At Auction | La Malouinière du Bos: A French Passion
Attributed to the architect Bullet de Chamblain, La Malouinière du Bos, 1715–17, on the River Rance, near Saint-Malo.
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From the press release for the sale:
La Malouinière du Bos: Une Passion Française, Sale 6370
Artcurial, Paris, 23 September 2025, 2.30pm
On September 23rd, 2025, alongside FAB Paris, Artcurial will host the auction of the collection from La Malouinière du Bos, an elegant 18th-century residence nestled on the banks of the River Rance, near Saint-Malo. Around 280 lots—including Old Master paintings, sculptures, furniture, and silverware—reflect thirty years of discerning passion. For over thirty years, the current owners have carefully restored both the interior and exterior of the Malouinière, showcasing their refined taste and incorporating treasures mainly acquired at public auctions. This sale reflects their desire to undertake major renovation work, after which they look forward to breathing new life into the house, redecorating and refurnishing it with the same elegance and attention to detail.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Allegory of Poetry, oil on canvas 80 × 65 cm. Estimate: €80,000–120,000.
Reflecting a marked appreciation for French artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Old Master paintings collection includes several exceptional works. Among them, an Allegory of Poetry by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, destined for the 1774 Salon of the Académie de Saint-Luc, stands out for its delicate brushwork and luminous palette. The painting features a refined portrayal of a young woman, her graceful back subtly revealed as she gazes upward in a moment of inspiration. Equally striking is Une jeune espiègle painted by François-Hubert Drouais, exhibited at the 1771 Salon (no. 61). This tender evocation of the lightness of childhood was a theme cherished by 18th-century French painters from Antoine Watteau to Jean-Honoré Fragonard.
The fertile period of the early 17th century is represented by two remarkable paintings. An oil on canvas attributed to Paul La Tarte depicts a lively market scene, illustrating the influence of the Caravaggesque movement on painters from the Lorraine region. Meanwhile, a Magdalene with the Crucifix (French School, 17th century, workshop of Georges de La Tour) offers valuable insight into a lost original by Georges de La Tour and serves as an important stylistic milestone in the study of his series of Magdalene paintings.
Italian painting will also be prominently featured, with a large history painting by Andrea Casali depicting Moses Saved from the Water, and Madonna in busto by Sassoferrato. Among the works on paper, a charming portrait of Louise Vernet, born Pujol, delicately rendered in black chalk and watercolor by her father-in-law, Carle Vernet will also be offered for sale.
François-Hubert Drouais, La jeune espiègle, oil on canvas, oval format
54 × 46 cm. Estimate: €100,000–150,000
The selection of furniture reflects a sophisticated blend of the finest French craftsmanship of the 18th century and a distinct appreciation for English cabinetmaking of the same period. Noteworthy pieces include a set of four fauteuils à la reine stamped by Claude Chevigny, an elegant pair of monumental Louis XIV giltwood girandole chandeliers, and a restrained George III mechanical architect’s desk attributed to Gillows.
La Malouinière du Bos—built between 1715 and 1717, likely by architect Bullet de Chamblain for Pierre Le Fer de la Saudre and his wife, a member of the renowned Magon shipowners’ family—embodies all the defining features of the grand malouinières of the 18th century. Its classical façade, constructed in finely dressed Chausey granite, is marked by a harmonious and majestic symmetry, animated by a slightly projecting central pavilion. Noble and imposing, the residence overlooks a vast jardin à la française that unfolds toward a bend in the Rance River. All the essential elements of a traditional malouinière are fully preserved at Le Bos: an intact enclosing wall, a chapel, extensive outbuildings, and a landscaped park adorned with sculptures and architectural ornaments.
Built for the greatest shipowners of Saint-Malo, who amassed their fortunes through trade with the East and privateering wars, these pleasure residences served as austere yet majestic settings for their treasures. Jean Bart, Duguay-Trouin, and Surcouf conjure the romantic world of corsairs, where speed, cunning, and flair often triumphed over sheer firepower and heavy artillery. For three centuries, the scent of salt, the sun, and the wind have breathed life into Le Bos. The thunder of cannon fire is recalled by an early 19th-century naval gun brought back from the Far East, inscribed in Chinese characters with the evocative phrase ‘To Split the Mountain’. The clash of boarding and the ring of iron are revived through a group of ceremonial and boarding weapons, their mysterious past hinting at remote isles and marvelous forgotten treasures.
The esprit malouin, a spirit resolutely turned toward the open sea and the discovery of the world, is evoked through a selection of scientific instruments designed to measure space and time. Among them, a mid-19th-century English pair of globes, one terrestrial, the other celestial and a Scottish telescope by Thomas Morton from the same period. The memory of long voyages is suggested by a group of Chinese porcelain plates from the East India Company, as well as by striking imagery such as Eugène Isabey’s During the Storm (1849), where the air, saturated with iodine, conveys the unleashed fury of the elements. In gentle contrast, the painter Arthur David McCormick offers a full-length portrait of a serene sailor, reading a letter, perhaps a romantic one on the quay, moments before setting sail aboard the Invincible.
Exhibition
September 19, 20, and 22 | 11am–6pm
September 23 | 11am–2.30pm
Exhibition | Framed! European Picture Frames
Willem van de Velde the Younger, Two Dutch Vessels Close-Hauled in a Strong Breeze, 1672, oil on canvas (Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection, 1917, Cat. 591).
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Now on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Lynn Roberts includes a helpful interview at The Frame Blog with the show’s curator Tara Contractor and conservator Nicolette Absil) . . .
Framed! European Picture Frames from the Johnson Collection
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 21 December 2024 — November 2025
Curated by Tara Contractor
The installation highlights picture frames as works of art in their own right, exploring their shifting forms and functions from the altar-like frames of the Renaissance to the experimental, artist-designed frames of the late 1800s. It includes thirteen frames from the Johnson Collection, which, together, express the craftsmanship and variety of European frames through the centuries.
The Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust, Summer 2025
The Decorative Arts Trust has shared select articles from the summer issue of their member magazine as online articles for all to enjoy. The following articles are related to the 18th century:
The Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust, Summer 2025
• “Time Travel in the Thames Valley: Ham House and Osterley Park” by Megan Wheeler Link»
• “Whose Revolution at the Concord Museum” by Reed Gochberg Link»
• “Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence” by William A. Strollo Link»
• “Decorative Arts Shine at the Reopened Frick” by Marie-Laure Buku Pongo Link»
• “A Room of Her Own: New Book Explores the Estrado” by Alexandra Frantischek Rodriguez-Jack Link»
• “Luster, Shimmer, and Polish: Transpacific Materialities in the Arts of Colonial Latin America” by Juliana Fagua Arias Link»
The printed Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust is mailed to Trust members twice per year. Additional membership information is available here.
Pictured: The magazine cover depicts the Entrance Hall at Osterley Park showcasing Robert Adam’s signature Neoclassical style. The apsidal end features plasterwork by Joseph Rose and contains statues of Apollo and Minerva. The marble urns are attributed to Joseph Wilton. Decorative Arts Trust members visited the house during the Thames Valley Study Trip Abroad tours in May and June 2025.
Exhibition | Fighting for Freedom
Now on view at the DAR:
Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence
Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, Washington, DC, 25 March — 31 December 2025
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, Summer 2026 — Spring 2027
Historic New Orleans Collection, Summer — Fall 2027
Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, Winter — Spring 2028
Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, Summer — Fall 2028
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Museum is proud to present the exhibition Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence, in collaboration with the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive. This exhibition seeks to embrace the stories of all those who pursued independence by centering on the lives and experiences of Black craftspeople and artisans from the 18th and 19th centuries. It highlights the creations, contributions, and legacies of African Americans as they fought for freedom from the earliest calls for American independence and beyond. Fighting for Freedom spans the war years of the Revolution through the present, as African Americans have sought to pursue agency and liberty through craft. The underpinning idea of African American craft as a catalyst for freedom-seeking displays itself in a host of ways in this exhibition, encompassing furniture, metals, ceramics, textiles, art, tools, and personal accessories.
The Founders’ cries for liberty from tyranny and oppression resonated with African Americans and were embraced by Black craftspeople, both free and enslaved. “The Founding Fathers, while enslaving tens of thousands of people, unintentionally created a ripple effect,” states exhibition co-curator and founder of the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive Dr. Tiffany Momon, “and we hope that visitors will see just how important those cries for liberty were to Black craftspeople and how they pursued it despite being marginalized.”
Fighting for Freedom features more than 50 objects from public and private lenders and includes objects made by both free and enslaved craftspeople. With artifacts from the 18th, 19th, and 21st centuries, this exhibition tells the stories of countless known and unnamed figures whose skills and commitment created not only objects but independence in many forms.
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From UNC Press:
Torren L. Gatson, Tiffany N. Momon, and William A. Strollo, eds., Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2025), 176 pages, ISBN: 978-1469686257, $35. Contributors include Lauren Applebaum, Robell Awake, Lydia Blackmore, Aleia M. Brown, R. Ruthie Dibble, Philippe L. B. Halbert, Jennifer Van Horn, Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley, and Susan J. Rawles.
Delving into diverse narratives of creativity, resilience, and triumph in the quest for freedom, this book underscores the evolution of freedom through the lens of material culture—by exploring how the very concept of freedom was shaped and redefined by enslaved and free craftspeople who relentlessly fought for their rights and the recognition of their humanity. Featuring ten essays by leading historians, museum curators, and material culture scholars and more than seventy color photographs of Black artistry, including paintings, metalwork, woodwork, pottery, and furniture, this book vividly illustrates how Black men and women persistently sought tangible expressions of liberty which have endured as symbols of their creators’ legacies in the ongoing struggle for freedom.
New Book | The Painter’s Fire
From Harvard UP:
Zara Anishanslin, The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2025), 400 pages, ISBN 978-0674290235, $33.
Told through the lives of three remarkable artists devoted to the pursuit of liberty, an illuminating new history of the ideals that fired the American Revolution.
The war that we now call the American Revolution was not only fought in the colonies with muskets and bayonets. On both sides of the Atlantic, artists armed with paint, canvas, and wax played an integral role in forging revolutionary ideals. Zara Anishanslin charts the intertwined lives of three such figures who dared to defy the British monarchy: Robert Edge Pine, Prince Demah, and Patience Wright. From London to Boston, from Jamaica to Paris, from Bath to Philadelphia, these largely forgotten patriots boldly risked their reputations and their lives to declare independence.
Mostly excluded from formal political or military power, these artists and their circles fired salvos against the king on the walls of the Royal Academy as well as on the battlefields of North America. They used their talents to inspire rebellion, define American patriotism, and fashion a new political culture, often alongside more familiar revolutionary figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Phillis Wheatley. Pine, an award-winning British artist rumored to be of African descent, infused massive history paintings with politics and eventually emigrated to the young United States. Demah, the first identifiable enslaved portrait painter in America, was Pine’s pupil in London before self-emancipating and enlisting to fight for the Patriot cause. And Wright, a Long Island–born wax sculptor who became a sensation in London, loudly advocated for revolution while acting as an informal patriot spy.
Illuminating a transatlantic and cosmopolitan world of revolutionary fervor, The Painter’s Fire reveals an extraordinary cohort whose experiences testify to both the promise and the limits of liberty in the founding era.
Zara Anishanslin is Associate Professor of History and Art History at the University of Delaware. She is the author of the award-winning Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World and has served as a historical consultant for the Philadelphia Museum of Art as well as Hamilton: The Exhibition.
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