Koller View 3/22

2 Dear Reader, OUR view. P. 2 Editorial PRE view. PP. 2–9 September 2022 auctions INTER view. PP. 10–11 Silke Stahlschmidt, PostWar & Contemporary Art RE view. PP. 12–14 Summer 2022 auctions OVER view. P. 15 Contacts CALENDAR view. P. 16 Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717) and Angelika Kauffmann (1741–1807), two highly gifted, enormously curious and self-confident women, made extraordinary contributions to the male-dominated worlds of art and natural science. Their work garnered great respect – not only from their contemporaries, but to the present day. Merian and Kauffmann are linked by their Swiss roots and their backgrounds in families of artists and publishers, which gave them the rare opportunity to be trained and encouraged in the fields where their talents lay. Maria Sibylla Merian, from an old Basel family, grew up in Frankfurt am Main, where she was trained as a painter by her stepfather, the flower painter Jacob Marell. Interested in insects from an early age, she fed, observed and collected caterpillars and painted watercolours recording the stages of their metamorphosis. The resultingmulti-volume book on caterpillars that she published displays not only her extraordinary artistic talent, but also her interest in natural science. Curiosity led her to un- dertake a journey at age 52 with her daughter to the Dutch colony of Surinam from 1699 to 1701, where her studies and observations in the primeval forests resulted in a monumental work on the flora and fauna of the area. This milestone of book art will be offered in our Books and Autographs auction on 21 September. Angelika Kauffmann was born in Chur, barely one hundred years after Maria Sibylla Merian, and in her early teenage years moved to Italy with her father. In 1764 she painted a portrait of the German scholar Johann Joachim Winckelmann. At just twenty-seven, she became a founding member of the Royal Academy in London (one of only two female art- ists – and it would be over 160 years before the RA would admit another woman), where she painted the famous portraitist Joshua Reynolds. Af- ter her marriage to Antonio Zucchi, she lived in Rome, where she culti- vated relationships with artists, aristocrats and intellectuals. Her friend- Cover ill. (detail), see p. 4 Preview of the Books and Autographs auction on 21 September 2022 The entire world in a book With the clever combination of maps and explanatory texts, Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) invented the type of atlas we know today, bound in book form. The Ortelius Atlas from our Books auction (ill. 1) brings together the knowledge of the best geographers of its time, when the discovery of America by Columbus and the first circumnavigation of the world by Magellan were still quite recent. After the success of the first edition of 1570, more and more new maps were added to the collection: while there were initially only 53, our copy of 1595 already contains 147. The late 17 th century was marked by an increased interest in nature. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717) travelled to the Dutch colony of Surinam from 1699 to 1701. The drawings she made there were the basis for a series of magnificent copper engravings, which were published posthumously in 1719 in her opusmagnum , ‘Over de voortteeling en wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der Surinaamsche Insecten’ (ill. 2). The Book of Hours in our September auction was probably written around 1400 in Paris, as indicated by its script and decoration as well as the style of the five min- iatures it contains (ill. 3). 1 3 2 1 AbrahamOrtelius (1527–1598). Thea- trum orbis terrarum. 3 parts in 1 volume. Antwerp 1595. Estimate: CHF 40 000/60 000 2 Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717). Surinaamsche Insecten/De europische Insecten. 2 parts in 1 volume. The Hague, 1719. Estimate: CHF 120 000/160 000 3 Horae B.M.V. – Book of hours. Paris, circa 1400. Estimate: CHF 60 000/80 000 ship with Goethe was marked by mutual esteem. In 1780, shortly before her marriage, she painted the small self-portrait that will be sold in our 23 September auction. Cyril Koller FOR FURTHER INFORMATION BOOKS & AUTOGRAPHS Dr. Andreas Terwey terwey@kollerauctions.com ONLINE CATALOGUE www.kollerauctions.com