ULTIMATE Early French Masterworks from the Hyman Collection Alphonse Delaunay Follow L'Hôtel de Ville de Séville 1854 Salt print from a waxed paper negative, mounted. Image/sheet: 28 x 36.5 cm (11 x 14 3/8 in.) Mount: 43 x 61.4 cm (16 7/8 x 24 1/8 in.) Titled in French in an unidentified hand in pencil and printed '2' on a label affixed to the mount. This work is the only known print of this image to date and is likely unique.
Condition Report Sign up or Log in Provenance Collection of Amable Dauphin Petit, Paris Commissaires-Priseurs Associés, Argenteuil, Belle vente de photographies anciennes provenant de la collection de Amable Dauphin Petit dit "Amable", artiste peintre (1846-1917) , 3 June 1994, lot 204 Serge Kakou, Paris, 2012 The Hyman Collection, London Catalogue Essay According to Marc Pagneux’s entry on Alphonse Delaunay in Modernisme ou modernité: Les photographes du cercle de Gustave Le Gray , Delaunay’s work is distinguished by a dialogue between line, form and shadow. The present lot, taken of Seville’s City Hall on Delaunay’s 1854 trip to Spain, exemplifies these characteristics. In L'Hôtel de Ville de Séville , a stunning print with strong image density, the building façade fills the frame as the lines of the building cut horizontally across the image and the vertical pattern of the street draws our eyes into the dark void of the doorway. To create this strikingly modernist photograph, Delaunay was required to use a long exposure, likely for several minutes, as indicated by the shadowy figures in the foreground. Many of Delaunay’s images from this period are of the architecture he saw on his travels as seen in the present work. Designed to commemorate the importance of Seville following the marriage of King Charles V and Isabella of Portugal in 1526, the City Hall was constructed between 1527 and 1540. The current view is of the east façade, located on the Plaza de S. Francisco, which was designed by architect Diego de Riaño and completed by Juan Sánchez The expanse of the plaza would have made it easy for Delaunay to set up his camera and capture the intricate masonry of the building. The current lot was originally in the collection of Dauphin-Amable Petit (1846-1916), a Parisian actor and theatre designer. The printed number label on the lower right corner of the mount denotes Petit’s coding system – the number 2 was for Spain. While the work offered here was one of a number of photographs by Delaunay in Petit’s collection, it was not until 2007, thanks to an auction in Paris, that Delaunay was identified as the photographer of these works. We extend our sincere thanks to Anne de Mondenard, Chief Curator of Heritage, Photographs and Digital Images at the Musée Carnavalet for her expertise and assistance in our research. Read More
ULTIMATE Early French Masterworks from the Hyman Collection Alphonse Delaunay Follow L'Hôtel de Ville de Séville 1854 Salt print from a waxed paper negative, mounted. Image/sheet: 28 x 36.5 cm (11 x 14 3/8 in.) Mount: 43 x 61.4 cm (16 7/8 x 24 1/8 in.) Titled in French in an unidentified hand in pencil and printed '2' on a label affixed to the mount. This work is the only known print of this image to date and is likely unique.
Condition Report Sign up or Log in Provenance Collection of Amable Dauphin Petit, Paris Commissaires-Priseurs Associés, Argenteuil, Belle vente de photographies anciennes provenant de la collection de Amable Dauphin Petit dit "Amable", artiste peintre (1846-1917) , 3 June 1994, lot 204 Serge Kakou, Paris, 2012 The Hyman Collection, London Catalogue Essay According to Marc Pagneux’s entry on Alphonse Delaunay in Modernisme ou modernité: Les photographes du cercle de Gustave Le Gray , Delaunay’s work is distinguished by a dialogue between line, form and shadow. The present lot, taken of Seville’s City Hall on Delaunay’s 1854 trip to Spain, exemplifies these characteristics. In L'Hôtel de Ville de Séville , a stunning print with strong image density, the building façade fills the frame as the lines of the building cut horizontally across the image and the vertical pattern of the street draws our eyes into the dark void of the doorway. To create this strikingly modernist photograph, Delaunay was required to use a long exposure, likely for several minutes, as indicated by the shadowy figures in the foreground. Many of Delaunay’s images from this period are of the architecture he saw on his travels as seen in the present work. Designed to commemorate the importance of Seville following the marriage of King Charles V and Isabella of Portugal in 1526, the City Hall was constructed between 1527 and 1540. The current view is of the east façade, located on the Plaza de S. Francisco, which was designed by architect Diego de Riaño and completed by Juan Sánchez The expanse of the plaza would have made it easy for Delaunay to set up his camera and capture the intricate masonry of the building. The current lot was originally in the collection of Dauphin-Amable Petit (1846-1916), a Parisian actor and theatre designer. The printed number label on the lower right corner of the mount denotes Petit’s coding system – the number 2 was for Spain. While the work offered here was one of a number of photographs by Delaunay in Petit’s collection, it was not until 2007, thanks to an auction in Paris, that Delaunay was identified as the photographer of these works. We extend our sincere thanks to Anne de Mondenard, Chief Curator of Heritage, Photographs and Digital Images at the Musée Carnavalet for her expertise and assistance in our research. Read More
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
