V Wildenstein

Zurbarán at the National Gallery is spectacular. The Spanish painter, known for his darkness, is just as adept at capturing light. Standing in front of some, you feel alone in the world. Particularly lucky to see it in the most incredible conditions, thanks to @sothebys and @chloestead ✨ @nationalgallery Curated by @danielsralston and Francesca Whitlum-Cooper If you miss the London exhibition (which you shouldn’t), you can see it at the @museelouvre and at the @artinstitutechi

Just one of the many masterpieces on view as part of the upcoming S.I. Newhouse auction at Christie’s NY. An exquisite Brancusi seen from the front and the back, placed in dialogue with Bacon’s portrait study based on the life mask of William Blake. A haunting pairing.👌👌👌 @christiesinc #sinewhousecollection #mayauctions #brancusi #francisbacon #christies

Thank you to everyone who visited us at @TEFAF and stopped by our booth this year 🩵 Today is the final day of the fair, and one of our true highlights has been Hubert Robert’s The Staircase of the Giardino Segreto at the Villa Farnese at Caprarola. It has been an absolute joy to marvel at this painting, along with other works, together with so many of you ✨ Painted in 1775, at the height of his career, this work exemplifies Hubert Robert’s mastery of imaginative architectural composition and atmospheric harmony. It balances erudition and imagination; the ruins become evocative meditations on time, memory, and the classical past. Delicately rendered figures, though modest in scale, are strikingly present through his lively and expressive brushwork, creating a subtle dialogue between human activity and architectural grandeur. The scene is set at the Villa Farnese in Caprarola, north of Rome, identifiable by its giardino segreto and double-ramp staircase leading to a terrace and tree-framed casino. Commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and designed by Vignola, the villa was widely admired for its architectural clarity and harmony. Robert visited the site in 1761 with the Abbé de Saint-Non and Jean-Honoré Fragonard, a journey later recorded in the Voyage pittoresque. #HubertRobert #capriccio #VillaFarnese #Caprarola #giardinosegreto

TEFAF Maastricht is officially open! Wildenstein & Co. Inc. is thrilled to participate once again with a selection of exceptional works from the late 1600s to the early 1900s. There is no doubt that this is the most beautiful fair in the world! Booth 302 @wildensteinco @tefaf

Two more weeks left to see Lustre at @interval.clerkenwell ! This is your chance to see highlights from our collection, as well as works by Pierre Bonnard from Wildenstein & co ( @vwildenstein ) and contemporary artist Sebastian Espejo ( @sebaespejov ). Open: Wednesday - Saturday, 12-6pm. Final day 28th of March!!!

Wildenstein & Co. Inc. is delighted to be exhibiting at TEFAF Maastricht once again! The centerpiece of our booth is this striking portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud, the most prestigious portraitist under Louis XIV. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for full details. We look forward to seeing you soon at Booth 302! @wildensteinco @tefaf #hyacintherigaud

The recently opened exhibition Metamorphoses at the @rijksmuseum , brings together works that underscore the enduring fascination with transformation in art. The assertion that “All things change, but nothing dies” underpins the appeal of Leda and the Swan, the Greek myth in which Zeus assumes the form of a swan to seduce Leda, Queen of Sparta. The story has long allowed artists to explore transformation, desire, and embodiment. While the swan conventionally signifies beauty and grace, the story’s undertone of coercion adds a lasting complexity. On view at our London gallery is Edme Bouchardon’s Leda and the Swan, a preparatory study for one of the principal marble figures of the Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons on the Rue de Grenelle in Paris. Executed in warm red chalk, the figure twists diagonally across the sheet, as if caught mid-turn. Fluid lines convey movement, while Leda looks upward, merging with the flowing water from the urn, in contrast to the swan, which gazes downward, aware of its own deceit. The drawing corresponds to the figure on the right of the fountain’s central façade, representing the River Marne. Flanked by birds in flight, she symbolizes abundance and civic generosity, reinforcing prosperity and commerce while also reflecting Louis XV’s aim to combine public service with urban display. As spring unfolds, Leda and the Swan continues to resonate: a moment in which transformation, beauty, and tension converge, inviting reflection on myth and its enduring presence in art. 1. Edme Bouchardon, Leda and the Swan, c. 1739-40 2. After Michelangelo, Leda and the Swan, after 1530 3. Edme Bouchardon, Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons, built between 1739 and 1745 (detail) 4. “Follow the Leda”, Simon Chilvers @financialtimes @fthtsi 5. Nieves González, La Santa y el cisne, 2025

In 1912, six years after Paul Cézanne’s death, Frantz Jourdain commissioned Aristide Maillol to create a monument in the painter’s honor. Maillol, who deeply admired Cézanne as a founding figure of modern art, accepted at once. The monument famously avoids portraiture. Instead, Maillol chose a reclining nude woman—a timeless, universal form. Anchored to the earth, her calm weight echoes the quiet gravity and inevitability of Cézanne’s paintings. There is no heroism here, only repose. Interrupted by World War I, the project was completed in stone in 1925. Though intended for Aix-en-Provence, the monument was refused by the municipality and ultimately installed in Paris’s Tuileries Gardens in 1929. Our small statuette (images 1 & 8), cast by the Fonderie Rudier, focuses on the position of the body (the extremities, head, hands, feet will come later) and its surface preserves the imprints of Maillol’s hands. Less polished and more intimate than the final version, it reveals the sculpture in the making, alive with touch and intention. This work will be included in @Wildensteinco ’s presentation at TEFAF Maastricht 2026! See you soon, stand 302. #aristidemaillol #monumentapaulcezanne #bronze #sculpture @wildensteinco @vwildenstein @tefaf @museeorsay @museedartmodernedeparis @tate @galleriaborgheseufficiale @britishmuseum

🇬🇷👑 Aliki Diplarakou (1912–2002), the first Greek woman to win the Miss Europe title in 1930, was a celebrated figure of interwar Europe, known for her beauty, intellect, and cosmopolitan life. Fluent in four languages, she later toured the United States lecturing on ancient and modern Greek culture. Beyond pageantry, Diplarakou gained international attention in 1930 when she disguised herself as a man to enter Mount Athos, the all-male monastic republic closed to women since the Byzantine era. The episode was later recounted in Time magazine in 1953 under the title “The Climax of Sin.” Commissioned by her first husband, the French industrialist Paul-Louis Weiller, this bronze bust of Diplarakou was sculpted by Charles Despiau, a leading French sculptor of the early 20th century who exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and worked with Auguste Rodin. He also taught sculpture for many years at the Académie Scandinave in Paris. The portrait reflects a meeting of two distinct yet aligned worlds: Diplarakou’s deep ties to the classical world and Despiau’s hieratic portrayal, combined with an extremely sensitive modeling of the surface that lends the figure a distinctly modern presence. Images 1-4: Charles Despiau (French: 1874-1946) Madame Weiller Bronze with gold patina, height: 23 1/2 inches 59.7 cm. Signed on back, at proper right: C. Despiau Further images of Mme. Weiller, later Lady Russel: photographers unknown / public domain. Link to Time magazine article: /archive/6609031/greece-the-climax-of-sin/ “Madame Weiller” by Despiau is currently on view at Wildenstein London, 25 Dover St.; visits by appointment only.

Lustre: Sebastián Espejo & Pierre Bonnard Open Wed-Sat, 12-6pm until 28th March 2026. Interval, 73 Compton Street, London EC1V 0BN Works: Sebastián Espejo, Niño, 2025 ,Oil on birch wood panel, 50cm x 40cm Pierre Bonnard, The Quarrel, c.1900-10, Pencil and black chalk with brush and ink on paper, 18.7cm x 20cm For sales enquires contact - [email protected] @sebaespejov @wildensteinco @vwildenstein @jessicadraper @jacob.gryn @davidgryn Image courtesy of Interval, photographed by @jackelliotedwards

FIRST LOOK - Lustre: Sebastián Espejo & Pierre Bonnard 24th January - 28th March 2026 In collaboration with @wildensteinco and @jessicadraper Opening: Saturday 24th January 2026, 12-6pm RSVP: link in bio or DM Interval, 73 Compton Street, London EC1V 0BN Open: Wednesday - Saturday, 12 - 6pm Contact - [email protected] for all enquiries Image: Lustre, photographed by @jackelliotedwards Courtesy of Interval. @sebaespejov @jessicadraper @wildensteinco @vwildenstein @jacob.gryn @davidgryn

Louis Tocqué depicts opera singer Pierre de Jélyotte as Apollo, in this stunning 1755 portrait. The artist renders him with energetic and fluid brushwork, his use of color granting Jélyotte’s ornate garments a jewel-like, shimmering appearance. A portrait is never merely a likeness: there is inevitably a subtext. In this case, a 42-year-old Jélyotte commissions the painting near the end of his stage career. It therefore depicts a moment of transition, as he looks back on his success, but also celebrates his achievement and looks forward to the next phase in his life. As we near the last days of 2025, let us too pause to look back, honor our achievements, and continue to look forward! ✨Wishing you all happy and peaceful holidays!✨ This work is included in Portraits, an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and works on paper, spanning the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries”, on view through February 5, 2026, at Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York. By appointment only. DM for details. 1- Louis Tocqué, “Portrait of Pierre de Jélyotte as Apollo” (1755) 2- Installation shot of our Portraits exhibition 3- Engraving by Louis-Jacques Cathelin 4- Michel Barthélémy Ollivier, “Le thé à l’anglaise” (1766) (Here Jélyotte plays the guitar next to a very young Mozart sitting at the harpsichord.) 5- P. Ducuing, statuette of Pierre Jélyotte @wildensteinco #pierrejelyotte #louistocqué #louisxv #portrait