Majorca:
Yannick and Ben Jakober Foundation:
Nins: Portraits of Children.
The jewel in the crown at the Yannick and Ben Jakober Foundation is the
important collection of Nins, Portraits of Children from the sixteenth to the
nineteenth century, which is hung in what used to be an underground
reservoir. The entrance to the exhibition
space is marked by a discreet canopy of Corten steel, designed by Antonio
Obrador and the superb interior lighting, which facilitates the interpretation
of the paintings, was designed by Alain Chevalier who had worked on the
lighting of artworks both at the Louvre and at the Centre Pompidou. “The main
criteria for choosing the selection was the aesthetic response and emotions
provoked by each painting rather than by the desire to assemble a complete
collection with a didactic purpose.
The theme, which emerged as the collection took shape, was not just an
overview of portraits of children across centuries but a glimpse of the
mysterious world of childhood.
These portraits, which form the core of the “Nins” collection, are from
different countries, and different epochs and although, for the most part, they
represent the sons and daughters of important historical figures, there are
also images of children of more modest origins among them… This selection also enables us to
follow the evolution of a certain way of depicting children, as well as the
metamorphosis of clothing… And…
The symbolism of various objects is given remarkable attention in these
portraits and is of great interest.
Important emblematic accessories and attributes of power such as scepters,
crowns, thrones, drapes and tables are shown in detail, but so also are
animals, fruits, flowers, elements symbolizing and underwriting the necessity
of education and emphasizing the desirable virtues…. To a certain extent, this collection is a history of a
family, a great European family, told through its unions and alliances.”
Yannick Jakober.
Above:
far right: Italian School: Portrait of Michele Antonio Saluzzo With His Dog,
1743 – M.G.B. Clementi called Clementina (1690-1761). Clementina was a court painter. Many of her works are conserved at the Palace di Caccia
Stupinigi. One of the pictures
exhibited there is a portrait of Vittorio Amedeo III, dated one year previously
to this painting and clearly showing a stylistic similarity.
Italian
School: Portrait of Vittorio
Amadeo (1587-1637), Emanuele Filiberto (1588-1624) and Filippo Emanuele
(1586-1605), di Savoia as young children, C. 1593-1594, Jan Kraeck known as
Giovanni Caracca (active 1567-1607), Dutch School, oil on canvas.
French
School: Portrait of Louis-Bufile Marquis of Brancas (1710-1753), 1711 Jean
Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755). The painter signs this original canvas, dated 1711
by himself, on the reverse. Oudry
was the pupil of Michel Serre and Nicholas Largilliere. He painted nearly three thousand works,
including animal scenes, still lifes and portraits. In 1719, he became a member of the Academy of Painting and
Sculpture and one of the favorite artists in the court of Louis XV.
French
School: Portrait of Louis XIV (1638-1715) With His First Wet Nurse Madame
Longuet de la Giraudiere, 1638 Charles Beauburn (1604-1692). Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, is
represented at the age of four months with his first wet nurse. The Queens of Europe were supposed to
give birth to a high number of children, in order to produce an heir to the
crown. The royal babies ere in
consequence fed by ladies of the most important aristocratic families.
Spanish
School: Portrait of the Infante Alonso Caro (1611-12) Circle of Bartolome
Gonzalez (1564-1627). The Infante
was the last son of Philip III of Spain and his wife Margarita, who died giving
birth. The king was loyal to her
memory and never married again.
This could be a version of the central part of the portrait representing
the Infantes Fernando, Alonso Caro and Margarita, painted by Gonzalez in 1612,
now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.
Hapsburg
School: Portrait of Sophie
Christiane Wilhelmine, Countess of Solms-Laubach (1741-17720, c 1743 attributed
to Antoine Pesne (1683-1757). The
dress is influenced by the French fashion during the XVIII century. Antoine Pesne was the favorite
painter of Fredrick I of Prussia.
After the monarch’s death, he continued to work for his son in the
palaces of Sans Souci, Postdam and Charlottenburg.
Dutch
School: Portrait of a Lady with Two Sons and a Daughter, 1646 Monogramist
C.V.D. This is presumably the
portrait of a widow with her three children. The little daughter is holding a handbag of the type that is
to be found in portraits of girls from the 1630’s and 1640’s. The whip in the older son’s hand
represents discipline, in keeping with the educational ideals of the time.
photograph and copyright manfredi bellati
French
School: Portrait of a Boy Dressed in Red, 1603 Francois Quesnel (1543-1619).
According to the inscription, this boy is exactly seven and a half years old
and has probably cast of his children’s clothes scarcely more than a year
ago. For decorative reasons, the
cloth is slashed, as was very much in fashion at the beginning of the XII
century. The ruff is smaller than
in earlier years. On the whole,
the costume has lost the stiffness of the XVI century when Spanish fashion was
the model.
English
School: Portrait of Young Boy
Wearing as Silvery Doublet, c. 1600 Circle of Robert Peake (1551-1519). Peake was one of the most successful
portrait painters of the late Elizabethan period. The models wanted to resemble their medieval ancestors and
therefore artist showed an ingenious archaism. The sitter wears elegant breeches and a sword. Boys around seven received both during
their “breeching” ceremony, entering thus the world of adults.
Hapsburg
School: Portrait of the Emperor
Joseph II (1741-1790), c. 1743/44 Martin van Mytens the Younger
(1695-1770). After the early death
of the Emperor Charles VI, the House of Hapsburg in Austria had a big
crisis. Then Joseph II became his
family’s only hope. He always
enjoyed the particular attention of his mother, the Empress Maria Teresa, and a
privileged position among his numerous brothers.
Northern
School: Portrait of Charles V
(1500-1558) and of His Two Sisters Leonor (1498-1558) and Isabel (1501-1526),
unknown copyist of the Master of the Brotherhood of Saint George. This triptych shows the children of
Philip the Handsome and Joan the Mad.
The sitters can be identified by the coats of arms and inscriptions:
Charles V, future Emperor of Germany, Leonor Queen of Portugal and after of
France: and Isabel wife of Christian II of Denmark.
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