Category Archives: Monographs

Arte religioso, religious art

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

26 February 2024

20th Century: The birth of a new era

As usual in Setdart, we are once again focusing on 20th century design, this time focusing on Nordic furniture, France and England, and Spain and Italy, without forgetting Italian glass. Four thematic auctions that will delight avant-garde lovers on Thursday, March 7.

It may seem dizzying to think that, in the mid-1980s, when Mies van de Rohe or Le CorbusierIn 1898, the Third French Republic had just been established, the Kingdom of Prussia was at its peak, and the interiors of Madrid’s aristocratic palaces, as Eugenio Rodríguez y Ruiz de la Escalera attested in 1898, were filled with pieces loaded with a questionable eclectic historicism. How is it possible that in 1929 one of the most iconic chairs in the history of art could be created without wood and with such modern lines?

The transition to the twentieth century is especially interesting as far as furniture is concerned, as industrial advances, coupled with the International Exhibitions, begin to blur stylistic boundaries and paddle towards an increasingly global style, where the diaphanous gains integers, and architects take control of furniture design, starting the figure of the designer to take special importance, in collaboration with firms that allowed to produce these projects in series.

Thus, if we take a look at Setdart’s catalog, we find names such as Knoll, Fritz Hansen, Lange Production, Cado, Cassina or Maxalto alongside those of the aforementioned van der Rohe, Warren Platner or Arne Jacobsen. These combinations, a hallmark of 20th century design, ensure a quality and respect for the original work that, even when produced years after its conception, safeguard its philosophy.

Access to the Avant-garde Design auction: Nordic Countries

Going fully into the pieces put out to tender, it is inevitable to mention the aforementioned Barcelona chair, originally conceived for the 1929 Barcelona Exposition by the former director of the Bauhaus, who found in the United States the perfect breeding ground for the development of his creative and teaching activity. It was precisely in Illinois where he met Florence Knoll, who granted him the rights to exploit his work, including the “Barcelona Collection”, which was present at the auction.

Le Corbusier is another of the prominent names on the 7th, along with Pierre Jeanneret, his cousin, and Charlotte Perriand. This fruitful triumvirate, which lasted from 1927 to 1937, successfully tackled the problem of “l’equipement d’intérieur de l’habitation”, that is, the new organization of domestic spaces by means of highly versatile modular furniture. The collaboration with Cassina began in 1964, when the first exclusive contract for the exploitation of his work was signed. Among these reissues are the Grand Confort LC2 seats, which have become timeless classics.

Access to the Avant-Garde Design auction: France and England

Within the Iberian Peninsula, these collaborations are also common, such as that of designer Jaime Hayón, National Design Award in 2021, for Fritz Hansen. We highlight the Ro armchair or the pair of Fri armchairs, respectively.

Access to the Avant-Garde Design auction: Italy and Spain

Finally, in the auction of Italian glass the small island of Murano is the undisputed leader, as it could not be otherwise, with artists of the stature of Ercole Barovier in collaboration with Barovier & Torso, a family business of which he would become the visible head in 1936 and, after the union in 1942 to Ferro-Toso, would change its name to the aforementioned. The lot 35376050 belongs to the Porpora series started in 1954, whose leitmotiv is the pigmentation in mauve tones without glass fusion.

In conclusion, this is a unique opportunity to acquire pieces that have left their mark in an unfading way in the history of art, works that have abandoned their condition of domestic utensils to rise as design icons, conceived by a whole generation at the forefront of industrial creation.

Access to the Avant-Garde Design auction: Italian Glass

External references to Roman urns

religious art

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

22 February 2024

Skateboard Decks: The boom of urban culture

The irruption of urban culture was undoubtedly one of the great revolutions of the twentieth century which, as could not be otherwise, found in art one of its greatest expressions. In this sense, the emergence of skateborading as one of the quintessential symbols of this sociocultural movement also became a means of expression for many of the great artists and designers who captained urban art.

But what are the origins of this fruitful union between the world of skateboarding and the world of art?

In 1963, in the city of Malibu, the first skateboard in history was created, but it would not be until the 80’s when it caused a real furor among the new generations of the time, giving rise to a new phenomenon: ‘skaters’. Since then, skateboarding has become a philosophy of life for many and is still today one of the key elements of urban culture.

On the other hand, the success of Street art or urban art, despite emerging simultaneously with skateboarding during the 60’s, did not reach its peak until the 90’s, when thanks to artists like Keith Haring or Basquiat it became a worldwide phenomenon that has gone down in history as one of the fundamental artistic revolutions of the twentieth century.

It should therefore come as no surprise that the underground and rebellious nature of skateboarding ended up being creatively linked to street art. Some were punished for expressing their art on walls, others for using street furniture as they pleased… Without doubt, the combination of the two gave rise to one of the quintessential expressions of countercultural movements.

The auction that will take place on March 4 represents a real novelty in the national market. The collection of more than 100 screen-printed skateboards in collaboration with some of the most acclaimed contemporary artists, skateboarders and designers is arguably the most comprehensive set ever assembled by a national auction house.

The value of these boards created in collaboration with the most iconic brands in the sector lies in the limited editions, many of which have been so successful that they have sold out, as well as in the design and illustrations that, decorating their underside, have become the perfect channel through which to spread the message that the street art launched to the world.

Among the boards up for bidding we find authentic gems such as the one designed by Kate Haring in collaboration with the New York City Skateboards brand in 1986 or the collaborations of great artists such as Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Felipe Pantone, Hiroshi, Murakami, Merilyn Minter or Pure Evil.

In fact, the fever of the silkscreened skateboards led the great figures of this authentic philosophy of life as Bucky Lasek Tom Knox, Jason Dill or Jake Donnelly to design their own boards with legendary brands such as Santa Cruz, Supreme Element or The skateroom.

In short, this auction that rescues the essence of the heyday of skateboarding shows us the impact it has achieved in the art and luxury market, but also how in recent times and thanks to this type of artistic expressions art has been democratized to become more accessible to the general public and new collectors.

External references to Roman urns

Arte religioso, religious art

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

20 February 2024

Religious art: the divine and the human

Setdart will auction more than five hundred pieces from an exclusive collection of religious art. A lifetime dedicated to devotional collecting.

Could Luther even imagine what his ninety-five theses would unleash at the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg? Centuries later, the imagery is still present in the streets, with contemporary artists who continue the path of those who, years ago, gave passion to wood.

The Church, together with the Crown, has been one of the main buyers of works of art throughout history, only displaced by the bourgeoisie, whose power has been increasing exponentially since the 17th century. Although, especially since the 19th century, the production of sacred works has declined, there are still outstanding artists producing pieces of exceptional quality and that have nothing to envy to those of previous workshops of great renown.

It is not at all common for a collection of this type to be released on the market, allowing you to enjoy a journey through the history of sacred art. The lot 35268623, a Virgen de las Angustias, a carving from Granada from the late seventeenth century, which we can inscribe in the stylistic circle of the Mora workshop, stands out. It is a magnificent example of the synthesis between wood and textile, so typical of this type of vestment, as the velvet cape with gold and silver thread embroidery dates from the 18th century.

Moving on to the 20th century, we come across one of the names of the auction in lot 35248518, Castillo Lastrucci, well known in Seville for his prolific role in Holy Week, with works in brotherhoods such as El Dulce Nombre and La Hiniesta.

Finally, and already in the XXI century, Manuel Martín Nieto picks up the baton, with up to four pieces, although the lot 35268619 stands out, a Pietà where we can see materialized the words of Andrés Luque Teruel about the sculptor: “he is one of the most responsible for the intense naturalistic outbreak that characterizes the evolution and the brilliant transformation of the Andalusian neo-baroque sculpture in the first two decades of the XXI century”.

External references to Roman urns

religion, religious art

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

14 February 2024

Orient Treasures

Oriental Treasures

Setdart presents, as part of a private Anglo-Spanish collection, a selection of oriental pieces that bring together many of the artistic techniques that have fascinated the West since the sixteenth century.

Although the eastern lands of Asia were not unknown to Europeans, thanks in part to Marco Polo, until the 15th century these two cultures had lived in virtual isolation from each other, establishing small intermittent links between merchants and nomads. Thanks to the advances in geography that marked the beginning of the Modern Age, the riches of the five continents became a whole that began a tireless flow around the globe, which continues to this day.

Pioneers in this network of maritime communications were Spain and Portugal, whose flood of products, never before conceived, to the ports of Seville and Lisbon provokes a feverish fascination that translates into lucubrations, legends and, above all, huge commercial exchanges. The monopoly would only last a century, as the English and Dutch would soon claim their piece of the pie with the creation of the East India Companies.

Catherine of Austria or Philip II were also enraptured by oriental treasures, distributing them as gifts to European courts or forming part of their personal collections.

This taste did not decline in the following centuries, but on the contrary, reached its zenith in the eighteenth century with porcelain as the protagonist. Created specifically in the potteries of Jingdezhen, it combined Chinese motifs with elements or typologies of the Western tradition, sometimes in response to private commissions.

Paradigmatic examples, which speak of this extraordinary union, can be found in the pieces we are bidding for.

The lot 35312897, a dish from the Wanli period, is a good first testimony of those pieces made for export, and whose name, perhaps, is related to the Portuguese carracks, Portuguese merchant ships that populated the coasts of the old continent.

Lote 35314919. Expuesto en Setdart Madrid.

Moving forward in time, already within the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period, on the threshold of the eighteenth century, appears the Batavia or “coffee with milk” porcelain, represented in the lot 35314969, which takes its name from the current Jakarta, where the Dutch East India Company had established its center of operations; possibly it owes its hue to the Yixing ceramics, in a desire to unite its characteristics with those of porcelain. Without leaving the Kangxi period, other pieces that recall the synthesis of cultures are those of the lot 35314919, with mounts in Dutch silver.

Lote 35315011. Expuesto en Setdart Madrid

Finally, and as proof of all the influence that Chinese culture has had in the West, a piece, that of the lot 35315011 that, after a first glance, could pass for a Cantonese vase of the pink family for export, but that after a more detailed analysis reveals its true origin: England. There are many European manufactures that, due to the success of Chinese porcelain, emulated its style for a clientele eager for “chinoiserie” at more popular prices, as could be the case of Chelsea or Samson, the latter in France.

This is a unique opportunity to approach works of art that continue to arouse an unprecedented artistic fervor among collectors, extraordinary works that bring together the artistic views of two worlds forced to understand each other.

External references to Roman urns

French wines, Vinos

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

29 January 2024

The extraordinary wine cellar of a passionate collector

The fruit of more than 40 years of collecting, this wine cellar that Setdart is offering contains some of the most coveted wines and spirits for lovers of good taste.

Anyone passing in front of this industrialist’s house on a quiet street in a small town in Badajoz cannot imagine the wine cellar hidden within its walls. Stacked from floor to ceiling, bottles of wine and liquor, unique vintage treasures, have aged quietly as the decades have passed.

It is a personal collection that tells the story of its collector. As a good enthusiast, I did not initially buy to invest. Each bottle was purchased to be enjoyed with friends and family, according to the collector’s own words. But the time comes to rationalize and allow others to share in the pleasure he has derived from amassing such treasure.

Chatting with this man, hardened by experience and his hobby, he concludes: “Everyone can become a great wine aficionado, starting with simple wines and developing the ability to see the differences in taste and smell. In the end, it’s all about emotion. There comes that time when you are ripe for it. Your senses are open and this allows you to connect, discern and evaluate.”

Spanish Wines

Among the Iberian gems that illuminate this auction, the emblematic Vega Sicilia Únicowhose vintages whisper stories of elegance and longevity, a tribute to time and to the land where they were born.

Ribera del Duero is also present with several bottles of Pingusa wine that defies the limits of perfection, and the Priorat with L’Ermita a masterpiece that captivates with its complexity and unique character.

From the land of Toro, audacity reveals itself through Teso La Monjaa winery that redefines greatness with wines of unparalleled intensity. And of course, we could not miss the Rioja with great vintages of Gran Reserva wines such as Castillo de Ygay, La Nieta o Viña El Pisón.

French Wines

Our collector also paid tribute to the elegance and sophistication of French wines with an exceptional selection of legendary vintages that have defined oenological excellence over the centuries.

From the mythical region of Burgundy comes the majesty of the Romanée-Contiwhere each vintage is a testimony of oenological mastery or the Échézeauxa treasure from the Côte de Nuits that dazzles with its complexity and elegance.

Coming from Pomerol, several bottles of Petrus stand as a wine treasure that reveal the richness and character of this appellation.

Also from the Bordeaux region, we present an exclusive selection of the great châteaux that have marked the history of wine: Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Mouton Rothschild, y Château Cheval BlancThese wines represent the pinnacle of Bordeaux excellence, telling the story of their terroir and the dedication of generations of winemakers.

The wines of the Côte de Nuits also make their presence felt with the unrivaled Richebourgand are also noteworthy, Château Haut-Brion, Château Latour, y Château PalmerThese are wines that reveal their unique personalities in each vintage, carrying with them the very essence of the French winemaking tradition.

We can also see the unconditional Château d’Yquem, a sweet Sauternes wine that has conquered the most demanding palates.

Liqueurs

It is inevitable to highlight in this collection a selection of bottles of exceptional liqueurs, true jewels for the most refined palates and for collectors eager for unforgettable experiences.

Among the most prized bottles in this auction, we find 25 captivating expressions of the whisky The Macallan. From the Select Reserve 1946, a timeless gem that pays homage to the distillery, to the 25th Anniversary Malt, the Gran Reserva 18 Years Old, the 30 Years Blue Label, or the evocative Replica 1841, each bottle is a testament to the refinement and craftsmanship that characterize this legendary distillery.

From the distillery The Dalmore we have a masterpiece in the form of a whisky distilled in 1973, a creation that awakens the senses with its layers of complexity and sophistication and De Ardberg Provenance to Bowmore 30 years, invites us to explore the subtleties of time and the mastery of the art of distilling.

We cannot overlook the imposing presence of two exceptional cognacs of the house Hennessy, the Eclipse y Paradis Imperial. Each sip is a sensory experience that transcends time, a fusion of savoir-faire and magic distilled in the heart of the Cognac region.

The Spanish tradition in the distillery of liqueurs is also present in this collection where we find exquisite creations from the Rubio Millán Winery as the Luis Felipe Gran Reservaa brandy that embodies master craftsmanship and dedication to excellence or the Luis Felipe 100 yearsa synthesis of a century of distillation that reveals layers of complexity and character.

From the cradle of brandy, Jerez, we present two more treasures: the Conde de Garvey Solera Gran Reservaa brandy that blends tradition and modernity, and the Cardenal Mendoza Non Plus Ultraa maximum expression of Jerez craftsmanship.

Champagnes

The Champagnes are true effervescent jewels that add a touch of exquisiteness and celebration to this collection.

From the house Krug, the Clos du Mesnil 2000 dazzles with its elegance and complexity, revealing the essence of the prestigious region of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. The Magnum of Ruinart L’Exclusive 2000 Magnum exudes sophistication, highlighting the craftsmanship of this historic winery that has perfected the art of bubbly excellence.

The presence of Louis Roederer Cristal 1995 adds a touch of glamour to the auction, reminding us why this Champagne is the choice of the most demanding connoisseurs. La Cuvée Dom Pérignon Millésime Vintage 1990from the legendary house of Moët & Chandon, captures the essence of an exceptional vintage with its timeless elegance. Salon Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil 2002A Champagne that represents the purity and perfection of the Chardonnay grapes from the region of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.

These carefully selected bottles are not only bubbles in a glass, but effervescent testimonies of the mastery and artistry that only great Champagnes can offer.

Are you the owner of the next winery featured in the Setdart wine auction?

At Setdart we hold wine auctions periodically. If you want to sell your wine collection, our experts will advise you on the best strategy to follow. Send an email to tasaciones@setdart.com, a whatsapp to the number 638 388 127 or call us at 932 46 32 41. We are at your service to achieve the best profitability.

External references to Roman urns

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

26 January 2024

Metal masters: shine & patina

Setdart will be auctioning an interesting set of 19th and 20th century French and Belgian bronzes, an excellent opportunity to include some of the masters of this alloy in our collections.

A debtor of monumental sculpture, bronze has enjoyed the attention of the great European courts since the 16th century, making a place for itself in the most important collections of the old continent. It has played a key role in diplomatic relations between the different monarchies, being suitable as gifts, for example, in gratitude for favours or, on the contrary, in order to obtain them. Their small size has been an advantage for artists and collectors, as they require less metal and their lightness makes them easier to transport, characteristics which have encouraged their diffusion.

From the outset, small-sized bronzes were conceived as collector’s items, destined to adorn the wunderkammer or chambers of wonders of the high nobility, as they reproduced the classical statuary recently discovered in Quattrocento Italy. Such was its success that the bronze makers had to manage to preserve the original model and cast more than one copy.

However, the transformation of the bronze industry would come in the first third of the 19th century in France, with Achille Collas, who patented a machine capable of reproducing sculptures on a smaller scale, the réduction méchanique, and the foundry houses themselves, which allowed artists to mass-produce their pieces. Examples of this are to be found in the pieces by the Belgians Léandre Grandmoulin and Albert Hambresin, whose signatures are accompanied by the signatures of the Fonderie Nationale Des Bronzes and the Compagnie des Bronzes de Bruxelles respectively.

Of all the artists who began to work in bronze in nineteenth-century France, thanks to the possibilities it offered, Auguste Rodin, who made this shiny metal his hallmark, was the protagonist. The pieces by the Parisian, when they are in large format, can fetch millions at auction, which speaks of the high esteem in which the market holds the sculptor, while the figures for his small-format pieces are more modest, though by no means negligible. To give an example, the same piece we can see in Setdart, the bust of Suzon, with the same casting marks, was auctioned at Christie’s Paris, with an identical estimate, and ended up fetching 30,000 euros. It can also be found in various museums, such as the Musée Rodin and the Brooklyn Museum.

Small-format bronze has been and continues to be a safe bet for collectors, being pieces born for art lovers, combining the expressiveness of sculpture and the virtuosity of the miniature.

Sylvie Fleury: the object as fetish

One of the women artists who has had the greatest impact and repercussion on the art scene in recent decades arrives at Setdart with one of her iconic fetish-works. In addition to being part of large public collections, his creations, as controversial as they are seductive, have captivated the demanding sector of the international art market.

Curlers, makeup palettes, luxury handbags, shopping carts or cars… all of them have been the subject of the lens under which Sylvie Fleury transforms the nature of these objects to endow them with new and subliminal messages through which she challenges the values of today’s society.

In a historical context dominated by neoliberalism, the artist of Swiss origin, who became famous thanks to her work Shopping bags, burst onto the art scene in the mid-1990s. Fleury has built the foundations of his career around a fascinating reflection on consumerism through which, in addition to confronting us with the social reality of our time, he invites us to reconsider and question the dynamics and values that have governed this consumer society.

Under this premise, Fleury will appropriate those visual and aesthetic elements inherited from pop art, minimal and conceptual art to explore and delve into those codes that have cemented the image of femininity and masculinity in the light of consumerism. Fleury thus raises two lines of debate that intertwine in his work, demonstrating the incidence of the gender issue in relation to our consumption patterns and our unbridled materialistic desire.

In this sense, and as in the case of the work under bidding, Fleury transfers those objects related to luxury, fashion and feminine beauty to the artistic context by focusing on the mechanisms that have contributed to the constant creation of new and superfluous needs, allowing the viewer to reevaluate the contemporary politics of gender, beauty and consumerism.

The elements she usually uses for his sculptures, performances, installations, three-dimensional paintings or ready-mades are usually prefabricated and domestic objects that, as in the case of the curlers and hairpins placed inside an urn, he envelops with an aura of harmony, beauty and sacredness that elevates the everyday and “vulgar” to the category of fetish.

As in most of her works, the artist tries to evoke a multiplicity of gender stereotypes pointing out the horizon of their respective clichés and, as in the case of women, these are closely related to the obsessive cult of an almost unattainable canon of beauty that we have been made to obsessively desire through advertising that constantly bombards us.

Without losing his ironic touch and his well-known attraction for everything that surrounds the world of glamour, Fleury puts us in front of a mirror that returns us to our most frivolous and superficial image.

External references to Roman urns

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

18 January 2024

Luis Tristán, El Greco’s legacy in his disciples.

Luis Tristán, El Greco's legacy in his disciples.

The Greek characters found on some of the masterpieces in the Prado Museum are the clearest example of pride, both in their origin and their craft: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος. History has decided to nickname him “El Greco” because of his birth in Crete; there he assimilated the Byzantine icon tradition and later the Venetian taste of Titian and Tintoretto. These two influences would come together in a style of their own, unparalleled in Europe. This characteristic manner advanced a modernity that would take centuries to arrive, however, the imprint of his genius permeated his disciples.

The volume of his commissions as well as the dimensions of many of his works attest to the fact that the artist needed collaborators who would allow him to tackle colossal works. The most advanced would be Jorge Manuel, the artist’s son, and Luis Tristán, from Toledo. The latter would achieve a renowned reputation during his lifetime because, during his youth, in El Greco’s workshop he achieved such a high resemblance to the master’s works that, in some cases, they were even attributed to him. His style changed after his years in Italy when he was only twenty-one years old. Back in Toledo, his way of painting had turned towards a Caravagian naturalism, moving away from the Mannerist aesthetics, but without forgetting part of the baggage learned from his youth in the shadow of the Cretan genius.

Jorge Manuel Theotokópoulos. San Juan Bautista. Licitado en Setdart

This duality of styles could be manifested at the same time in a painting, opting to a greater or lesser extent for one, according to the client’s tastes or according to the resources that best suited him for each specific work. He is, therefore, a versatile author thanks to his influences and equally creative when it comes to creating his own models. His compositions were replicated by both his workshop and his followers. This fact proves that the legacy of his style and his works have endured to the present day. Setdart has presented in recent years several remarkable works by Luis Tristán, highlighting in the next auction the “San Jerónimo penitente”.

A la izquierda el lote en licitación con número 35306865, y a la derecha otra versión del artista vendida en el año 2023 en Setdart, con un remate de 19.000 €

External references to Roman urns

https://vimeo.com/51589652

Current Art, Monographs, Recommendations

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

6 January 2024

Eduardo Úrculo and the figure of the traveler

The image of the traveler, whether strolling, wandering in front of the sea or absorbedly observing the infinite, remains rooted in our collective imagination thanks, in part, to the literature and philosophy that emerged during Romanticism, which cultivated with true enthusiasm the intimate and subjective character that has permeated its narrative ever since.

In fact, the romantic heritage has lasted until today through a multitude of artists who have found in the figure of the traveler a form of self-reference, whose journey is transformed into an allegory of the journey experienced by the artist himself. Since Friedrich and his “Wayfarer by the Sea”, many have adopted and adapted the narrative formula of the traveler who, always with his back turned, observing the landscape in a self-absorbed way, embodies the idea of that eternal introspective journey with which the figure of the artist identifies.

In this sense, and despite its apparent opposition, Eduardo Úrculo’s work during the 1980s came closer to this romantic vision through his readings of the work of Charles Baudelaire or Verlaine, but also of painters who, like David Hooper, imbued the conception of the traveler with a nostalgic and introspective aura.

It will be from then on when Úrculo’s painting will turn towards a theme of a more narrative character, in which the loneliness of modern man, embodied in the figure of the wandering traveler, will fill his compositions. In this sense, the bidding work is part of this great cycle of paintings that in his hands become allegories of the artist’s own creative journey. The painting, presided over by his unmistakable men with their backs turned, dressed in trench coats and hats, looking expectantly at the city that rises before them, inherits from Hopper’s work that “poetic silence” that comes from an aesthetic of contemplation.

“The journey is memory on our shoulders, with all its essences and perfumes, circumstances and substances.” Eduardo Úrculo.

In effect, Úrculo is then in a stage that we could call introspection, in which the vision of the journey, whether through the world or through his own interior, is expressed through a figuration of simplified realism whose narrative is as nostalgic as it is mysterious and disquieting. Strictly pictorially, the sharp chromatic contrasts, the economization of forms and the dramatization of lights and lines that structure the space, give light to an image that Úrculo turned into one of the greatest icons of his production.

External references to Roman urns

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

5 January 2024

Naked Venus: Eternal feminine beauty

The passions of the gods of Olympus became the mythical stories that aroused the greatest interest and empathy in the devotion of the Greek faithful. If we have to talk about the patroness of love, Aphrodite, this feeling acquired a great intensity because the Goddess embodied the values of love, beauty, eroticism and passion. The Greek people represented their pantheon in an ideal and severe way, thus symbolizing the most absolute perfection and the distance between divinity and mortality.

Located in an elevated area next to the Turkish coast, surrounded by gardens of myrtle, vines and cypresses and arranged in a circular colonnade with two entrances, the temple of Aphrodite in Cnido, allowed the faithful to contemplate the figure of the goddess in all its splendor. The sculpture of Aphrodite of Cnidus captivated everyone who saw her, her subtle nudity managed to awaken the imagination, but her realism made her a truthful woman, at the same time worldly and divine. Proof of the absolute spell cast by its beauty can be found in the numerous legends of men who lost their heads for the statue itself, or the thousands of pilgrims who for centuries came to admire it.

Tholos de Afrodita en Cnido, actual Turquía.

The stories surrounding the creation of the work are not far from the myth of Aphrodite herself. It is known that Phryné, lover of Praxiteles, was the model that inspired the sculpture. Contemplated by the sculptor as she emerged from the waters, Phryné’s beauty generated such an outstanding impression that Praxiteles immortalized the moment and his beloved, thus elevating them to eternity. This masterpiece would change the course of art and much of our culture, since it is the first known female nude in Greek statuary. The boldness and novelty of the sculpture was marred by controversy when it was rejected by its initial commissioner, the city of Cos.

However, despite the controversy, the sculpture not only encouraged the initiation of a new theme in the history of art, but also set a canon on the ideal of beauty in the representation of the female body. The statue’s proportions and features would serve as a model for future generations by embodying the maxim of the classical ideal. This success led to the copying and imitation of the original work and from the fourth century B.C. to the present day, it has been replicated as an echo of the original sculpture, in which its main features are seen in a similar spirit.

The Roman people’s fascination with Greek culture encouraged both the collecting of ancient sculptures as well as copies and even reproductions. Archaeological excavations throughout the Roman Empire have brought to light a good number of Venus pudiculae, highlighting their importance in history.

We are pleased to present a Roman version of exceptional quality. The crisp marble surface takes on the silky texture of skin. The movements skewed by the passage of time do not seem to stop. Let us imagine for a moment the realistic effect that this piece would have thanks to the naturalistic polychromy and its correct spatial location. A unique example that acts as an echo of the mythical Aphrodite of Cnidus, the beauty of the female body elevated to eternity.

External references to Roman urns

https://vimeo.com/51589652

Regular Post

Written by Andrea Domenech

3 January 2024

Maurice Vlaminick: a Fauvist in the orbit of Van Gogh

At a time when Paris had established itself as the artistic epicenter par excellence, the pictorial experimentations of a group of young artists entered the scene to give a radical turn to the art world that would lead to the beginning of the avant-garde.

The names of Matisse, Derain and Vlaminick would forever be united under the name Les Fauves, in reference to the rebellious and fierce spirit that dominated them. In their works they used pure and arbitrary colors, exaggerated the drawing and forced the perspective to the point of astonishing those who saw their works for the first time.

In this aspect, it is very likely that Vlaminick’s personality and work is the most faithful and extreme embodiment of the Fauvist idiosyncrasy. Despite the short existence of the group (1904-1907), the Fauve spirit remained in Vlaminick in an unappealable way, turning his canvases into a place where he poured his own emotions in an intuitive and vehement way. An example of this is the canvas in tender, whose creation, despite not being part of the Fauvist stage itself, remains impregnated with the spontaneous, instinctive and overwhelming character that characterized Vlaminick.

"Maurice Vladimir" de Man Ray. Centre Pompodou

Understanding color as the spontaneous liberation of the instinctive, Vlaminick captured through his landscapes not only his own temperament, but also expressed his own feelings about the historical context of war.

His rebellious and rebellious character is registered in his work by means of a nervous and thick brushstroke, with dense impastos that do nothing but enhance the rapturous and flamboyant expressiveness of the landscape, whose aggressive chromatism no longer needs the exalted vivacity of Fauvism, but through somber but contrasted tonalities, he manages to extract all the power of the forces of nature. In this sense, the legacy of Van Gogh, recognized as the true father of expressionism, was a determining factor in the development of Vlaminick’s work, who was completely shocked after attending the exhibition that took place in Paris in 1901.

As for the German expressionists, Van Gogh was an essential reference for the fauvists, not only for the use of a vibrant brushstroke and a palette of bright colors, but also in the way of representing certain genres, such as self-portraits, portraits and landscapes. Regarding this last theme, Vlaminick felt a special admiration for the way Van Gogh struggled to express, in the painting, his inner state.

Vlaminick not only admired the formal qualities of Van Gogh’s painting, but he was also a reference in terms of the intensity of his artistic and vital vision because, as with Van Gogh’s painting, his were undoubtedly landscapes born of passion and a wild instinct.

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Written by Andrea Domenech

28 December 2023

Manolo Valdés: a contemporary view of history

Manolo Valdés: A Contemporary View of History

Auction January 10th

After 6 decades dedicated to art, Manolo Valdés has established himself as one of our most internationally recognized artists. Reaping success around the world, Valdes continues to prove that his passion and talent are incombustible.

From his beginnings in the 1960s to the present, Valdes’ work has evolved with absolute coherence, exploring and conquering new artistic territories from a deep knowledge of the history of art and the deepest admiration for its great masters. However, far from contemplating them from afar, Valdés rescues and takes from them those aspects of his art that he considers most appropriate to carry out an apotheosic exercise of reinterpretation and recontextualization of the very history of art with which, decade after decade, he has forged his unmistakable creative universe.

Far from falling into the monotony that could derive from the reiteration of the same formula, Valdés reveals his immense ability to structure his work under the same common denominator, evolving and reinventing it in each of its facets. In fact, after finishing his time as a member of the chronic team, the 80’s were for Valdés an indispensable period of maturity and creative growth that led him to discover and reach that personal and genuine style to which he has remained faithful ever since.

In this case, and as has been recurrent throughout his career, Valdés turns to one of the great icons of art history such as Diego Velázquez and his portrait of Philip IV to end up turning it into a new icon in a contemporary key. In a process of extreme plastic depuration, the ruff and the profile of the monarch are reduced to geometric planes and synthetic lines, as is the court costume. This tendency is also evident in the evident chromatic reduction, darkening the palette to the maximum until the figure is endowed with a spectral intensity. In doing so, Valdés seeks to dissect an archetype loaded with symbolism that, like Philip IV, is the repository of a long history of representation of power.

Therefore, the plastic and aesthetic exercise of Valdes, with its game of stylistic permutations and references to history, gives way to a new image that in its complete originality and contemporaneity, manages to establish a dialogue between the art of the past and the present that makes us question the reality of the time and of the same artistic practice.

Far from limiting himself to evoking those works that are already icons of our history, Valdés takes a much more definitive and forceful step: he dissects and reconstructs themdissects and reconstructs. A perspective that, with the passage of time, will also become an enigma that future glances will decipher and update.

Hammer prices

Video

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Written by Andrea Domenech

22 December 2023

Is tanzanite a good investment?

Auction December 27th

Tanzanite is a gemstone with unique hues and beauty; rare, mysterious, and therefore highly valued, especially in the highest quality.

Discovered in the Mererani Hills in the Manyara Region of northern Tanzania in 1967, near the city of Arusha and Kilimanjaro.

Tanzanite is the blue/purple variety of the mineral zoisite. All the tanzanites undergo a heating treatment in a furnace, at a temperature between 550 °C and 700 °C, to give them shades between violet blue and bluish violet.

Although its gemological characteristics are inferior to those of diamond, it is much scarcer. It has been gaining popularity among jewelers and collectors for its exclusivity, since the only existing deposit is located in Tanzania and occupies only about 20 square kilometers.

Since its discovery, its price has increased exponentially. The supply of this stone fluctuates, because its only source is being frantically exploited to meet an ever-increasing demand.

The famous New York jewelers, Tiffany & Co, attributed its name to him after registering him as their main distributor. He launched a major marketing campaign declaring tanzanite as “the most beautiful blue stone discovered in over 2,000 years”, proudly stating that tanzanite could only be found in two places in the world “in Tanzania and at Tiffany’s.”

Heralded as “the gemstone of the 20th century”, the conditions that gave rise to its origin are so specific that gemologists have completely ruled out the possibility of finding another tanzanite deposit anywhere on the planet.

Linda Kennedy, a gemologist with Richland Resources, agrees with this forecast. “The chances of the natural factors that originally occurred to conceive tanzanite occurring again are less than one in a million; it’s like winning a geological lottery,” Kennedy says, explaining why it is unlikely that an alternative source will ever be discovered.

Due to this unique process, the tanzanite mines are expected to be depleted in about ten to twenty years. Consequently, it is becoming an increasingly scarce stone, especially in the most desirable grade, which accounts for less than 1% of total production.

Setdart will have at its disposal, in the next auction on December 27, a varied collection of pieces with tanzanites of excellent quality, most of them certified by The Tanzanite Laboratory.

We encourage you to invest in “the precious stone of the 20th century”.

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14 December 2023

An impressionist painting and its enigmatic authorship

Auction December 18th

The avant-garde and contemporary art have championed the concept of creative freedom in art, but impressionism was the aesthetic current that originated a break with the precepts of the academy and laid the foundations of an artistic revolution based on color and light. Captive of their own era, the Impressionist painters accepted the vertiginousness of their time, elevating painting and detaching it from a completely anachronistic and institutional vision.

During the 19th century, France experienced a strong industrialization and urban development that brought great changes to society. This fact caused the artists to look beyond their workshops, drawing inspiration from both the urban landscape and a more idyllic concept represented by life in the countryside. In addition, industrialization favored the development of new materials and techniques that allowed artists to go outdoors and capture scenes with greater speed and spontaneity. Technical advances increased the interest in the study of light, rediscovering the landscape through a sensory vision that favored the creation of multiple versions of the same scene through which they could capture the atmospheric phenomena that occurred throughout the day.

On December 18th, Setdart unveils for the first time on the market a canvas whose enigmatic and uncertain authorship brings together all those plastic values that made the impressionist movement an authentic artistic rebellion.

The history behind it, as well as the results of the analyses carried out, allow us to place the work in the chronological framework corresponding to the Impressionist movement. In this sense, research into the traceability of the piece takes us to 1921, the year in which our work was transferred from France to Spain by inheritance of Don Fernando de Orleans, great-grandson of the last king of France.

On the other hand, the pigment analysis reveals a priming layer that corresponds to the one used by Pissarro, Monet or Manet, as well as the pigments chosen by the author, among which zinc white or chrome yellow stand out. The application of color is structured as is usual in pointillist heritage painting, in the form of superimpositions of pictorial layers or brushstrokes applied very quickly, without allowing the previous layers to dry. Finally, the abrasion in the lower left corner suggests that the piece may have been originally signed.

However, what is really exciting about this case is its compositional and thematic closeness to the famous painting “La Bergère rentrant des moutons”, created by Pissarro in 1886. Famous for being the protagonist of one of the most relevant litigations of the 20th century. The history of “La Bergère rentrant des moutons” dates back to the 1940s when Gaston Lévy, a French collector, sold the painting to Théophile Bader, founder of the Groupe Galeries. It later became part of Yvonne Meyer’s collection. However, despite securing his collection when Nazi forces attacked Jewish families in France and confiscated their works of art, the German financial investigation agency in Paris eventually seized the Meyer collection.

In 1956, the David Findlay Galleries in New York acquired La Bergère through an Amsterdam art dealer. A year later it was sold to collector Clara Weitzenhoffer, whose bequest was donated to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. from Oaklahoma University, initiating litigation over the ownership of the work that continues to this day.

To this day, and despite the notorious legend surrounding “La Bergère rentrant des moutons”, no similar version created by Pissarro is known. However, the work we present here, with its obvious links to the methods, materials and style of Camille Pissarro, as well as its thematic connection with the work we refer to, do not allow us to reject irrefutably the possibility that we are dealing with a piece by the hand of the impressionist master. In fact, the combination of technical, historical and stylistic elements reinforces the hypothesis that this work represents not only a valuable testimony of its time and of the Impressionist movement, but could also be an authentic contribution to Pissarro’s artistic legacy.

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14 December 2023

Art Toys fever

Art Toys fever:

Auction December 20

In our next auction on December 20, we will delve into the world of Art Toys. To help you understand the rage of these dolls, we explain in this short video what Art Toys are, why they are works of art, who they are and what they are about. are its collectors, how much an Art Toy costs and the icons we present in our next auction.

Good luck with your bids!

Two decades ago, immersed in a scenario saturated by street art, hip hop, branding, graphic design, anime and manga, designers, creatives and artists decided to adopt the toy and give it a radical twist. This seemingly innocent object became a cult icon imbued with irony, humor and social criticism.

In 1990, Michael Lau, considered the pioneer of this movement, created his first collection entitled “Gardeners”. This limited edition Art Toys series, inspired by the G.I. Joe character and marked by an urban aesthetic, was presented at the Hong Kong Art Center.

In short, prominent companies such as Japan’s Medicom Toy or the U.S.-based Kidrobot are introducing their own characters to the market in limited edition series, each with distinctive styles. These companies, along with others that followed, collaborated closely with renowned designers and artists such as KAWS, TAKASHI MURAKAMI, RON ENGLISH, GARY BASEMAN, YOSHITOMO NARA and FRANK KOZIK. The contribution of these artists consisted in personalizing toys, thus achieving the creation of recognizable brands and transforming pop and mass culture into small works of art.

Chromatic bursts and eclectic shapes, with a diversity of sizes and materials, invade the shelves of the “kidults”. This newly coined term is intended to define these “adult children”, a novel audience composed of Art Toys enthusiasts and collectors. These objects generate such an overwhelming demand that the market is often overwhelmed.

This is how Art Toys enter the secondary market reaching prices that defy imagination. The fever for these collectibles has created a phenomenon where the explosion of colors and shapes translates into a market of high demand and value, turning the “kidults” into the protagonists of an unbridled search to acquire these unique pieces.

Works that are barely two decades old manage to triple records and set a milestone in auction houses. Nowadays, some of these exclusive creations have acquired such an exorbitant value that they can only be appreciated in art galleries, museums or in the hands of established collectors.

However, beyond their striking aesthetics and the message they convey, a fundamental part of this fervor lies in the wide range of prices they offer. These range from a few euros to four or five digit figures, opening the doors to new enthusiasts and experienced collectors alike, regardless of their tastes and budgets.

Immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of the auction “The Art Toys Revolution”, scheduled for December 20, where you can be enchanted by the iconic “Companion” or “Acomplice” from KAWS. These figures, recognizable by the unmistakable “X” in their eyes, have conquered popular culture.

The scene is also illuminated by the stellar presence of the Be@rbricks, those collectible pieces forged by MediCom Toy in Japan in 2001. Stemming from the same firm’s original Kubrick, these Be@rbricks feature bear heads. Among them, the Be@rbrick The Bride, inspired by the Bride of Kill Bill from Quentin Tarantino’s film, stands out.

Our icons include the “PupCup” and the “Little Wanderer” by Yoshitomo Nara, the “Rodent Grin” from the “Pop Art” series by Ron English, as well as the “Legendary Gold” from the “Lil Heroes” series created by Edgar Plans. In this auction, each piece is a visual narrative that promises to capture the unique essence of these talented contemporary artists.

It seems that Art Toys are not a passing effect and that they are here to stay in the art world.

Just a word of warning: be careful, they can get you hooked!

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5 December 2023

Artists in the Service of Philip IV: The Splendor and Decline of Spain’s Golden Age

Artists in the Service of Philip IV: The Splendor and Decline of Spain's Golden Age

The first half of the 17th century in Spain has been immortalized under the prestigious title of the “Golden Age” due to its dazzling artistic splendor. In the literary field, figures such as Quevedo, Góngora and Lope de Vega have left an indelible mark, while in painting, Velázquez, Murillo and Zurbarán have raised art to new heights. Although these names shine in literature and painting, it is essential to recognize that other Spanish masters also excelled in various disciplines, contributing to the zenith of creativity in this era.

During the reign of Philip IV, it can be said that the peak of this splendor was reached, marking at the same time the beginning of its decline. The Empire’s continuous wars, clashes with enemies and the difficulty of controlling vast possessions led to a significant crisis around 1640. Despite the adversities, neither crises, conflicts nor epidemics were able to stop the passion of a collector king.

Retrato de Isabel de Borbón, primera esposa de Felipe IV según el modelo de P.P. Rubens

Velázquez, known as the key painter of the time, played fundamental roles as chamber painter, usher, valet and major aposentador of his majesty. His closeness to the king, whom he trusted as “a man of taste”, allowed the preservation of masterpieces such as those by Tintoretto, Veronese and classical sculptures that can be seen today in the Prado Museum.

In the first half of the century, the territories of Flanders were under Spanish sovereignty, which conferred on their inhabitants the same Spanish identity as those on the peninsula or overseas. It was in Antwerp where the monarch had another outstanding painter: Peter Paul Rubens. In addition to enriching the royal sites with his works, Rubens assumed additional roles, such as that of ambassador. His two visits to Madrid had a diplomatic purpose, and it was on his second trip in 1628 that he became acquainted with Velázquez. During this visit, he immortalized Queen Isabella of Bourbon in a portrait whose original model is still lost, known thanks to replicas such as the one we present here, executed by a painter from the circle close to the Sevillian master.

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Other painters, such as Gerard Seghers in Flanders, contributed by sending works to the Alcazar or the Buen Retiro. Examples of the king’s passion for nature and hunting are reflected in works by specialized artists such as Frans Snyders and Paul de Vos.

The first half of the 17th century marked a golden age for Spanish art, driven by royal patronage and collaboration with internationally renowned masters. This period, despite the crises, left a lasting artistic legacy that defines the cultural richness of the Spain of Philip IV.

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4 December 2023

Madeleine l’Auberpine, Renaissance Woman: Witness to Elegance and Power at the 16th Century French Court

Madeleine l'Auberpine, Renaissance Woman: Witness to Elegance and Power at the 16th Century French Court

In the tumultuous landscape of the 16th century, one female figure stands out as a beacon of stability and grace amidst religious strife, constant warfare and shifting alliances between monarchs. This immutable woman is Queen Catherine de Medici, a dominant force who held the throne of France for nearly four decades. However, in the shadows of the powerful queen, another equally fascinating figure emerges: Madeleine l’Auberpine, known as Madame de Villeroy, the subject of the portrait attributed to the renowned François Clouet, court painter and favourite portraitist of the most exclusive aristocratic circles of his time, which Setdart is privileged to present at the Old Masters auction on 13 December.

Villeroy, brought up in the distinguished family of the Barons Châteauneuf and married to Nicolas Neufville, Secretary of State, was at the epicentre of the court’s most momentous decisions. Although Catherine de Medici’s influence tended to overshadow those around her, Villeroy did not fade into obscurity. Rather, her active participation in court life and her privileged position made her an important figure in Renaissance France.

Madame de Villeroy’s literary salon was a meeting place for artists, poets, writers and philosophers, making it one of the most appreciated of the time. Although we do not know the depth of her influence on political decisions, her environment and the people who were part of her life defined Renaissance France. Her father and husband, both secretaries of state, are evidence of Villeroy’s direct connection to political power.

19th century drawing copying Clouet's original. National Library of France

Beyond her role as a witness to events, Madeleine l’Auberpine was a cultivated and talented woman, embodying the spirit of the Renaissance. Her humanist thinking is reflected in her novels and poems, characterised by a refined and descriptive style. She was an active advocate of humanist and aesthetic values, contributing significantly to the shaping of French society at the time.

The legacy of Madeleine l’Auberpine, Madame de Villeroy, endures in the collective memory as a multifaceted woman whose impact spanned from literary salons to politics, consolidating her position as one of the most important women of her time and a true “homo universalis” of the Renaissance.”

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4 December 2023

The revolution of Cuban art. Manuel Reguera Collection

Recognized as one of the great Cuban writers and playwrights of the 20th century, Manuel Reguera was also passionate about art. As the set of photographs that accompany the collection we present here testify, during the years he spent in his native country, Reguera forged a close friendship with the most outstanding exponents of Cuban art. It was then when the writer, supported by the bond that united him with Amelia Peláez, Rene Portocarrero and Eduardo Abela, began his facet as a collector, giving birth to what would become his personal collection.

The group of works under bidding materializes the richness and renovating spirit of those Cuban artists who, like Wifredo Lam, Amelia Pealez or Portocarrero, captained the creative impulse of the plastic arts in Cuba from the 1930s onwards. In fact, its evolution is closely linked to the triumph of the Revolution, which brought about an abysmal change in the cultural and artistic projection of the country.

Since then, Cuban painting has shown a great capacity to assume the influences of international art that, such as primitivism, expressionism, abstraction or the most magicist aspect, developed under its own vision that manifests a clear will to define the features of Cuban identity, its roots, its traditions and, of course, its culture. Indeed, there is no doubt that the richness of Cuban painting today is indebted to the vigor and renovating spirit that accompanied these artists in their capacity to assume the new times that were opening up in the country’s cultural space.

By incorporating and reinterpreting the most avant-garde trends of the moment, fully consolidated artists such as Wifredo Lam, Amelia Pelaez, Portocarrerro or Mendive managed to conquer the international art market, becoming, as their excellent results show, a sure value in the art circuit.

Wifredo Lam

In this important work of his youth, Wilfredo Lam pours the concerns that by then dominated his pictorial creation. Taking a theme rooted in the costumbrista tradition, he subjected the motif to a process of formal purification and chromatic synthesis that in the following decades would lead him to a more abstract style of painting that would derive in his particular surreal post-cubism. Likewise, the debt to Cézanne is evident in the essentialism of the rocky landscape and in the application of color in planes. Wrapped in a timeless atmosphere, this young woman wearing a scarf exudes an extemporaneous and timeless beauty.

Amelia Pelaez

The works under bidding are a clear example of the balance Amelia Peláez achieved between the modernity of the avant-garde and her Cuban roots. The teachings acquired in Paris, integrated with the light and colors of the tropics that he always carried with him, are reflected in each of his compositions. Both in his works of figurative roots and in those closer to abstraction, Pelaez’s style is perfectly defined by his geometrizing tendency, as well as by the rigor of his strokes and strong colors.

Rene Portocarrero

The work we present at auction belongs to a transitional period in which the dominance of geometry will give way to an increasingly abstract aesthetic. Known for his female portraits, Portocarrero presents us with an exceptional image whose composition and certain hieratism brings us closer to antiquity and very specifically to the Kuroi and even to Paleochristian representations.

The set as a whole, which also includes works by Carlos Enríquez, Felix Abela or Victor Manuel, is undoubtedly a faithful reflection of the complex and captivating Cuban idiosyncrasy.

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