Edouard-Denis Baldus (French, 1813-1889) After Bartlomé Esteban Murillo Virgi

Lot 66038

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Heritage Auctions

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About Auction

Live

European Art

By Heritage Auctions

Dec 9, 2015 - Dec 10, 2015

Set Reminder 2015-12-09 12:00:00 2015-12-10 12:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : European Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/heritage/european-art-1132 Heritage Auctions Bid@HA.com

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Lot Description

Edouard-Denis Baldus (French, 1813-1889) After Bartlomé Esteban Murillo
Virgin and Child, 1841
Oil on canvas
18-1/4 x 15 inches (46.4 x 38.1 cm)
Signed and dated verso (prior to lining): E Baldus / 1841

PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Norfolk, Virginia;
Willis and Valma Foster, acquired circa 1972;
Robert and Willis Epps, acquired from the above, 2002;
By bequest to the current owner.

Before he found his métier around 1848 as an architectural and landscape photographer-one who achieved great distinction for his daring compositions, tendency toward abstraction, and experimental techniques resulting in images of great clarity, beauty and scale-Edouard-Denis Baldus began his artistic career in France as a painter. This sensitive copy after Murillo's Virgin and Child composition is an rare example of Baldus' skill as a painter. In private correspondence of September 8, 2014, Baldus historian Malcolm Daniel noted, prior to learning of the present work, "In all my research, I was able to find only a single surviving, identified painting by Baldus, another "Virgin and Child," this one a copy after Murillo, painted on commission for the state and placed in the Church of Saint-Mamert in Gard, in the south of France. Baldus submitted two paintings entitled "La Vièrge et l'Enfant Jésus" to the Salon of 1841, both of which were rejected. One was 95 x 70 cm.; the other was 105 x 80 cm." Neither aligns with the present work, which must be considered a new discovery.

This lot is accompanied by a black and white photograph of the back of the original canvas bearing signature and date prior to restoration and lining in 1975.

Dimension

Height: 1825.00

Width: 1500.00

Condition

Lined canvas; there appears to be craquelure throughout with light frame wear with faint abrasions along top edge; light surface grime with a couple tiny dots of possible accretions; scattered tiny pinpoints of white pigment scattered across figures' skin; under UV exam, the above mentioned pigment is revealed as inpainting and there appears to be several tiny pinpoints of inpainting in same technique across the entire work including background and figure's clothing, most likely to address blistering and flakes of loss mentioned in restoration report; according to the restoration report from 1975, this painting was cleaned, varnish removed, inpainted, and revarnished as well as the canvas linen and wax-lined and restretched on new stretcher. Unframed