This collection fully reflects the personal and competent taste of John Winter, often defined by insiders as "Taste Trinity".
Includes the beloved objects with which Winter lived, 186 lots that offer an insight into his deep knowledge and his vast interests: from Renaissance bronzes to Doccia porcelain, to a fine collection of XNUMXth century drawings by the great goldsmith and designer Louis Valadier.
Alexander Kader, head of the Sculpture & Works of Art Department of Sotheby's Europe, comments: "The Winter collection is a testimony to the eye and taste of one of the greatest European art experts. The scope of his solid knowledge ranges from paintings and drawings to sculpture, furnishings and decorative arts and above all his beloved Doccia porcelain. ”
John Winter had a prodigious ability to spot quality.
Even in the case of a famous and well-known collection of terracotta sculptures, he was able to discover new attributions.
In recent years he has purchased two large terracotta reliefs recently attributed to Jerome Ticciati, on the occasion of the auction of the Arthur M. Sackler Collection.
In the continuous revaluation of Baroque sculpture, Ticciati is one of the artists who stands out the most because he has a strong personality. Recent studies have highlighted his central role in the intellectual life of Florence during the eighteenth century.
Il Relief with the Adoration of the Magi (lot 35 illustrated above) and the Relief of the preaching of St. John the Baptist (Lot 36) are estimated at £70,000-100,000 (€99.000-141.000) and £40,000-60,000 (€56.000-85.000) respectively.
Winter's great love for Shower porcelain is summarized in the prodigious and articulated group of Apollo and Daphne (lot 65 illustrated on the left).
This magnificent porcelain specimen is based on the model of the great Florentine Baroque sculptor Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi.
The Doccia Porcelain Factory was founded in 1737 in Doccia – today Sesto Fiorentino – near Florence, and soon began to acquire plaster and wax casts of the works of Soldani-Benzi and Giovanni Battista Foggini to produce them in porcelain.
The group of Daphne and Apollo it is mentioned three times in the list of plaster casts and wax and terracotta models conserved by the Doccia manufactory.
In fact, this version appears in the list, where the presence of three putti, trees and the use of no less than 25 molds is reported.
The work is estimated at £100.000-125.000 (€141.000-177.000).
The auction includes a collection of drawings by the workshop of Louis Valadier, one of the most famous Italian goldsmiths of the XNUMXth century.
His workshop, located in Rome in via del Babuino, was one of the reference places for the decorative arts, producing a wide variety of objets d'art for his noble and wealthy clientele.
John Winter's pioneering studies of Valadier, who was not only an excellent goldsmith but also an excellent draftsman, represent a great contribution to the art world.
Most of the drawings come from an album discovered by Winter which has 91 pages, for a total of 144 drawings.
There are various subjects, ranging from the simple decorative motifs of the workshop to elaborate and refined representations, up to preliminary studies for new decorations.
One of the most significant of these is the design for the cartagloria commissioned for the Borghese Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, estimated at £1,500-2,000 (€2.100-2.800, lot 134 illustrated).
John Winter was also a great admirer of bronzes. In fact, the collection features two bronzes by the Venetian sculptor Francis Bertos, Such as'Allegory of Fortune estimated £10,000-15,000 (€14.000-21.000; lot 60, illustrated), cast in one piece, shows Fortuna with torn sail, seated astride a figure personifying misfortune as she strikes a young man to the ground, together to a cupid dancing on stage. The cultured commissioner of the work requested this erudite iconography as an invitation to debate among the observers.
It is present in the collection of 25 Ancient Drawings, Head of a Man Looking Down attributed to Jacopo Vignali (lot 24, illustrated). The drawing, probably done from life, with two colored chalks, is estimated at £5,000-7,000 (€7.000-9.900).
Among the drawings there is also a portrait of Milkmaid and donkey carrying two large baskets of flowers in the woods by the XNUMXth century French artist, Louis Carrogis, said Carmontelle, estimated £40,000-60,000 (€56.000-85.000; lot 103).
Among highlight Head of an old man with glasses di Jacob Jordaens, a drawing done in red chalk with black and white chalks, estimated £10,000-15,000 (€14.000-21.000; lot 25), and a drawing Costume of a Moor di Stefano della Bella, 3,000th-century Italian artist, estimated £5,000-4.000 (€7.000-54; lot XNUMX).
These works will be offered together with XNUMXth century Ceramics, Terracottas, Waxes and Drawings by important XNUMXth century French and Italian artists and sculptors.
It should be noted that many lots in the collection carry estimates of less than £3,000 (€4.000) and present excellent opportunities for collectors.
