Galocha Cultural

terça-feira, 4 de maio de 2021

Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti 1971, Itália

Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti 1971, Itália
Fotografia

Immediately lauded by Ferrari enthusiasts, the new 365 GTB/4 was dubbed the “Daytona” after Ferrari’s 1-2-3 win at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967. Ferrari’s already impressive V-12 engine gained four overhead camshafts, putting displacement at 4,390 cubic centimeters. With a staggering power output of 352 horsepower, the Daytona dethroned the Miura as the fastest production car. Dry-sump lubrication enabled a low engine installation, while a five-speed transaxle allowed for a 50/50 weight distribution. The chassis was classic Ferrari, made up of oval-section tubing, and the recently developed all-wheel independent suspension allowed for better handling and tire contact. Four-wheel disc brakes rounded out a superb all-around package.
Despite the factory not originally planning for an open-top version, between Scaglietti and Pininfarina, designs were created, and a prototype was approved. Launched at the 1969 Frankfurt Auto Show, the 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider was produced for both the European and American markets, meeting an inundation of requests for an open-top model of the new gran turismo.
Finished in the brilliant shade of Giallo Fly (20-Y-191) over Pelle Nera (VM 8500), this 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider left the factory in December 1971 and was the 36th of just 121 Spiders produced. A left-hand-drive example destined for the United States, it was equipped with instrumentation in miles and air conditioning. In February 1972 it was delivered to Luigi Chinetti’s Motors in Greenwich, Connecticut and was shown at the New York International Auto Show two months later.
On 28 April 1972, just a few weeks removed from the International New York Auto Show, the Ferrari was sold to banker and long-time Ferrari client Alfredo Ducato of Hillsborough, California. A dedicated tifosi, Mr. Ducato ordered his first new Ferrari in 1951 and over the years developed a close personal relationship with Enzo Ferrari. Mr. Ducato and Enzo Ferrari regularly wrote to each other through the years and the Daytona Spider remained in Mr. Ducato’s collection until his death in 1987. Three years after her husband’s death, Mrs. Ducato sold the car through Walnut Creek Ferrari and Brandon Lawrence to Herb Boyer of Burlingame, California. In 1997 Mr. Boyer decided it was time to freshen the appearance of the car and had it repainted in its original shade of Giallo Fly by Bob Potts and the interior retrimmed in factory-correct Nero leather by Ken Neminick. In 2000, with fewer than 10,000 original miles on the odometer, the car was sold to Tom Knudsen of San Francisco, California. It was subsequently sold in August of 2005 to noted collector James L. Page of Boca Raton, Florida.
In January 2008, the Ferrari was offered for sale having covered just 12,775 miles from new. It was subsequently purchased by Charles Yassky of New York, New York. On 26 January 2008 Mr. Yassky showed the Daytona Spider at the Cavallino Classic Concours d’Elegance in Palm Beach, Florida where it took home the coveted Platinum Award at the highly competitive event. In April of 2008, the Daytona Spider received its Ferrari Classiche Red Book certification, proving the car was true to its original specification. Following certification, Mr. Yassky partook in the Ferrari Factory 40th Anniversary Daytona tour from Maranello to Mugello, Italy.
In 2008, with 13,020 miles, the Daytona Spider was sold to current ownership where it has remained in a meticulously maintained Ferrari collection. Today, the odometer displays just 13,442 miles from new at time of cataloguing. It is a rare opportunity to acquire any Daytona Spider, let alone one with such low original mileage, a Classiche Certified, Platinum award-winning example, with as interesting provenance as this. Although now over two decades old, the paint and interior remain remarkably fresh in appearance and the car has clearly been well cared for throughout its life. A recent compression and leak down test by Norbert Hofer of Gran Touring Classics confirmed the engine is in good mechanical order. The Daytona Spider is accompanied by manuals with pouch, tool roll with jack and bag, and restoration photos.
This Daytona Spider is ready for decades more top-down excitement for its next owner, exactly how Enzo Ferrari intended.

Bentley 3-Litre Speed Model Tourer Coachwork by Chalmer & Hoyer 1924, Inglaterra

Bentley 3-Litre Speed Model Tourer Coachwork by Chalmer & Hoyer 1924, Inglaterra
Fotografia

W O Bentley proudly unveiled the new 3-litre car bearing his name on Stand 126 at the 1919 Olympia Motor Exhibition, the prototype engine having fired up for the first time just a few weeks earlier. Walter Owen Bentley was already well known for his pre-WWI exploits with DFP cars and the pioneering use of aluminium pistons in their engines; and as an engine designer he was no novice, having been responsible for some of the Allies' most successful aero engines during the Great War.
The Bentley 3-Litre's four-cylinder 'fixed head' engine incorporated a single overhead camshaft, four-valves per cylinder, and a bore/stroke of 80x149mm. Twin ML magnetos provided the ignition and power was transmitted via a four-speed gearbox with right-hand change. The pressed-steel chassis started off with a wheelbase of 9' 9½" then adopted dimensions of 10' 10" ('Standard Long') in 1923, the shorter frame being reserved for the TT Replica and subsequent Speed Model. Rear wheel brakes only were employed up to 1924 when four-wheel Perrot-type brakes were introduced.
In only mildly developed form, this was the model that was to become a legend in motor racing history, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930, and which, with its leather-strapped bonnet, classical radiator design and British Racing Green livery, has become the archetypal Vintage sports car.
Early success in the 1922 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, when Bentleys finished 2nd, 4th, and 5th to take the Team Prize, led to the introduction of the TT Replica (later known as the Speed Model) on the existing 9' 9½" wheelbase, short standard chassis. Identified by the Red Label on its radiator, the Speed Model differed by having twin SU 'sloper' carburettors, a higher compression ratio, different camshaft, and the close-ratio A-type gearbox, the latter being standard equipment prior to 1927 when the C-type 'box was adopted. These engine changes increased maximum power from the standard 70 to 80bhp and raised top speed to an impressive 90mph. Other enhancements included the larger (11-gallon) fuel tank and (usually) André Hartford shock absorbers. Bentley made approximately 1,600 3-Litre models (513 to Speed Model specification), the majority of which was bodied by Vanden Plas with either open tourer or saloon coachwork.
Speed Model chassis number '425', with engine number '424', was completed in December 1923 and first owned by one F E B Elton. According to the renowned marque specialist, Dr Clare Hay, the four-seater tourer coachwork has been credited to Vanden Plas but is more likely to be the work of Chalmer & Hoyer (later Hoyal) although not definitely established (see photocopy on file taken from Bentley – The Vintage Years). It has also been suggested that the body is by Park Ward.
Copies of the car's original factory records (up to 1937) and a list of subsequent owners are on file also together with numerous invoices dating back to the 1990s when the Bentley was owned by a Mr R Lippiatt of Hampshire. '425' had been in the USA and then Canada from approximately 1968 to 1986, and when brought back to the UK had been issued with the age-related registration 'DS 7420'. The original registration, 'EL 8828', has since been retrieved.

Buquê de Gladíolos, Lírios e Margaridas (Bouquet de Glaieuls, Lis et Marguerites) - Claude Monet

Buquê de Gladíolos, Lírios e Margaridas (Bouquet de Glaieuls, Lis et Marguerites) - Claude Monet
Coleção privada
OST - 82x62 - 1878

Depicting a brightly colored and exuberantly brushed bouquet of gladioli, lilies, and daisies in an ornate painted vase, the present picture is part of a group of at least fifteen floral still-lifes that Monet made between 1878 and 1880. Although the artist painted still-life only intermittently during his long career, his achievement in the genre has been widely recognized. The scholar John House has written, "Monet's explorations of this subject include some of the most lavish still-lifes produced by the Impressionist group, and some of the most radical challenges to a long-standing still-life tradition" (in Monet: Nature into Art, New Haven, 1986, p. 43). An avid gardener throughout his life, Monet was particularly drawn to floral compositions. Indeed, he once said, "I perhaps owe it to flowers for having become a painter" (quoted in P.H. Tucker, Claude Monet: Life and Art, New Haven, 1995, p. 178), and on another occasion declared, "What I need most of all are flowers, always, always" (quoted in R. Gordon and A. Forge, Monet, New York, 1983, p. 199). In Monet's garden at Vétheuil, where he lived from 1878 until 1881, the central path was lined by painted pots filled with tall stalks of red gladioli, like the ones in the present picture. Describing Monet's proclivity for flower painting, Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge have commented:
"Flowers are the only things Monet paints really close to at a still-life range. He comes at them head on, without a compositional attitude: they are dumped in front of him, bushy or svelte, vivid, teeming with their specific energy, without atmosphere, an explosion. It is particularly in Monet's still-lifes that we recognize what it was that Van Gogh learned from him: not simply the powerful and expressive palette but also a quality of impassioned drawing that is much more apparent in the flower paintings--forms painted at the range of stereoscopic vision, therefore more tactile--than in most of his landscapes. In these sumptuous flower paintings, the drawing and color are carried along together with tremendous impetus. His love for flowers is unmistakable. The character, the quality of growth, the specific rhythm of each bouquet is given its due" (ibid., pp. 214-215).
The majority of Monet's still-lifes date to the first two decades of his career. His first three substantial paintings, executed in 1861-1862, were large and elaborately staged images of dead game (Wildenstein nos. 6-7, 10). In 1864, he painted his earliest flower piece, a lavish canvas indebted to Courbet's contemporary floral still-lifes, which he included in an exhibition in Rouen in October (W. 20). Three years later, he made a trio of table-top still-lifes featuring fruit and game, one of which was rapidly acquired by a patron of Manet and Bazille named Major Lejosne (W. 103; cf. 102, 104). Finally, Monet produced a single, elaborate composition of fruit and flowers around 1869 (W. 139) and two ambitious table-top subjects in 1872 (W. 244-245), with refined, delicate handling reminiscent of Chardin and Fantin-Latour.
Between 1872 and 1878, the period that he spent at Argenteuil, Monet is not known to have made any still-life paintings, concentrating instead on the landscape. He returned to the genre in earnest in 1878, the year that he moved to Vétheuil. Between 1878 and 1880, he produced at least twenty-three substantial still-lifes, by far the largest group of his entire career. Fifteen of these, including the present example, are floral compositions, while five depict fruit and three dead game. Monet also included a comparatively large number of still-lifes in exhibitions around this time (6 out of 35 in an Impressionist group show at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1882, for instance, and 11 out of 56 in a one-man show at Durand-Ruel the following year), indicating that he wanted to bring his achievement in still-life to the public's attention. After 1880, Monet's interest in still-life again waned. His only major efforts in the genre during the final forty years of his career were a set of thirty-six canvases commissioned by Durand-Ruel in 1882-1885 to decorate the doors of his drawing-room (W. 919-954) and a group of four large, virtuoso paintings of chrysanthemums dated 1896-1897 (W. 1495-1498).
Monet's interest in still-life painting in the late 1870s was probably spurred at least in part by commercial concerns. The years at Vétheuil were a period of great financial hardship for the artist. As he wrote to his friend and patron, Dr. Georges de Bellio, in December 1878, "It is sad to be in this position at my age, always obliged to ask [for money] and to solicit business. I am feeling the weight of my misfortune doubly at this time of year and '79 is going to begin just as this year ended, very sad above all for my family, to whom I cannot give even the most modest present" (quoted in P.H. Tucker, op. cit., p. 103). Monet's still-life paintings, particularly the floral compositions, were readily saleable and yielded higher prices during this period than his landscapes. Of the twenty-three still-lifes that Monet made between 1878 and 1880, all but three had found buyers by 1882. Some of these were sold to the dealers Paul Durand-Ruel and Georges Petit, while others went to private collectors, including de Bellio (W. 548), Dr. Paul Gachet (W. 492), and Gustave Caillebotte (W. 635). The present canvas is believed to be one of two flower pieces acquired in June 1878 by a Parisian collector named Theulier, who also purchased a pair of fruit and game still-lifes from Monet the following year (W. 544, 551). Several of the still-lifes from 1878-1880 sold for five hundred francs each, while at least two netted Monet as much as seven hundred (W. 630-631), more than the yearly rent on his house at Vétheuil. In a recent study of this period in Monet's career, Charles Stuckey has declared, "Financially speaking, landscape painter Monet was saved by his work in still-life" (Monet at Vétheuil: The Turning Point, exh. cat., University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, 1998, p. 56).
The still-lifes from 1878-1880 may be divided into two groups. The game pictures and some of the fruit pieces are fairly traditional, with restrained brushwork and artfully arranged compositions. Other works, including the present one, are more innovative. Abundant bouquets of flowers are arranged in bold patterns that give a pretext for virtuoso displays of colored brushwork, while fruit is scattered informally across table tops, creating a rich weave of color and texture that virtually fills the canvas. Describing this latter group of pictures, John House has written:
"In these paintings, Monet explored various ways of breaking down the traditional rigidity of the [still-life] genre. Courbet's fruit still-lifes of the early 1870s had rejected more conventional arrangements in order to emphasize the physical palpability of the fruit itself, and among Monet's colleagues, Sisley had on occasion experimented with more informally viewed arrangements on table tops. But it was Monet's still-lifes of around 1880 that more systematically undermined the conventions of the then-dominant Chardin tradition. With that tradition, the objects in still-lifes were presented in clear, orderly groupings, and firmly grounded on the surfaces on which they stood. Monet played down the physicality of the objects in favor of emphasizing their optical effect, which the informality of their grouping suggesting that this effect has been rapidly perceived, rather than carefully ordered. The pictures themselves, of course, are as elaborately contrived and organized as their predecessors; it was by his calculating rejection of the tradition that Monet sought to give them their sense of immediacy" (op. cit., p. 42).

Um Vaso de Flores (A Vase of Flowers) - Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin

Um Vaso de Flores (A Vase of Flowers) - Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin
Scottish National Gallery, Edimburgo, Escócia
OST - 45x37 - 1750

This is Chardin's only surviving flower piece and is one of his best known paintings. It illustrates beautifully his characteristic clarity and restraint. A blue and white Delft vase is filled with a variety of flowers. The white and blue colouring of some of the flowers and foliage echoes those of the vase, complemented by the pinks, reds and touches of yellow in the other blooms. The subtle play of light and shadow distinguishes the table from the background and its sombre tones are relieved by the colourful fallen flowers.

Flores em um Vaso, Rosas e Névoa (Fleurs dans un Pot, Roses et Brouillard) - Claude Monet

Coleção privada

OST - 83x62 - 1878

Painted in 1878, Fleurs dans un pot (Roses et brouillard) is a wonderful early example of Monet’s painting, exemplifying his skill in applying Impressionistic technique to a still-life subject. For this composition Monet chose a striking arrangement of pale pink roses and clouds of fluffy white gypsophila. This latter is a particularly interesting choice–in French the flower shares its name with the foggy weather conditions that Monet so loved to paint along the Seine–and in the present work Monet applies a similarly innovative approach to capture the effect of the white flowers emerging from a darker background. As Richard Thomson wrote of these works: "Monet painted such canvases with a flourish, confident in his ability to animate any still-life motif with the vivacity of his brushwork, unity of his light and coherence of his chromatics, and without excessive commitment to surface exactitude" (R. Thomson, Monet. The Seine and The Sea 1878-1883 (exhibition catalogue), National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2003, p. 76).
Fleurs dans un pot (Roses et brouillard) is one of only four still-lifes that Monet painted when he returned to the subject in 1878, with others including Bouquet de glaïeuls, lis et marguerites and the Chrysanthèmes now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. In the summer of that year he had moved to Vétheuil, and he would remain there until the end of 1881. He was surrounded by verdant countryside and a richly planted garden that would quickly become a source of inspiration, as well as offering an array of blooms for the still-life arrangements that occupied him on rainy days. When the Seventh Impressionist exhibition opened in March 1882, Monet contributed, among other canvases, several still lifes that he had painted during his years at Vétheuil. As Debra N. Mancoff observed: "Six floral still lifes were included in Monet’s submissions to the Seventh Impressionist exhibition. He had painted bouquets of flower on occasion throughout his career and now, in a time of financial crisis, his own garden offered an alternative to expensive travel searching for subjects to paint. Critics praised these works" (Debra N. Mancoff, Monet: Nature into Art, Lincolnwood, 2003, p. 51).
It was not just the critics, but also the art dealers who recognized the artistic, as well as the commercial potential of Monet’s still lifes. Like Renoir, in the 1870s Monet increasingly relied upon the appeal of his floral compositions to remedy his financial difficulties; their delicate charm was appealing to a wider audience, and their commercial success eventually won Monet the financial backing of the Impressionist dealer Georges Petit, who helped to usher the artist into the limelight of the Parisian art market. As Richard Thomson and Michael Clarke discuss: "The still-life paintings Monet made in the 1878-1883 period served various purposes, providing a break from landscape work and offering an alternative activity in poor weather. But above all they were commercially expedient, at a time when the artist and his family were in pressing need of funds" (R. Thomson & M. Clarke, Monet. The Seine and the Sea 1878-1883 (exhibition catalogue), National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2003, p. 76).
Yet, whilst economic circumstances may have been an element in Monet’s decision to paint still-lifes, it is clear from the deft brushwork and subtle gradations of light and color that define these compositions, that Monet was also using them as a means of exploring and developing his technique. Monet took this most traditional of painting genres and imbued it with the energy of his age; no longer "still" lifes in the literal sense, these paintings breathe life and vitality. Compared with the studied artificiality of a Bosschaert or the quiet solemnity of a Chardin, Monet’s works radiate light and achieve the same transitory sense that is found in his landscapes. Stephan Koja describes Monet’s “unconventional and unpretentious approach to his subjects,” writing: “There is nothing artificial about his arrangements, nor are they welded to a spatial context…Once again, he relied entirely on the effect of colour, endeavouring to apply the stylistic vocabulary he had evolved in his landscape paintings, with its typical short brush-strokes” (S. Koja in Monet (exhibition catalogue), Belvedere, Vienna, 1996, p. 92).
In the present work, the background is loosely painted, creating an indefinite space with the silver dish of flowers sitting on a surface that moves forwards out through the picture plane towards the viewer. The striped verticals of this surface–a tablecloth perhaps–serve to emphasize the voluptuous roundness of the roses, the undulations of the tarnished silver and the softness of the fallen petals. Monet’s treatment of the genre would have an important impact on subsequent generations of artists, as Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge have discussed.
"It is particularly in Monet’s still lifes that we recognize what it was that van Gogh learned from him: not simply the powerful and expressive palette but also a quality of impassioned drawing that is much more apparent in the flower paintings–forms painted at the range of stereoscopic vision, therefore more tactile–than in most of his landscapes. In these sumptuous flower paintings done only when the weather prevented outdoor work, the drawing and color are carried along together with tremendous impetus. His love for flowers is unmistakable. The character, the quality of growth, the specific rhythm of each bouquet is given its due" (R. Gordon & A. Forge, Monet, New York, 1983, p. 215).
One of the earlier owners of this work was James F. Sutton, founder of America’s first auction house, the American Art Association. The work was sold following his death and was subsequently acquired by Ogden Phipps. Phipps was a legendary racehorse owner and breeder as well as being a successful businessman. Over his lifetime he amassed a significant collection of paintings and furniture including the present work, which he owned for over half a century. Currently held in a private collection, Fleurs dans un pot (Roses et brouillard) comes to the market for the first time in nearly two decades.