Interior with Window, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Danish, 1864-1916 (Lot 34 of the Sotheby’s 19th Century European Paintings Sale on December 9th, 2014)
My visit to the Brooklyn Museum this weekend was highlighted with a visit to one my favorite paintings of an interior, Not at Home, by Eastman Johnson of his wife, Elizabeth, whom we see climbing the stairs of their townhouse on Manhattan’s West Fifty-fifth Street.
I greatly admire how well the interior decoration is described, the rich paint work in raisin brown, gold and blue, an unlikely combination of colors in contemporary interior design, and the artistic arrangement of objects from a wide array of cultures—typical of the late 19th century taste.
Not at Home, Eastman Johnson, 1873, Brooklyn Museum
Illustrations of interiors are remarkable documents of a time both real and imagined. In the same spirit, Sotheby’s has a number of beautiful depictions of interiors coming up for sale in London in their 19th Century European Paintings sale on December 10th.
Portrait de la Comtesse d’Haussonville, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French, 1780-1867, Study for the oil portrait now in the collection of the Frick Museum, shown below. Lot 17 of Sotheby’s sale.
At the Window, Peder Ilsted, Danish, 1861-1933, Lot 33
Interior with Windsor Chair, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Danish, 1864-1916, Lot 34
La Lettre d’Amour, Auguste Toulmouche, French, 1829-1890, Lot 137