Travel back in time to J.M.W. Turner’s Harley Street gallery before immersing yourself in one of the finest seascapes ever painted by a British artist. Movie trailer legend Nick Ellsworth reads from Poet Laureate John Masefield’s ‘Sea Fever’ as we set sail across the mouth of the River Thames to explore Turner’s masterpiece. ‘Purfleet and the Essex Shore as seen from Long Reach’ established Turner’s reputation as the greatest marine painter of the modern age.
Tag Archives: Sotheby's Videos
Italian Villa Views: Carate Urio, Lake Como (Video)
Carate Urio is on the western shore of Lake Come, about ten kilometers from the town of Como. Originally founded as two inhabited areas -Urio and Carate Lario- the shared a common history and ties, so were administratively unified in 1927.
Lake Como, in Northern Italy’s Lombardy region, is an upscale resort area known for its dramatic scenery, set against the foothills of the Alps. The lake is shaped like an upside-down Y, with three slender branches that meet at the resort town of Bellagio. At the bottom of the southwest branch lies the city of Como, home to Renaissance architecture and a funicular that travels up to the mountain town of Brunate.
Enchanting period villa, dating back to the early 1700, with direct access to the lake; lakefront park of over 2000 square meters planted with centuries-old trees, splendid swimming pool surrounded by the greenery with solarium / relaxation area, lakefront walk of over 100 meters, 3 proprietary docks with convenient docking / entry and exit for medium-sized boats. The property is composed as follows: Main villa of about 750 square meters, on three levels, with up to 6 bedrooms, each with its bathroom. Guest villa of 450 square meters on 3 levels, with a private park of about 2800 square meters connected to the main garden through a historic and romantic bridge overlooking the Via Vecchia Regina. Large uncovered parking area for at least 6 cars as well as garages and storage rooms.
Art: ‘Jeune Fille en Bleu’ By Amedeo Modigliani (1919)
Painted in 1919 after the artist fled Paris for the south of France, ‘Jeune Fille en Bleu’ is one of the finest works from the penultimate year of Amedeo Modigliani’s life. In this episode of Expert Voices, Sotheby’s Senior Specialist Simon Stock explains how the search for new subjects in this new location saw Modigliani depicting informal models found in local bars and shops. This portrait captures the serenity of the young girl sitter and we see all the recognisable traits of Modigliani’s late work: the simplified human form, the elongated neck and the vacant eyes.
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian Jewish painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and figures that were not received well during his lifetime, but later became much sought-after.
Theorectical Physics: The ‘Constructor Theory’ Of Oxford’s Chiara Marletto
“Declaring something impossible leads to more things being possible,” writes the physicist Chiara Marletto. “Bizarre as it may seem, it is commonplace in quantum physics.”
Chiara Marletto is trying to build a master theory — a set of ideas so fundamental that all other theories would spring from it. Her first step: Invoke the impossible.
Constructor Theory is a new approach to formulating fundamental laws in physics. Instead of describing the world in terms of trajectories, initial conditions and dynamical laws, in constructor theory laws are about which physical transformations are possible and which are impossible, and why. This powerful switch has the potential to bring all sorts of interesting fields, currently regarded as inherently approximative, into fundamental physics. These include the theories of information, knowledge, thermodynamics, and life.
Read more about Marletto and David Deutsch’s constructor theory at Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-to…
Chateau Tours: Světlá nad Sázavou, Czech Republic
Světlá nad Sázavou is a town in the Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has a population of about 6,500. The Sázava River flows through the town.
This incredible complex has more than 5,500 sq. meters of usable area and a garden with a park that occupies 14,306 sq. meters. The chateau also has extensive attics and cellars.
The history of the chateau dates back to the Middle Ages when a Gothic fortress was built on the site, which was then a Renaissance hunting lodge was built. Over time, the chateau complex grew to include a Baroque wing and an Empire-style part, as well as a famous orangery. In the 19th century, under the leadership of a prominent Viennese architect, a demanding reconstruction and modification of the complex took place in the Neo-Renaissance style. With this reconstruction, the chateau gained its present appearance. A one-story historic building with four wings was built, which encloses a rectangular courtyard with a fountain. The building combines Renaissance, Baroque, Empire, and Neo-Renaissance elements.
Classics: ‘1967 Volkswagen 21-Window MicroBus’
One of the most notable variants of the T1 Type 2 is the Samba. Samba is the name given the 21 and 23 window versions of the Type 2. The 23 window Samba was built until 1963 and the 21 window Samba was built from 1964 until 1967. These variants were considered to be the top of the line versions of the T1 Type 2 and were fitted with a cloth sunroof. It is very common to find Type 2s that have been converted to 21 or 23 window variants, yet only cars built until 1967 are considered to be original.
Home Tours: Gwangju – South Korea (Video)
With the aim of expressing historical values and artistic achievements in architecture, five large-scale projects were implemented to integrate the merits of the traditional construction method of hanok, the techniques involved in building palaces during the Joseon Dynasty and restoring these cultural properties, as well as modern architectural techniques. Therefore, it was designed and constructed in a way that its artistry can be retained even after 1,000 years. The process of material selection was stringent in order to ensure that only the best is chosen, regardless the cost.
Gwangju is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, a suburb southeast of Seoul. The city is not to be confused with the much larger Gwangju Metropolitan City, former capital of South Jeolla Province, South Korea.
Art: ‘Hurricane Paintings’ Of Chinese-French Painter Zao Wou-Ki (1921 – 2013)
Zao Wou-Ki was a Chinese-French painter. He was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Zao Wou-Ki graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied under Fang Ganmin and Wu Dayu.
Master artist Zao Wou-Ki was one of the titans of Chinese art in the post- war period. His energetic painting ‘13.02.62’, offered in our upcoming auction Beyond Legends: Modern Art Evening Sale (18 April | Hong Kong), is from the artist’s powerful ‘Hurricane Period’ when he arrived at the pinnacle of his career. Discover how Zao perfectly fused Eastern culture with Western modernism, bringing dynamic inspiration to this work.
Art History: ‘Picasso & Sanyu – Modern Masters’
Pablo Picasso is perhaps the Modern master most admired by Asian artists. His commitment to breaking with tradition resonated deeply with Chinese modernist pioneer Sanyu. In this episode of Expert Voices, our Head of Modern Art in Asia, Felix Kwok, introduces masterworks by both artists, which will headline our upcoming Beyond Legends: Modern Art Evening Sale (18 April | Hong Kong). ‘Nu Avec un Pékinois’ is a masterpiece from Sanyu’s post-war period that reflects themes of love and perseverance and ‘Buste de Matador’ from the 1970s is the first painting in Picasso’s final Matador and reflects an urgency in the face of mortality.
Oriental Art: ‘Landscapes & Calligraphies’ – Chinese Monk Painter Hongren
Relax and enjoy the meditative power of legendary Chinese monk painter Hongren’s ‘Landscapes and Calligraphies’. A masterpiece of Zen thinking, this is the holy grail of Chinese Classical Painting whose themes of quiet and solitude still resonate strongly today.
Hong Ren, who is also known as Hongren, was a Chinese monk and painter of the early Qing period and a member of the Anhui school of painting. His birth name was Jiang Fang. After the fall of the Ming dynasty he became a monk, as did Zhu Da, Shitao, and Kun Can.
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