Repository of Arts”, 100 Strand. The collection showcases the institutions, scenery, people and activities of cosmopolitan London at the turn of the 18th century. Pugin and Rowlandson worked collaboratively, with the former providing the architecture and the latter peopling the scenes with figures. The images were then etched by a number of talented engravers in Ackermann’s employ. Of the 104 plates in this three-volume publication, fifty-four were engraved by John Bluck (1791-1832), including this plate 15. It is dated 1st April, 1808 and was included in Volume 1.

Sources: The Royal Collection Trust; National Portrait Gallery; Met Museum; Sir Stephen Leslie, Dictionary of National Biography, (Volume 47, 1885); Romantic London (blog).

Artists: Thomas Rowlandson / Augustus Charles Pugin / John Bluck (aquatint).
Medium: Hand-coloured etching and aquatint.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 23.5 x 26.7 cm. / 9 ¼ x 10 ½ in. (view).
Frame: 37.5 x 39.5 cm. / 14 ¾ x 15 ½ in. Wood, contemporary. Acid-free matting, glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

Rowlandson & Pugin del. et sculpt. J. Bluck aquat. Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), prolific British artist, caricaturist and printmaker and accomplished French-born architectural draughtsman and printmaker Augustus Charles Pugin (1769-1832) combined their talents and jointly created the illustrations for The Microcosm of London (1808-1810) written by William Henry Pyne, published in London by Rudolf Ackermann in his “Ackermann’s Repository of Arts”, 100 Strand. The collection showcases the institutions, scenery, people and activities of cosmopolitan London at the turn of the 18th century. Pugin and Rowlandson worked collaboratively, with the former providing the architecture and the latter peopling the scenes with figures. The images were then etched by a number of talented engravers in Ackermann’s employ. Of the 104 plates in this three-volume publication, twenty-nine were engraved by Joseph Constantine Stadler (1780-1812), including this plate 81. It is dated 1st September, 1809 and was included in volume 3.

Sources: The Royal Collection Trust; National Portrait Gallery; Met Museum; Sir Stephen Leslie, Dictionary of National Biography, (Volume 47, 1885); Romantic London (blog).

Artists: Thomas Rowlandson / Augustus Charles Pugin / Joseph Constantine Stadler (aquatint).
Medium: Hand-coloured etching and aquatint.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 23.5 x 27.3 cm. / 9 ¼ x 10 ¾ in. (view).
Frame: 36.2 x 40.5 cm. / 14 ¼ x 16 in. Wood, contemporary. Acid-free matting, glass.
Origin: United Kingdom.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

This stunning painting features a beautiful landscape in the French countryside, showcasing the Sainte-Marie-de-Mazerat chapel located in the commune of Saint-Emilion (Gironde). The chapel holds historical significance as it was once part of a hermitage established by Cardinal François de Sourdis in 1615. Today, the only remains of the hermitage is the chapel, which is now part of the renowned wine-growing estate, Château l'Hermitage, known for producing a top-quality Saint-Emilion appellation wine. Created in the 1950s, this large format piece is signed by the artist in the lower right corner and is in very good condition with signs of craquelure (see photos).

Stéphane Gilbert Fernand Caracotchian, known as Stéphane Cara, is a French post-Impressionist painter. Of Armenian father and French mother, he was born in Châtenois (Alsace) on July 3, 1901. The son of a prestigious doctor, his family moved to Paris in 1919. He worked for many years as a wine merchant and as an agent for the “Société Anonyme fluviale Trans-Cam” in Bordeaux, before dedicating himself fully to painting.

His initial artistic training was self-taught, his research is personal, with no foreign influence and he later trained with Armand Drouant (1898-1978) and André Lhote (1885-1962) in Paris.

Stéphane Cara worked in solitude for several years. This is perhaps one of the reasons why it is difficult to pin him down to a particular school or personality. For him, each subject is the fruit of a particular inspiration that calls for its own means of expression. Hence the diversity and renewal of Cara's style. By simplifying the motif, the drawing and the colour, he achieves a synthesis of coloured planes in which there seems to be nothing but perfectly ordered indications.

Exhibitions :

1944: Selected in Bordeaux, at the Salon des provinces françaises, finalist for Guyenne at the Musée Galliéra, Paris.

1944: Second Liburnia prize.

1945: First Liburnia prize.

Since 1946: Salon des Indépendants bordelais.

Since 1957, exhibits annually at the Salon de l'Art Libre in Paris.

1959: Second Cezanne prize at the "Trois prix Cézanne" competition in Cannes; 1960: Winner of the Deauville International Grand Prix.

1960: Execution of the stained glass windows for the altar of the Virgin, Église Sainte-Hélène, Nice.

He was the author of a book entitled (in French) “Painting in a Nutshell: or How to Judge a Painting” published in 1959. His sister Anita was the first woman oceanographer in the world.

After travelling extensively, settled in Nice in 1955, where he died) on May 16, 1962, at the age of 60.

Source: Archives de France.

Artist: Stéphane Cara ( 1901-1962).
Signed in the lower right corner.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 65 x 92 cm. / 25 1/2 x 36 1/4 in.
Frame: Unframed.
Origin: France.

30% discount applicable at checkout.

Large oil on canvas depicting a twilight view of a village with a stream in winter.

Stéphane Gilbert Fernand Caracotchian, known as Stéphane Cara, is a French post-Impressionist painter. Of Armenian father and French mother, he was born in Châtenois (Alsace) on July 3, 1901. The son of a prestigious doctor, his family moved to Paris in 1919. He worked for many years as a wine merchant and as an agent for the “Société Anonyme fluviale Trans-Cam” in Bordeaux, before dedicating himself fully to painting.

His initial artistic training was self-taught, his research is personal, with no foreign influence and he later trained with Armand Drouant (1898-1978) and André Lhote (1885-1962) in Paris.

Stéphane Cara worked in solitude for several years. This is perhaps one of the reasons why it is difficult to pin him down to a particular school or personality. For him, each subject is the fruit of a particular inspiration that calls for its own means of expression. Hence the diversity and renewal of Cara's style. By simplifying the motif, the drawing and the colour, he achieves a synthesis of coloured planes in which there seems to be nothing but perfectly ordered indications.

Exhibitions :

1944: Selected in Bordeaux, at the Salon des provinces françaises, finalist for Guyenne at the Musée Galliéra, Paris.

1944: Second Liburnia prize.

1945: First Liburnia prize.

Since 1946: Salon des Indépendants bordelais.

Since 1957, exhibits annually at the Salon de l'Art Libre in Paris.

1959: Second Cezanne prize at the "Trois prix Cézanne" competition in Cannes; 1960: Winner of the Deauville International Grand Prix.

1960: Execution of the stained glass windows for the altar of the Virgin, Église Sainte-Hélène, Nice.

He was the author of a book entitled (in French) “Painting in a Nutshell: or How to Judge a Painting” published in 1959. His sister Anita was the first woman oceanographer in the world.

After travelling extensively, settled in Nice in 1955, where he died) on May 16, 1962, at the age of 60.

Source: Archives de France.

Artist: Stéphane Cara (1901-1962).
Signed in the bottom right corner.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 92 x 74 cm. / 36 ¼ x 29 in.
Frame: Unframed.
Origin: France.

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andscape of Provence titled by the artist on the back, Luberon's Hills. Painted around 1990 and signed in the lower right corner. 

Serge Charles Devic Arroyo was a French painter, architect and writer. Born in Algiers on 15 January 1941, after Algerian independence, he moved with his family to the south of France. He studied architecture and painting at the Beaux-Arts de Paris.

He exhibited regularly between 1983 and 1998 at the Galerie Vendôme in Paris and the Vent des Cîmes in Grenoble.

His artwork mainly comprises landscapes of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, as well as still lifes, portraits and genre scenes.

Serge Devic died in Banon (Haute-Provence) on 10 July 2019 at the age of 78.

Artist: Serge Devic (1941-2019).
Signed in the lower right.
Medium: Oil on wood.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 33 x 41 cm. / 13 x 16 in.
Frame: Unframed.
Origin: France.

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Roger Coppe was a Belgian expressionist painter, sculptor, draughtsman and master glassmaker. He was born February 10, 1912 in Flawinne, near Namur. Son of an official, his family moved to Comines in 1938, where he studied classical human sciences. Subsequently, he studied decorative arts in Tournai. He became professor of history of art and aesthetics at Saint-Henri (Comines) College in 1952. At the same time, he developed his career as a draughtsman, painter and sculptor. Having become a master glassmaker, he had a stained glass workshop for nearly thirty years and restored windows of many churches in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Congo. From 1980, his production focuses on drawing and watercolour, developing his style between a lyrical abstraction and a representation of essential lines strongly influenced by Bacon, Balthus, Dix, Daumier, etc., where the nude became essential in his work and followed aesthetic canons that are far removed from contemporary aseptic aesthetics.

An unconditional admirer of the work of the French poet Pierre Emmanuel (1916-1984), Coppe proceeds to a direct graphic transcription of his verses, among which is this work entitled Naked Back, produced in 1991 in pencil and watercolour.

Roger Coppe died in Mouscron (Belgium) on October 5, 2012 at the age of 84 years.

Artist: Roger Coppe (1928-2012).
Signed and dated on the bottom left.
Medium: Pencil and watercolour on paper.
Condition: Excellent.
Dimension: 25 x 32 cm. / 9 ½ x 11 ½ in. (visible)
Frame: 47 x 55 cm. / 18 ½ x 21 ½ in. Very good condition. Mat and glass.
Provenance: France.

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Watercolour painting entitled by the artist "Heavy Legs", representing a nude, reclined woman.

Roger Coppe was a Belgian expressionist painter, sculptor, draughtsman and master glassmaker. He was born February 10, 1928 in Flawinne, near Namur. Son of an official, his family moved to Comines in 1938, where he studied classical human sciences. Subsequently, he studied decorative arts in Tournai. He became professor of history of art and aesthetics at Saint-Henri (Comines) College in 1952. At the same time, he developed his career as a draughtsman, painter and sculptor. Having become a master glassmaker, he had a stained glass workshop for nearly thirty years and restored windows of many churches in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Congo. From 1980, his production focuses on drawing and watercolour, developing his style between a lyrical abstraction and a representation of essential lines strongly influenced by Bacon, Balthus, Dix, Daumier, etc., where the nude became essential in his work and followed aesthetic canons that are far removed from contemporary aseptic aesthetics. In 1982, he founded a fine arts academy in Comines-Warneton. From 1985 onwards, he showed his paintings at solo exhibitions in various towns in Belgium and exhibited in Brussels in 1990, Tournai in 1991 and Ghent in 1992. In that year, he began exhibiting with the group “Figuration Critique” in Paris.

Coppe painted female figures, frequently nudes, both in motion and in relaxed poses, with all muscles flexed or by contrast with softened forms. He had no hesitation about enlarging or deforming his models to achieve greater expressive force, further intensified by colours which were harsh and yet at the same time gloomy – purplish reds contracting with dirty yellows and glaucous greens.

Roger Coppe died in Mouscron (Belgium) on October 5, 2012 at the age of 84 years.

Artist: Roger Coppe (1928-2012).
Signed on the bottom left.
Medium: Watercolour on paper.
Condition: Excellent
Dimension: 28 x 36 cm. / 11 x 14 ¼ in. (visible)
Frame: 52 x 60 cm. / 20 ½ x 23 ½ in. Wood, Montparnasse style, brown matting and glass. Excellent condition.
Provenance: France.

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Rocky coastal landscape with various sailing boats on a misty pink morning, probably on the French Atlantic coast. Signed by the artist in the lower right corner and signed, titled "Brume rose - Matin" and with the artist's address on the back. Oil on canvas in good condition, with numerous cracks (see photos).

René Lacaze was a French jewellery designer and artist. He contributed significantly to the development of the Art Deco style. Born on 27 July 1901 in Paris, his mother was the manager of a dressmaking workshop, where he developed a particular taste for fashion as a child. With his uncle Armand Bignon, he visited numerous museums and discovered his passion for painting.

A family friend introduced him to the jewellery trade, which led him to train at the Mentel workshop in Paris, which worked with the most famous jewellers of the day: Cartier, Boucheron, Ancoc and Janésisch.

In 1923, Lacaze took up a position at Van Cleef & Arpels. In collaboration with Renée Rachel Puissant, the daughter of Alfred van Cleef, he took over the artistic and creative management of Van Cleef & Arpels in 1926. The duo invented the invisible setting technique, which allows precious stones to be set without visible prongs.

In June 1928, René Lacaze married Simone, with whom he had four children. According to his autobiography, he called himself René Sim Lacaze as a tribute to his wife.

René Sim Lacaze left Van Cleef & Arpels in 1941. He subsequently worked for Mauboussin and ran his own jewellery workshop. He created pieces for Marlene Dietrich, Michèle Morgan, Maurice Chevalier and the Duchess of Windsor.

Lacaze retired in 1968 and devoted himself entirely to painting, creating numerous watercolours. He died on 5 January 2000 at the age of 98.

Source: Wikipedia.

Artist: René Lacaze (1901-2000)
Signed in the lower right corner.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Good condition.
Dimensions: 64 x 85 cm. / 25 x 33 ½ in.
Frame: Unframed.
Origin: France.

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