Claude-Joseph Vernet (Avignon, 1714- Paris, 1789), An Inlet near Naples with a Castle and Fisherfolk. Oil on canvas, 63.3 x 98.8 cm. Charles Beddington Ltd.
PARIS.- The first international art fair dedicated to Old Master paintings, will open to the public from Friday 4 to Tuesday 8 November 2011 at the renowned Palais de la Bourse, the former stock exchange located in the heart of the Paris art scene. This important new event was devised by ten leading Parisian paintings dealers who wish to share their passion for the field and to encourage the wider appreciation of paintings from the 14th to the mid 19th centuries. They have invited ten important international colleagues from London , Amsterdam , Zurich , Rome , Madrid and New York to join them in this showcase for excellence.
The ten Paris dealers, led by Maurizio Canesso of Galerie Canesso, are Didier Aaron et Cie, Éric Coatalem, De Jonckheere, Talabardon & Gautier, Haboldt & Co, Jean-François Heim, Jacques Leegenhoek, Galerie Giovanni Sarti, and Galerie Claude Vittet. From London come Charles Beddington Ltd, Derek Johns Ltd, Stair Sainty Gallery and The Weiss Gallery; Amsterdam dealers Noortman Master Paintings and Kunsthandel P. de Boer will be joined by David Koetser Gallery from Zurich, Adam Williams Fine Art Ltd from New York , Galleria Cesare Lampronti from Rome and Galeria Caylus from Madrid .
One of the oldest works to be exhibited will be a beautiful gold-ground painting of the Virgin and Child dating from circa 1330 by Andrea Di Nerio, an important artist whose works rarely appear on the market, offered by Galerie Giovanni Sarti, while one of more recent will be shown by Jean-François Heim, an exhilarating rendition of the rushing waters of the river Velino below the famous Marmori falls at Terni in Umbria by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) painted during the artist’s first visit to Italy in 1826.
The Weiss Gallery will be exhibiting for the first time in France two important works with strong resonance for French patrimony and culture. One is a moving scene of Christ carrying the cross dating from circa 1632-35 by Nicolas Tournier (1590-1639) that was once in an important chapel in Toulouse and has only recently been rediscovered. The second is a very rare portrait of Madeleine Le Clerc, circa 1570-72, by François Clouet (c.1515-c.1572). A dendrochronological examination has established that the panel is made from the same wood as a work by Clouet in the British Royal Collection.
