Press Release
SIMPLY THE BEST – TEFAF MAASTRICHT 2007
EXHIBITS MAGNIFICENT ARTWORKS
Helvoirt, 7 December 2006 - The quality that has become the international
trademark of The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) will be higher than ever when
the event is staged for the 20th time in the Dutch city of Maastricht from 9th to
18th March 2007. When TEFAF opens its doors at the Maastricht Exhibition and
Congress Centre (MECC) 220 of the world’s leading dealers will exhibit paintings,
drawings, prints, sculpture, classical antiquities, illuminated manuscripts, textiles,
porcelain, glass, silver and other works of art worth over $1 billion, and that total
excludes the magnificent contemporary jewellery section.
There will be a superb range of works of art on offer. TEFAF has always been
renowned for its Old Master paintings and the London-based specialist in Dutch
and Flemish pictures Johnny Van Haeften will be exhibiting Pieter Breughel the
Younger’s A Winter Landscape with the Massacre of the Innocents. Breughel
places the Biblical story in a 16th century Netherlandish setting imagining
Bethlehem as a Flemish village covered in thick snow. Galerie Canesso from Paris
will focus on 17th and 18th century Naples and will show about 20 paintings
including landscapes, religious and mythological subjects and history pictures.
Military scenes will include Battle by Aniello Falcone (1607-1656).
One of the most remarkable paintings at TEFAF will be The Anger of Achilles or
Sacrifice of Iphigénie by Jacques-Louis David, the French Neo-Classical painter
who became the most powerful artist in revolutionary France. The picture, which
will be exhibited by Stair Sainty Ltd of London, is the only history painting by
David still in private hands and is also the last work that he completed before his
death in 1825. It depicts the sacrifice of Iphigénie, daughter of Agamemnon, to
appease the goddess Artemis, and has not been exhibited in public for almost a
century.
However in recent years TEFAF’s modern and contemporary art section has
expanded enormously and Acquavella Galleries from New York will be exhibiting
the 20th century American artist Alexander Calder’s painted metal standing mobile
White Dots on Red and Blue. The 1951 work will be on the open market for the
first time having been acquired directly from the artist by a private collector
whose family owned it until recently. Keitelman Gallery from Brussels will offer a
bronze by Jean Arp entitled Sculpture d’une ombre dating from 1960. The 71cms
(28ins) high piece is one of an edition of five.
Furniture is another of TEFAF’s great strengths and Perrin Antiquaires from Paris
will be exhibiting a Gueridon table by Francesco Belloni and Jacob Frères dating
from 1800-1805. Its oak and mahogany frame incorporates an inlaid marble top
with a mosaic depicting a dog running through a landscape. H. Blairman & Sons
of London will be showing a 19th century ebonised wood corner cabinet probably
designed by E.W. Godwin.
The market for Russian works of art has expanded rapidly as the economy of that
country has grown in recent years and Cohen & Cohen from London will bring an
armorial plate produced as part of a dinner service for the Russian Empress
Catherine the Great. The porcelain Qianlong piece was made in China in the 18 th
century and depicts the Russia imperial double-headed eagle on the breast of
which are the arms of Moscow, a red shield with St George slaying the dragon.
The New York-based Russian specialists A La Vieille Russie will be exhibiting a
more recent piece of Imperial history, a frame of photographs given by the Grand
Duke Michael Michailovitch, a nephew of Tsar Alexander II, to his wife Countess
Sophie von Merenberg in 1901 to mark their tenth wedding anniversary. The
Fabergé silver and enamel piece consists of the Roman numeral ‘X’ with a wreath
at its centre surrounded by four heart-shaped frames containing photographs of
the Grand Duke and the couple’s three children.
The Asian section of TEFAF grows ever stronger and Grace Wu Bruce from Hong
Kong will be showing a sloping stile wood-hinged cabinet made in China in the
late 16th or early 17th centuries. It is one of the most ingenious and elegant
designs in classic Chinese furniture, sloping outwards gently and almost
imperceptibly to give a sense of balance and stability. John Eskenazi, one of the
most internationally respected dealers in Indian, Gandharan, Himalayan and
South-East Asian art, will be returning to TEFAF after a gap of ten years. He will
bring a terracotta plaque made in the Chandraketugarh area of India in the 2nd or
1st centuries BC depicting a man and two women, one cradling a baby, in a boat.
Among the many fine pieces of silver on display will be a liturgical ewer made in
Danzig about 1650 with medallions depicting faith, hope and the Last Supper,
which will be brought to TEFAF by F. Payer Kunsthandel of Zurich. Two Dutch
silver baskets produced in Amsterdam in 1770-71 are to be shown by Abraham
Aardewerk from The Hague. Jewellery will include a Cartier diamond brooch worn
by the late Princess Margaret at the coronation of her sister Queen Elizabeth II of
the United Kingdom offered by Hancocks of London and a pair of Van Cleef and
Arpels art deco platinum earrings dating from 1922 on the stand of Marjan Sterk
from Amsterdam.
The antiquities section will feature a 2,000 year-old Roman marble sculpture
Portrait of a Woman with braided hair to be shown by Jean-David Cahn AG of
Basel. Charles Ede of London will display a Greek marble hero relief dating from
4th century BC Athens while another leading British dealer Rupert Wace will have
an exceptional 1st century AD Roman bronze helmet face mask that may have
been part of a cavalry officer’s parade armour.
AXA Art, principal sponsor of TEFAF
AXA Art and TEFAF will offer a limited edition service card to visitors enabling
them to check the provenance of artworks on international databases. AXA Art
will also stage an exhibition entitled Thrill of Collecting II: Plastic, showing rare
design and art objects made of plastic from collections around the world.
Note for editors:
Go to www.tefaf.com under ‘press room’ for images with descriptions. The images
can be downloaded in high resolution. For further information please contact:
For the U.S.A.
NBTC
Barbara Veldkamp
355 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel: 212-370 7360 X 19
Fax: 212 370 9507
bveldkamp@holland.com
For the U.K.:
Cawdell Douglas
Diana Cawdell/Will Bennett
10-11 Lower John Street
London W1F 9EB, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7439 2822 / Fax: (0)20 7287 5488
E-mail: press@cawdelldouglas.co.uk
Other countries:
The European Fine Art Foundation
Denise Hermanns/Titia Vellenga/Petra van den Engel
Broekwal 64
5268 HD Helvoirt, Netherlands
T. +31 411-645090, F. 645091, press@tefaf.com