7 New Auction Records for Women Artists of the Premodern Era

7 New Auction Records for Women Artists of the Premodern Era

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  Vigée Le Brun’s Imposing Portrait of an Indian Ambassador

  This portrait by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun depicts Muhammad Dervish Khan, the Indian ambassador sent to France by the powerful Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan. Painted in the summer of 1788 and exhibited at the Salon of 1789, when political unrest had begun to boil in France, the work is an evocative account of France’s fascination with the East as well as Vigée’s resourcefulness in acquiring this unique commission. It is obvious that both Dervish Khan and Vigée would have found each other equally exotic and endlessly fascinating: one, a powerful Indian man parading around Paris in elegant muslin and gold-embroidered costumes, the other a woman artist who held such sway that she could get the King of France to request the sitting.
  
  Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun, Portrait of Muhammad Dervish Khan, Full-Length, Holding His Sword in a Landscape. Sold for $7,185,900.
  
  

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  A Rare Still Life by Fede Galizia

  Fede Galizia helped to define the still-life genre in Italy in the early 17^th century with naturalistic, pared-down compositions featuring fruit and flowers such as A glass compote with peaches, jasmine flowers, quinces, and a grasshopper. Discovered in the late 20th century, this painting is a prime example of the pioneering female artist’s attention to detail and innovation in compositional arrangement. Around 20 still lifes by Galizia are known today, making her fruit and flower pieces rare and significant as they represent her most important contribution to art history.
  
  Fede Galizia, A glass compote with peaches, jasmine flowers, quinces, and a grasshopper. Sold for $2,415,000.

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  A Portrait by One of Only Two Female Founding Members of the Royal Academy

  This elegant portrait by Angelika Kauffmann almost certainly depicts the young generation of Spencers, one of the wealthiest families in England. The children were prominent members of the English aristocracy who grew up to become important and influential social figures in their own right, particularly Lady Georgiana, later Duchess of Devonshire, pictured at left. The Spencers were amongst Angelika Kauffmann’s earliest British patrons; this portrait was painted soon after the artist’s arrival from Rome in 1766. By the late 1770s, Kauffmann was one of the most sought-after painters in England and was one of only two female founding members of the Royal Academy.
  
  Angelika Kauffmann, R.A., Portrait of Three Children, Almost Certainly Lady Georgiana Spencer, Later Duchess of Devonshire, Lady Henrietta Spencer and George Viscount Althorp. Sold for $915,000.
  

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  An Artist, Poet, Embroiderer and Scholar Who Was All But Forgotten

  Bold in her art, refined in her intellect, yet reserved in her nature, Giulia Lama is one of the most enigmatic and fascinating figures of the early Venetian Settecento. As an artist, poetess, embroiderer and scholar, she transcended the boundaries placed upon women during her lifetime. Untraced until recently, these two paintings depicting accounts from the lives of Joseph and Job, rendered with a vigorous tenebrism and dynamic naturalism, serve as visual testaments to her unwavering character and artistic prowess that for many generations was overshadowed by her male contemporaries.
  
  Giulia Lama, Joseph Interpreting the Eunuchs' Dreams; Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar Consoling Job. Sold for $495,000.
  

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  A Charming Self-Portrait of the Artist in Her Studio

  A student of the history painter Joseph Hornung, Guillebaud worked in Geneva, painting mostly portraits and genre scenes, from circa 1820 to 1845, though very little is known of her life. This charming painting is almost certainly a self-portrait of the artist in her studio.
  
  Amile-Ursule Guillebaud, Portrait of the Artist, Seated at Her Easel. Sold for $16,250.

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  A Champion of Rights for Female Artists

  Although she spent much of her life in a rural community outside of Paris, Demont-Breton was not a withdrawn artist working in isolation. Instead, she was an outspoken advocate for the rights of female artists at a time when the establishment was hostile towards them, engaging in political discourse and activism. She was the president of the Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs from, and 1895-1901. She fought for the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to open to women, and won in 1897, granting women the right to study in the Academic setting and granting access to artistic tools, such as life models, previously unavailable.
  
  Virginie Demont-Breton, Femme de pêcheur venant de baigner ses enfants. Sold for $543,000.

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  An American Who Exhibited Thirty-Six Paintings at the Salon

  Gardner chose to compete in the male dominated domain of figure painting rather than more traditional female genres. Women and children were the core focus of her figural groupings, as they are in La captive, exhibited at the Salon of 1883 (no. 997). Anecdotal paintings, such as La captive, allowed Gardner to showcase her exceptional skills at painting the figure in a variety of settings, each with their own story line. The artist was a bird lover and kept parrots, doves and other species in her studio cages, while a number of local birds flocked to her windows for daily feedings, and they feature in a number of her compositions like La captive.
  
  Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau, La captive. Sold for $591,000.

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