Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Carlton Hobbs LLC
The art of wax modeling can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when it was used for effigies, death masks and portrait miniatures. In Renaissance Italy, Florence, Venice and Naples were among the first centers to recognize the possibilities of using wax to imitate human flesh, arguably one of the earliest instances of hyper-realism in art. Some of these studies were portrayed with terrifying realism such as a Cadaver in Decomposition by the Neapolitan Gaetano Guilio Zummo, circa 1695. In later centuries, busts or life-size portraits were created from this pliable material, as were anatomical models, a practice known as moulage. Read more... (1533 words, 11 images, estimated 6:08 mins reading time)
This is a preview of An Extremely Rare Pair Of Wax Sculptures Of Gentlemen Dressed In Their Original Apparel
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Read the full post (1533 words, 11 images, estimated 6:08 mins reading time)
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Tagged 18th century, Carlton Hobbs, France, French apparel, Jacques Necker, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Madame Tussaud, Marie Grosholz, moulage, Philippe Curtius, Salon de Cire, wax modeling, wax portrait, wig
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Carlton Hobbs LLC
This cockerel is rendered with striking naturalism and elaborate attention to detail. Its feathers are highly refined and arranged in sections at intervals with subtly worked spaces in between, which gives the subject a strong sense of movement. The tension of the arched body, with its feathers seeming to have been inflated from within, conveys the excitement of the bird, who has just subdued its cunning prey. Even the various surface textures, such as the calloused feet, the flaccid comb and wattle, the scaly skin of the snakes and the covering of grass on the base, are intricately worked. The extraordinary technical skill of the sculptor is evidenced by the use of a single block of marble, a considerable achievement, particularly where the subtleties like the feathers, the complexly coiling bodies of the snakes, and the positioning of the feet of the bird are concerned. Read more... (1477 words, 6 images, estimated 5:54 mins reading time)
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Tagged allegory, animal sculpture, bee, Carlton Hobbs, Caroline Bonaparte, Carrara, cockerel, cocq gaulois, emblem, France, Francesco Antonio Franzoni, Gioacchino Murat, Museo Pio-Clementino, Napoleon Bonaparte, Rome, rooster, Sala degli animali, serpent, snake, symbol
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This interesting French petit-point needlework in the Carlton Hobbs collection depicts a voyage of Henri II of France (1519-1559). Henri, holding a crown and scepter, stands on the bow of a galley as it heads towards the sun and away from night. Two flags fly on the central mast, a tricolor flag of red, white and blue (colors associated with France since the Middle Ages), and above this a flag decorated with a crescent moon. The crescent was a symbol of Henri’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers, borrowed from the Goddess Diana, which he also adopted as his device.
Read more... (1256 words, 7 images, estimated 5:01 mins reading time)
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Tagged broderie, Carlton Hobbs, crescent, Diane de Poitiers, Entry into Lyon, Frederick Spitzer, galley, Henri II, needlework, petit point, Schloss Ambras
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Over the summer we brought you preliminary details on an important Aubusson carpet made to a design by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc for the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame de Paris in our collection. We are now very pleased to present the complete research for the carpet, which is currently on show in our booth at TEFAF Maastricht, Booth #271:
The design of the present carpet was the work of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879) for the sanctuary of Notre Dame de Paris in the 1860s.
Carlton Hobbs LLC Read more... (1102 words, 6 images, estimated 4:24 mins reading time)
This is a preview of A In-Depth Look At Viollet-le-Duc’s Work for Nôtre Dame de Paris, And The Aubusson Carpet Made to His Design
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Tagged 19th century, Aubusson, Carlton Hobbs, carpet, Frederic Tixier, Islamic architecture, Mantes Carpet, Musée du Louvre, nineteenth century, Notre Dame, Notre Dame de Paris, St. Enfance, TEFAF Maastricht, Viollet le Duc
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
While watching the season finale of PBS Masterpiece’s “Downton Abbey” last weekend, Carlton Hobbs staff member Dana noticed something curiously familiar in the background of one scene:
Scene from "Downton Abbey"
A porcelain-mounted torchère very much like the pair by Louis-François Bellangé in the Carlton Hobbs collection!
Carlton Hobbs LLC
For those not familiar, Downton Abbey is a British period drama about a fictional aristocratic family and their country house in England in the early 1900s. The house used for Downton Abbey on the show is actually Highclere Castle in Hampshire. Various other filming locations are used, and in this particular episode the family visits relatives at a Scottish hunting lodge, with many of the interior and exterior scenes shot at Inveraray Castle in Scotland. Read more... (284 words, 4 images, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)
This is a preview of For Carlton Hobbs, a torchère lights up an episode of Downton Abbey
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Read the full post (284 words, 4 images, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The first known examples of carved depictions of vagabonds and beggars date back to the second half of the 18th century and are specific to Val Gardena, also referred to by its German name, Gröden, a valley in the Dolomite mountain range of northern Italy. This town was well known for it’s cottage industry of wooden carving in which toys, utility articles and sculpture were made since the 17th century, and the present set of figures are most likely attributable to this region.
Read more... (282 words, 5 images, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)
These candelabra, which take the very interesting and uncommon form of human skeletons, belong to the genre in art specifically devoted to reminding us of our own mortality. “Memento Mori,” from the Latin “Remember you will die,” is a theme found in painting, sculpture and architecture, which reflects upon the transience of life and ephemeral nature of our earthly possessions. The most popular symbols found in these works are skeletons or skulls. Extinguished candles, urns of flowers and timepieces, such as clocks and hourglasses, are also present as reminders of our fleeting existence in this world.
Carlton Hobbs LLC Read more... (705 words, 4 images, estimated 2:49 mins reading time)
We are excited to bring you another discovery we recently made:
We have a large carpet in our collection (measuring 20′ x 15′) decorated with a profusion of stylized foliate tendrils and acanthus leaves, centered by an Islamic-style temple. Carlton’s hunch that it’s design resembled the work of Eugène Viollet le Duc (1814-1879) led us to contact Professor Martin Bressani, the leading authority on Viollet-le-Duc, who commented that the carpet looked to be his work “to the degree that it is hard to imagine anyone else having designed it”, and that the distinctive floral motif, was one of Viollet-le-Duc’s trademarks. Read more... (374 words, 4 images, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)
We recently had a very interesting discovery regarding our Model of the Temple of Solomon.
Carlton Hobbs LLC
The model was made in 1883 by the firm of Messrs. Bartlett, to the designs of biblical scholar Thomas Newberry. It was exhibited at The Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall in 1887.
Carlton Hobbs LLC
Read more... (351 words, 4 images, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)
Carlton Hobbs LLC
This interesting set of twelve carved ivory roundels in the Carlton Hobbs collection depict the likenesses of twelve individuals taken from “Les Héros de la Ligue ou la Procession Monacale conduitte par Louis XIV pour la conversion des Protestants de son Royaume” (“Heroes of the League, or the Monastic Procession Led by Louis XIV for the Conversion of Protestants of his Kingdom”), a series of satirical engravings published in 1691 (figure 1). The entire series comprised twenty-four plates portraying some of the worst enforcers of Louis XIV’s anti-Huguenot policies, which included the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). Read more... (457 words, 5 images, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)
