Raffaello Romanelli 1856 - 1928 - Shepherd Boy 1910

I love museums and can spend hours exploring them.  When I lived in New York, I loved spending time at the Met.  When I lived in San Francisco, I had memberships to the Legion of Honor, and the De Young.  It's great being able to see in person, masterpieces created through the centuries.  At the De Young, there is a room of American artists which features mostly paintings, but also has some nice marble statues.  There is marble statue of Delilah by William Wetmore Story that is very striking.  There's another in the same room - Penelope by Franklin Simmons, also beautiful.  Classic marble statuary is not something you see every day.  So imagine my joy in finding just such an example for my collection!

No, this piece is not of the same caliber as the two masterpieces I mentioned above, but it is a beautiful example from the late Nouveau period.  It's a sculpture of a shepherd boy or goat herder taking a break.  He sits relaxed on a stone, his staff resting beside him, a water jug strapped to his waist, and a piece of food in his hand.  He stares peacefully off into the distance - perhaps keeping an eye on his flock.  The piece is in marble and signed Romanelli 1910.  It is likely the work of Raffaello Romanelli (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffaello_Romanelli).  The Romanelli's are a multi-generational family of artists and they still have a studio in Firenze, Italy today.

I contacted them to inquire about the piece.  They said it was quite likely that it was carved by Raffaello, or by the gallery at the time.  I'm assuming he had artisans and craftsmen working for him that may have produced pieces like this.  His larger works are typically signed Prof. Raffaello Romanelli.  I don't know if he signed it differently because of the size or because it was produced by his studio.  Regardless, it is a museum quality marble statue that I simply love!  I'm thrilled to add it to my collection. (click for larger images)

UPDATE: I added a picture of me with the statue to show scale - I realized I never mentioned the size!

Richard MacDonald - Flight in Attitude

Here is the second of two Richard MacDonald sculptures I recently purchased.  This is a bronze depicting a graceful ballerina.  After admiring his work for over 20 years, I was so thrilled to add a piece to my collection.  This picture really doesn't do the piece justice.  The patina is exceptional - I've added a close-up picture to show the detail (click for larger image).

Richard MacDonald - Angelic Crystal

I've been really busy lately and have not had time to update my blog, but that doesn't mean I have not been buying more art!  I first saw Richard MacDonald's sculptures over 20 years ago in Las Vegas and I was immediately struck by them.  They have great proportion, balance, and grace.  His mastery of anatomy is incredible.  I always dreamed of owning one and now I have two!  This is a bust of a dancer done in "marble dust".  I found out that Richard imported some marble from Italy to do some sculptures, and used the remaining marble fragments to make these busts.  It's very lovely and graceful, and I'm thrilled to add it to my collection (click for larger image).

Maximilian Spilhaczek 1876-1961

Just picked up this wonderful, museum-quality watercolor by Max Spilhaczek.  It's a portrait of a priest and is about 8 x 10 inches, and signed "98 MS".  I don't know much about the artist, but got this biography info from the seller:

Maximilian (Max) Spilhaczek (1876 Vienna - 1961 Kaltenleutgeben, Lower Austria) was a well-known Austrian artist who studied at the Vienna Academy under Professors Griepenkerl, Rumpler and Lichtenfels. He exhibited regularly at the Vienna "Kuenstlerhaus" - the largest exhibition hall of the time, and "Secession".

After doing a little more research, it seems the artist worked for Hitler at some point and even drew a picture of him.  Don't know if he was a supporter or forced to do the work.  Either way, this is an exceptional piece and I'm really excited to have acquired it. (click for larger image)

Karl Steinhauser (1880-1954)

Here's a nice beach scene by the California artist Karl Steinhauser. He was born in Germany on March 29, 1880 (I purchased this painting exactly on what would have been his 132nd Birthday!). By 1915 Steinhauser had moved to Pasadena. He died in San Diego California on March 18, 1954. This painting has a very nice impressionistic style. The sky is delicately painted, and I like how he incorporated tones of pink in the sand. (click for larger image)

1930's Cubism Part II

The second of the two 1930's cubist pieces I picked up from a dealer in Russia. This one is really nice and is an image of a seated woman. I was told the artist's name is Azbuka, and it is signed K.A. I could not find any information about the artist. Medium appears to be colored pencil. Size is approximately 11 x 14 in. (click for larger image)

1930's Cubism

Picked up two great cubist pieces dating from the 1930's from Russia. I am told the artist's name is Azbuka, but could not find any information on this person. The piece is signed with the initials K.A. Medium appears to be colored pencil. The piece is approximately 11 x 14 in. (click for larger image)

 

Update 2025!  I'm on a roll!  I just updated an old post from 2009 with some exciting new information (seen here).  And now I thought I would update this one.  I actually figured this one out a few years ago but never got around to updating the post.  I purchased two of these 1930's style cubist pencil originals on ebay years ago.  The seller was in Russia, so I assumed it was a Russian artist, but could never figure out who that was.  One day, while on a trip to Pasadena, CA with my family, we took a trip to the Norton Simon Museum.  And suddenly, upon entering a room, I came across a large oil painting which was a near identical match to this piece.  So clearly, this is just a copy by some amateur artist.  Still, nice to know the origin.  The painting is titled "The Traveler" and is by Russian artist Liubov Popova.  I am adding an image of the original painting to this post.  Link to museum: https://www.nortonsimon.org/art/detail/M.1967.11.P/

Vira Varyanska

Here's the second of the two paintings I picked up from the Ukraine. Very nicely rendered portrait of an elderly gentleman. The artist was born in 1983 and studied at the Kiev Academy of Art. She also exhibited at the Krakow Academy of Art in Poland. This is fairly large at 35" x 21". (click to enlarge)

Here's a detailed image of the face. (click for larger image)

Pereta Vyacheslav

Just acquired some nice art from the Ukraine, including this lovely figure study. I love the contrasting reds and greens. The artist was born in 1977 in Dubno, and studied at the National Fine Art Academy in Kiev. This piece is fairly large at about 27" x 35" unframed. (click for larger image)

Here's a detailed image of the face. (click for larger image)

Wetering Portrait

Here's a very fine portrait I acquired by the artist Johannes Embrosius van de Wetering de Rooij (1877-1972). Wetering was born in Woudrichem in the Netherlands and studied art in The Hague and eventually obtained a royal grant. He is most known for his landscapes and water scenes, which makes this portrait quite rare. In fact, the highest auction record I could find for him was not a landscape but instead a scene of people reading on a terrace. (click for larger image)

A photograph of Wetering in his studio.

Animal Farm

Picked up a terrific museum-quality painting that I am really excited about. It's oil on wood panel. The painting is not signed, and I have no idea who the artist is. I do know that the artist was incredibly skilled - the details are just stunning. Looks like a Dutch farm perhaps. I had originally estimated the date around 1940's - 1950's, but I was able to dig up a little information that shed some light on this piece.

The label on the back lists Borst and Clausen as the framer out of Manhattan in New York. I did a little research and Borst opened his shop in NY in 1886. In July of 1890, Borst retires and Clausen takes over the shop. Not sure how long the company stayed in business after that, but it seems this painting dates to the turn of the century - maybe 1910 or so. I'll have to do a little more digging on this one, so for now, I'll just enjoy looking at it! (click for larger image)

H. Loveland Hawaiian Shore

Got this nice seascape in recently dated 1941 by an H. Loveland. I have not been able to find any info on the artist yet, but according to the label on the back, it is entitled "Hawaiian Seas". The label also reads "Association of Honolulu Artists", and finally a price of $50. It's going to need some cleaning as it has yellowed quite a bit, and there is some very minor paint loss that will need touching up, but otherwise a real nice painting. (click for larger image)

Di Angelo Painting

Just got a new painting in and I am loving it. Probably dates from the late 40's, early 50's and is signed Di Angelo. Very nicely painted image of people strolling through a market. It has a beautiful hand painted frame with a very interesting old label on the back that says "Artistic Framing, Bloomingdales NY". I'll have to do some research on this one... (click for larger image)

Did a little research and it looks like this is the Italian artist Pasquale D'Angelo (1896 - 1955). The seller told me it was from the 30's, which makes sense given the artists life span. I found a very similar work by the artist of an alley scene that was probably done about the same time as this painting, and even looks like the same city.

Mr. Cho

Found a new painting today that I couldn't pass up. Very nicely rendered portrait of an Asian man with heavy impasto. Don't know anything about it yet other than that the artist was very good. It's about 10" x 12", and is signed Cho 66. I love finding good art! (click for larger image).

Update 2025!  I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who the figure in this painting is.  I found that by using the right google keywords, I could find VERY similar images.  In fact, they were nearly identical except that none were executed as nicely as this.  The strangest thing of all was that I went over to my neighbor's house one day, and saw one on his wall!  I said, "Where did you get that?  Do you know who it is?"  They told me that they had painted it themselves but couldn't remember much else about it.  I thought for sure it was a famous painting that people kept copying.  Years pass, and today, I was just showing this painting to someone and mentioned that I had kept finding nearly identical images online.  On a whim, I did a reverse image search for it and suddenly found the answer!!  There is a book titled "Portraits in Oil" by Stella Mackie from the 1960's.  This piece was one of the lessons in the book.  That's why there are so many copies in existence!!  I am adding pictures of the book.  Well that only took 16 years... lol

Fine Art Collection by Thumbnails

This gallery is arranged to view my fine art collection via thumbnail images. Clicking the thumbnail will take you to the original blog entry for the piece. Once there, you can read my comments about the piece and you can click on the image there for a larger scan. Comments are welcome, so if you have any feedback, let me know.

Tilly Moes - Floral

This is a really fine painting by the artist Tilly Moes (click for larger image). I did some research on the web, and found out this about her:

Sofia Theodora van Driel was born in Dusseldorf (Germany) on September 25th, 1899, the daughter of Johannes Gerardus van Driel and Sophia Adriana van Lammeren. Until her wedding in 1927 she lived with her parents in The Hague, where she attended the Academy of Fine Arts from 1913 - 1918. During the period prior to her wedding she painted "antique" still life subjects. These were dark appearing, complicated compositions with various fruit and flowers. For these she used the pseudonym Tilly Moes. In addition to this she had a position in an office in order to be able to pay the bills.

While browsing the website, I found images of her works. A few of them are strikingly similar to this painting and were probably done around the same time. It looks like it might be the same arrangement of flowers in fact. (see images e-m09 and e-m11):

http://tinyurl.com/rx8gwg

Portrait of the artist circa 1918

The artist and her husband in thier studio circa 1937