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Lot 407
Description:
Jozef Tominic (Austrian/Slovene, 1790-1866), a pair of portraits; "Gentleman Holding a Botanical Specimen" and "The Lady with an Elaborate Coiffure, Bedecked with Jewelry", c. 1840-1855, each oil on canvas, 31 in. x 24 3/4 in. and 31 1/4 in. x 24 7/8 in. respectively, in matching original carved and giltwood frames.
- Notes: Note: Born in "Venezia Giulia" or Friuli, Tominc was something of a prodigy, and took his first lessons in Gorizia with an artist named Karel Kebar (1764-1810). In 1803 Tominc went to the Austrian court, and gained the favor of the Archduchess Maria Anne, who sent him to Rome with a warm letter of introduction. There he worked with D. C. Bazzanti (c. 1742-1818) and exhibited at the Accademia di San Luca, where he won a silver medal in 1814; his Roman period is chiefly remarkable for the beauty of his drafting style, which rivaled that of Ingres. After brief sojourns in Naples (1818) and Vienna (1819), he settled in the capital of the former Duchy of Carinthia, Ljubljana, where he p inted a remarkable series of portraits in the Biedermeier style. In 1830 he made his final move to Trieste, where he continued his celebrated portrait style for a full 25 years, before returning to his home province, where he died. The present dramatic and arresting images are in his best style, and epitomize his meticulous technique. The Gentleman's portrait has echoes across his career, from the type of costume to the treatment of hair and jewelery; the most memorable parallel is with his image of another botanist, Ignazio Furlani (c. 1856), in which specimens of fruits and flowers are laid out on a tabletop, much as this blossom is proudly exhibited by the anonymous sitter. Tominc's Lady is also very firmly tied to his extensive oeuvre by a number of convincing parallels. Her gesture is absolutely precisely replicated in his Duchess Cecilia Auersperg (c. 1820), while her swath of red drapery is mirrored in his Giuseppina Holzknecht (c. 1829-30); her very prominent jewelry finds parallels across his career, especially in the 1840s. Her extravagant coiffure is perhaps most closely matched in the 1850s, with such images as Tominc's Maria Lazarevi (c. 1855). These portraits mark a major discovery, and one which offers a series of insights into Austrian and Italian painting of the Biedermeier and Nazarene periods. References: Ksenija Rozman, "Tominc, Joef," Grove Dictionary of Art, Jane Turner, ed., London, 1996, 34 vols, vol. 31 p. 135; Andrej Smrekar, ed., Joef Tominc (comprehensive exhibition catalogue), National Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2002.
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June 25, 2011 10:00 AM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US
Neal Auction Company
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