{"id":28644,"date":"2024-11-07T14:56:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T13:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/boutique-crg\/la-lettre-scellee-huile-sur-toile-attribuee-a-bernhard-keil\/"},"modified":"2024-11-07T17:33:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T16:33:58","slug":"la-lettre-scellee-huile-sur-toile-attribuee-a-bernhard-keil","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.carrerivegauche.com\/fr\/boutique-crg\/la-lettre-scellee-huile-sur-toile-attribuee-a-bernhard-keil\/","title":{"rendered":"La lettre scell\u00e9e, huile sur toile, attribu\u00e9e \u00e0 Bernhard Keil"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sealed letter, oil on canvas, attributed to Bernhard Keil<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bOil painting on canvas representing two elderly figures looking at each other, 17th century work attributed to Bernhard Keil (Keilhau) also called Monsu’ Bernardo (1624-1687), Danish and Italian painter.
A student of Rembrandt in 1642, he was also influenced by Jan Lievens, but it was in 1656 after his arrival in Rome that he was inspired by the spirit of the Caravaggists and the Bamboccianttis, these artists of genre scenes crudely representing the modest people in their daily lives. It was during this period that our painting was created.<\/p>\n

This painting represents a genre scene typical of Baroque art. We see an old man looking pensive, his head slightly raised, his mouth half open, seeming to stare into space. He is dressed in a white shirt tied with a lace on the torso and an earth-colored vest, decorated with black edging. He holds in his left hand what appears to be a folded letter, his wrist covers a pile of other sheets of paper, the first of which is already written. At their side, an inkwell and its quill, on the other side of the hand, a letter opener with a black handle is placed on the table. The scene appears to describe an epistolary exchange.<\/p>\n

To the left of this man, a woman is standing, lighting a lamp while looking at him. She wears a dress over a shirt and a white scarf in her hair. In her left hand, she holds the candlestick and in her right a match ready to light the candle.<\/p>\n

The artist uses a marked contrast between light and shadow to accentuate the scene. It is a specificity of the Caravaggio period which thus highlights the expressive side of the characters. Bernhard Keil is very representative of this particularity. His characters are always very expressive, the brushstrokes are marked and emphasize the movement of the scene a little more.
The faces, rendered with care, testify to the artist\u2019s virtuosity in the representation of emotions. The composition led by chiaroscuro gives depth to the scene, drawing the eye to the details of the face and hands.<\/p>\n

Our gaze is as if caught by this singularity. Here he explores human interaction with captivating realism and dramatic intensity.<\/p>\n

The characteristics of his male character are quite typical of his representations (he possibly had the same model) this is how his Diogenes sold for 43,400 euros in 2007 in Milan, or his Saint Jerome sold for $31,200 (around \u20ac25,450) in New York in 2006, take on the physical features of our old man. The pictorial touch of this artist is very distinctive, the hair and beard are worked touch by touch, the faces are imprinted with a singular marking of the work of light by superposition of brush strokes.<\/p>\n

We can find these properties in all his characters, we notice it in his representation of the personified seasons, 4 oils on round panels, sold in Florence in 2021 for 81,250 euros.<\/p>\n

Monsu\u2019 Bernardo created several paintings of this composition. One of them is part of Italian cultural heritage under the inventory number \u201cPoggio Imp\u00e9riale 1278\u201d and exhibited at the Pitti Palace in Florence with the title: the seal of the letter or of fire. Two old men with a candle. Marco Chiarini (professor, art historian and author of several books on ancient Italian paintings) and Minna Heimburger (Art historian and Bernardo Monsu\u2019 expert) also put forward the hypothesis for this painting, of a symbolism of fire, as opposed to its representation of \u00ab\u00a0washing of hands \u00bb symbolism of water, two subjects very popular with the artist.<\/p>\n

Other similar compositions have been sold and are now in private collections, such as the oil \u201cA man sealing a letter, a woman beside him\u201d sold for 120,000 DKK (approximately 16,100 euros) in 2006 in Denmark.<\/p>\n

Each of them having differences in their pictorial representation and some dissimilarities in the positioning of the scene (paper, hands, letter opener, etc.). Our illustration is particularly interesting because of its large size but also the beauty of the light and the very visible pictorial touches which makes it one of the most eventful compositions.<\/p>\n

Bernard Keil is to date referenced in several major collections, we can thus find other works by this artist representing genre scenes with popular characters (or even religious scenes), in the Prado Museum (Spain) and in numerous European Museums (France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden) but also worldwide, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston or the Ottawa Museum of Fine Arts and many others.<\/p>\n

Dimensions: H 96.5cm x W 76cm<\/strong>
Dimensions with frame : H 121 cm x L 100 cm<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/div>\n

Peinture \u00e0 l\u2019huile sur toile repr\u00e9sentant deux personnages \u00e2g\u00e9s se regardant, travail du XVIIe si\u00e8cle attribu\u00e9 \u00e0 Bernhard Keil (Keilhau) aussi appel\u00e9 Monsu\u2019 Bernardo (1624-1687), peintre danois et italien.
El\u00e8ve de Rembrandt en 1642, il est aussi influenc\u00e9 par Jan Lievens, mais c\u2019est en 1656 apr\u00e8s son arriv\u00e9e \u00e0 Rome qu\u2019il s’inspire de l\u2019esprit des caravagistes et des Bamboccianttis, ces artistes des sc\u00e8nes de genre repr\u00e9sentant cr\u00fbment les gens modestes dans leur vie quotidienne. C\u2019est \u00e0 cette p\u00e9riode que notre peinture fut r\u00e9alis\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

Ce tableau repr\u00e9sente une sc\u00e8ne de genre typique de l\u2019art baroque. On y voit un vieil homme l\u2019air songeur, la t\u00eate l\u00e9g\u00e8rement lev\u00e9e, la bouche entrouverte, semblant regarder le vide. Il est v\u00eatu d\u2019une chemise blanche nou\u00e9e par un lacet sur le torse et d\u2019un gilet dans les couleurs terre, orn\u00e9 d\u2019un liser\u00e9 noir. Il tient dans sa main gauche ce qui semble \u00eatre une lettre pli\u00e9e, son poignet recouvre un tas d\u2019autres feuilles dont la premi\u00e8re est d\u00e9j\u00e0 r\u00e9dig\u00e9e. A leur c\u00f4t\u00e9, un encrier et sa plume, de l\u2019autre c\u00f4t\u00e9 de la main, un coupe-papier au manche noir est pos\u00e9 sur la table. La sc\u00e8ne semble d\u00e9crire un \u00e9change \u00e9pistolaire.<\/p>\n

A la gauche de cet homme, une femme debout est en train d\u2019allumer une lampe en le regardant. Elle porte une robe par-dessus une chemise et un foulard blanc dans les cheveux. De sa main gauche, elle tient le bougeoir et de sa droite une allumette pr\u00eate \u00e0 enflammer la bougie.<\/p>\n

L\u2019artiste utilise un contraste marqu\u00e9 entre lumi\u00e8re et ombre afin d\u2019accentuer la sc\u00e8ne. C\u2019est une sp\u00e9cificit\u00e9 de la p\u00e9riode caravagesque qui met ainsi en avant le c\u00f4t\u00e9 expressif des personnages. Bernhard Keil est tr\u00e8s repr\u00e9sentatif de cette particularit\u00e9. Ses personnages sont toujours tr\u00e8s expressifs, les coups de pinceaux sont marqu\u00e9s et soulignent un peu plus le mouvement de la sc\u00e8ne.
Les visages, rendus avec soins, t\u00e9moignent de la virtuosit\u00e9 de l\u2019artiste dans la repr\u00e9sentation des \u00e9motions. La composition dirig\u00e9e par le clair-obscur conf\u00e8re une profondeur \u00e0 la sc\u00e8ne, attirant le regard vers les d\u00e9tails du visage et des mains.<\/p>\n

Notre regard est comme happ\u00e9 par cette singularit\u00e9. Il explore ici, l\u2019interaction humaine avec un r\u00e9alisme captivant et une intensit\u00e9 dramatique.<\/p>\n

Les caract\u00e9ristiques de son personnage masculin sont assez typique de ses repr\u00e9sentations (il avait possiblement le m\u00eame mod\u00e8le) c\u2019est ainsi que son Diog\u00e8ne vendu 43 400 euros en 2007 \u00e0 Milan, ou son Saint J\u00e9r\u00f4me vendu 31 200$ (environ 25 450\u20ac) \u00e0 New york en 2006, reprennent les traits physiques de notre vieillard. La touche picturale de cet artiste est tr\u00e8s distinctif, les cheveux et la barbe sont travaill\u00e9es touche par touche, les visages sont empreints d\u2019un marquage singulier du travail de la lumi\u00e8re par superposition de coups de pinceaux.<\/p>\n

On peut retrouver ces propri\u00e9t\u00e9s dans tous ses personnages, on le remarque dans sa repr\u00e9sentation des saisons personnifi\u00e9es, 4 huiles sur panneaux ronds, vendues \u00e0 Florence en 2021 pour 81 250 euros.<\/p>\n

Monsu\u2019 Bernardo a r\u00e9alis\u00e9 plusieurs peintures de cette composition. L\u2019une d\u2019elle fait partie du patrimoine culturel italien sous le num\u00e9ro d\u2019inventaire \u00ab\u00a0Poggio Imp\u00e9riale 1278\u00a0\u00bb et expos\u00e9e au Palais Pitti \u00e0 Florence avec comme titre\u00a0: le sceau de la lettre ou du feu<\/em>. Deux vieillards avec une bougie<\/em>. Marco Chiarini (professeur, historien\u00a0de\u00a0l’art et auteur\u00a0de\u00a0plusieurs\u00a0livres\u00a0sur\u00a0les peintures italiennes anciennes) et Minna Heimburger (Historienne\u00a0de\u00a0l’art\u00a0et experte de Bernardo Monsu\u2019) avancent par ailleurs l\u2019hypoth\u00e8se pour ce tableau, d\u2019une symbolique du feu, \u00e0 l\u2019oppos\u00e9 de sa repr\u00e9sentation du \u00ab\u00a0lavement des mains\u00a0\u00bb symbolique de l\u2019eau, deux sujets tr\u00e8s pris\u00e9s par l\u2019artiste.<\/p>\n

D\u2019autres compositions similaires ont \u00e9t\u00e9 vendues et sont maintenant en collection priv\u00e9e, comme l’huile \u00ab A man sealing a letter, a woman beside him\u00a0\u00bb vendue pour 120 000 DKK (environ 16 100 euros) en 2006 au Danemark.<\/p>\n

Chacune d’elles ayant des diff\u00e9rences dans leur repr\u00e9sentation picturale et quelques dissemblances de positionnement de la sc\u00e8ne (papier, mains, coupe-papier…) . Notre illustration est particuli\u00e8rement interessante de part sa grande taille mais \u00e9galement la beaut\u00e9 de la lumi\u00e8re et des touches picturales tr\u00e8s visibles qui en fait l’une des compositions les plus mouvement\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

Bernard Keil est \u00e0 ce jour r\u00e9f\u00e9renc\u00e9 dans plusieurs grandes collections, on peut ainsi retrouver d\u2019autres \u0153uvres de cet artiste repr\u00e9sentant des sc\u00e8nes de genre avec des personnages populaires (ou encore des sc\u00e8nes religieuses), dans le mus\u00e9e du Prado (Espagne) et dans de nombreux Mus\u00e9es Europ\u00e9en (France, Allemagne, Pays-Bas, Su\u00e8de) mais \u00e9galement au niveau mondial, tel le Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York, le Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-arts de Boston ou encore le Mus\u00e9e des beaux-arts d\u2019Ottawa et bien d’autres.<\/p>\n

Dimensions <\/strong>: H 96,5cm x L 76 cm
Dimensions avec cadre\u00a0<\/strong>: H 121 cm x L 100 cm<\/p>\n

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