The 2024 edition of Tefaf

This year’s Tefaf has been shortened by three days compared with its usual duration: it will in fact end next Thursday 14 March, leaving less time to go on site and admire what remains the art market’s biggest fair, at least in the field of old art.

1. Giovanni Pisano ( c. 1248-before 1319)
Restoration of the head attributed to Benedetto da Maiano (1422-1497)
Madonna with Child, c. 1313-1315
Marble - H. 60.5 cm
Julius Böhler
Photo: Julius Böhler

See the image in its page

As usual, we don’t really know where to turn and the choice of objects we illustrate here, necessarily arbitrary and very limited, is no substitute for a visit. Our focus is on paintings and sculptures, but objets d’art, furniture and most other techniques are superbly represented. Our choice is therefore partial and biased, and does not claim to give a perfect overview of the event.

The first object we will mention is an early 14th-century Virgin and Child by Giovanni Pisano (ill. 1), on the stand of the Julius Böhler Gallery. The Virgin’s head was restored in the following century by another great artist, none other than Benedetto da Maiano (it is an attribution).
This is the only medieval sculpture that we will reproduce, but for these periods, which correspond to the beginning of the chronological field covered by La Tribune de l’Art, many stands are remarkable, as usual, such as those of Brimo de Laroussilhe or Sam Fogg.
We are not seeking to be exhaustive here, nor as regards the periods represented. It turns out that the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries are the only ones we will be illustrating (with the exception of a superb Art Deco object), while there are obviously a large number of Renaissance and Mannerist objects.

2. Diana di Rosa (1602-1643)
Samson and Delilah
Oil on canvas - 101 x 155,5 cm
Rob Smeets Gallery
Photo: Rob Smeets Gallery

See the image in its page

If Paul Smeets, is giving in to the fashion for female artists by presenting almost only works by female hands, at least these are mostly of fine quality. We reproduce here a painting by Diana di Rosa (ill. 2), a painter who was discovered by the Porcini gallery in Maastricht last year (see articles). We could also have illustrated this article with Giovanna Garzoni’s Portrait of an Apple, a delicate drawing on vellum that many considered to be one of the most beautiful objects at the fair.

3. Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (1587 – 1625)
Basket of Fruit
Oil on canvas - 51 x 67 cm
Galerie Canesso
Photo: Galerie Canesso

See the image in its page

Another 17th-century still life by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (ill. 3) caught our eye, on the stand of Galerie Canesso. While works of this kind by this artist were known, most were accompanied by figures. In 2017, still at the Tefaf, we discovered one, Colnaghi gallery, exhibited a year later at the Musée Jacquemart-André (see article). This one is also a new identification, thanks to Giovanni Papi, which further…