The Preview of Hampel Fine Art Sale - Selected Artworks Part II

On March 28th HAMPEL Fine Art Auctions will present the 2019 Spring Fine Art sale in the beautiful setting of Villa Hampel in Munich.

The Old Masters section includes extraordinary paintings from a wide variety of genres, subjects and styles, executed by artists from different schools.

Exhibition days: Saturday, 23 until Tuesday, 26 March 2019 – 10 am to 5 pm. Wednesday, 27 March 2019 – 9 am to 12 pm. 

LOT-ART selected for you some among the most interesting artworks from the Old Masters Sale: Click on each lot to access more pictures, full description and price estimate or just browse the full auction catalogue here:

Simon Marmion, Maria Lactans

Ambrosius Benson, St. Jerome as Penitent

Simon Marmion, Maria Lactans

Oil on oak panel, inside dimensions: 44.5 x 31 cm., outside dimensions: 58 x 46 cm. The north French artist Simon Marmion was a painter and miniaturist of special talent. He was heralded as the “prince d’enluminure” by Jean Lemaire in his famous poem written in honor of Margaret of Austria, Couronne Margaritique (1504). 

Marmion was active in Amiens from 1449 to 1454 and after that in Valenciennes until his death in 1489; his artworks document the perfect synthesis between Flemish art and Northern French art.

This masterfully executed painting represents the half-portrait of the Virgin and Child, set in an architecture of canopies supported by black marble pillars with gilt capitals and vaults decorated with black drawings. In contrast to the deeper, more saturated colors of the Flemish school, Marmion’s hues are brighter, as was common in miniature painting. See Price Estimate..


Ambrosius Benson, St. Jerome as Penitent

Oil on panel, 80 x 60 cm. Ambrosius Benson was a talented painter from Lombardy working in Bruges in the first half of 16th century and registered as a master in the Bruges guild. His works reflect perfectly the interaction between the Northern and Southern European art during the Renaissance: he worked for a short time in the studio of the Flemish master Gerard David, in fact, his paintings owe much to his northern style, but they also reflect the art of his native Lombardy and the painters who worked there, such as Leonardo. 

This painting depicts St. Jerome in wilderness kneeling to the left and hanging with his right hand the stone he used to hit himself. The saint is surrounded by all the symbols traditionally attributed to him: the tamed lion, the hat and the cardinal garments behind him (a symbol of rejection of earthly honors), a skull in front of him and a crucifix attached to a tree for the prayers. In the distance, under a cloudy horizon, is a wide river landscape with mountains that fade into the horizon. See Price Estimate..

Jan Brueghel the Younger and workshop, The Four Elements

Attributed to Marco Benefial, Susanna and the Elders

Jan Brueghel the Younger and workshop, The Four Elements

Oil on canvas, each 60 x 73 cm. This is a set of four corresponding depictions of the four elements - earth, water, fire and air - each represented by mythological figures. In the art of the Low Countries in the later 16th and 17th centuries, this allegorical theme became common to symbolize the equilibrium of nature and its sensual beauty, which is emphasized here by the nudity of the figures. The depiction of these paintings allowed Jan Brueghel the Younger to display his knowledge of the visible world as well as his extraordinary technical mastery in the depiction of animals, flowers, and natural elements:

For the water element is depicted the ancient goddess Thetis, sitting on the banks of a river under the trees with a group of putti engaged in collecting fish. The air element is personified by the goddess Urania, floating in the clouds with putti and surrounded by a great variety of flying birds, peacocks, turkeys, swans and pelicans.

The fire element is personified by the forge of Hephaestus, with all kinds of metal objects and weapons. The god is depicted with the anvil and next to the goddess Venus in the company of Cupid. The earth element is represented by Pomona, the goddess of the earth and of the fruitful abundance, who is surrounded by a satyr, putti, and a figure holding a sheaf of wheat. The goddess, known also as Ceres, was worshiped over a large part of ancient Italy. See Price Estimate

Attributed to Marco Benefial, Susanna and the Elders

Oil on canvas, 230 x 297 cm. This monumental painting, representing the episode taken from the Old Testament Apocrypha (Susannah 15-24), is attributed to the Roman painter Marco Benefial. He was mainly influenced by the classicism of Carlo Maratta and the neoclassical modulations of Pompeo Batoni, in opposition to the popular late Baroque style. The beautiful Susanna is approached by two elders while she was bathing in her home’s garden. They threaten to accuse her of adultery if she does not sleep with them. She refused the elders and was falsely accused by them, but later Susanna’s innocence was established and the truth triumphed. See Price Estimate..

Hermann tom Ring, Mary with the Child and her Parents Anna and Joachim

Hendrik van Cleve III, The Tower of Babel

Hermann tom Ring, Mary with the Child and her Parents Anna and Joachim

Oil on oak panel. 86 x 127 cm. The religious subject is shown in a contemporary interior giving the painting almost the character of a genre painting. The saints are not characterized by any attributes such as halos, just the traditional postures by Mary with the Child immediately reveal the religious topic, not least in conjunction with a depiction of an angel with dark wings floating in from the right. The large dark grape in the hand is a reference to the Last Supper and therefore Christ's future martyrdom. The wall inscription above the cage “ECCE VIRGO OCCIPIET ET PARIET FILIUM“ (Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son) originates from the prophecy of Isaiah (chapter 7) and refers to the readings of Saint Joachim, as of course the subject of the painting itself. This is a high-ranking 16th-century painting of museum quality. See Price Estimate...

Hendrik van Cleve III, The Tower of Babel

Oil on panel, 63.5 x 106 cm. This painting depicts the biblical story of man's hubris and their desire to build a tower that reached to the heavens. God punished them with a Babylonian confusion of tongues. In the course of the 17th century, the representation of the Tower of Babel was a very popular subject in the Netherlands for its allegorical meaning, as it shows that humans should not carry out godlike tasks.

The Flemish painter Hendrik van Cleve sets the tower centrally in a very wide and impressive landscape. Countless people are flocking around the structure, which reaches to the clouds. In the foreground, the architects are working on the planning of the tower.

The painting is distinguished by an uncommon lightness of touch, and an excellent tone of colour, which are the main qualities of Van Cleve’s oeuvre. See Price Estimate..

Follower of Antonio Canal, also known as Canaletto, View of the Rialto Bridge and the Camerlenghi Palace

Hendrik Frans van Lint, View across the Grand Canal of the Piazzetta with the Two Columns and Campanile

Follower of Antonio Canal, also known as Canaletto, View of the Rialto Bridge and the Camerlenghi Palace

Oil on canvas, 36.7 x 55.5 cm. This painting shows a typical view of Venice executed by a follower of Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto. Considered one of the most outstanding Venetian painters of the 18th century, he is famous for his view paintings or vedute. 

The painting shows a view across the Grand Canal, past the Fondaco dei Tedeschi with its piers surmounted by arcades to the Rialto Bridge and the Camerlenghi Palace, which bathed in sunlit on one side while the other remains in the shadow. 

During the 18th century, the panoramic views of Venice and its surrounding areas depicted with topographical accuracy were highly prized by the travelers and art lovers who made the Grand Tour. See Price Estimate..

Hendrik Frans van Lint, View across the Grand Canal of the Piazzetta with the Two Columns and Campanile

Oil on panel, 31 x 48 cm. Signed "H. van Lint" lower left. The painting shows one of Venice’s most beautiful square from the viewpoint of the San Marco Basin. In the center is the Piazzetta with the twin columns, on which are the Leone di San Marco and the statue of San Teodoro, flanked by the patterned brickwork façade of Palazzo Ducale and the Biblioteca Marciana at right. In the background are visible the dome of the Basilica di San Marco, the clock tower and the bell tower.

This painting bears the signature of Hendrik Frans van Lint, a Flemish landscape and vedute painter who was part of the group of Flemish and Dutch artists active in Rome during the 18th century. Van Lint's Venetian views are rare, and it is generally surmised that he never visited Venice, but rather based his views of the city on drawings and engravings by other artists. In particular, he modeled his vedute, which are remarkably open and sunny, bathed in the warm colours of Italy, on those of Gaspar van Wittel, with whom he possibly worked in Rome. See Price Estimate..

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