"One Small Step for Man"

A friend of ours recently brought to our attention an amazing exhibition that was held last Spring and Summer at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne entitled Der Mond. Over 130 paintings, drawings, prints and photographs were exhibited, spanning 500 years of human personification of the moon through art and science. 

It is particularly interesting to us because our own painting of the moon (Mond, by Julius Grimm) was created by a scientific photographer that, after having produced countless lunar maps, decided to paint this extraordinary natural satellite with a blend of art and science.

The exhibition features a second painting of the moon by Grimm, a copy twice the size of our original, executed 11 years later and now hanging in Tübingen University Museum.  

We think it can be best summed up by Apollo 13 star, Tom Hanks, who subsequently wrote/directed/produced/narrated the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon,: "That going to the moon was not just a technological endeavor but an artistic one, like Michaelangelo's frescoes on the Sistine chapel ceiling."

(Photos: Mond, Julius Grimm, Carlton Hobbs LLC;  Apollo 11 Moonwalk; The Sheepfold, Moonlight, Jean-Francois Millet)

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James has us all wondering-- What will he wear at Masterpiece London?

Our glamorous friend, James Andrew, visited our gallery last week with equally hot photographer, Lars Stephan. 

James is currently featuring a "What is James Wearing in Paris" section on his blog (www.whatisjameswearing.com), but interrupted the series to spend some time on our grand staircase. The extravagant escalier

 get us all in the mood for the upcoming Masterpiece Fair in London, which James will be visiting and where we will be exhibiting from June 22nd through the 29th. It promises to become one of the best antiques and fine art fairs in the world and you can read more about our plans for the fair here!  

Lars Stephan's  images have been featured in numerous international magazines and his first solo exhibition was held last summer at Envoy Enterprises here in New York. You can view his portfolio on his website, www.larsstephan.com. 

Thanks to both of them for stopping by, and we hope many of you are able to hop the pond and enjoy this inaugural antiques show!

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On The Street Where We Live

Preserving the past is something that is extremely important to us.  Luckily, we happen to be located in Carnegie Hill, an area of Manhattan that is teeming with beautifully and historically preserved architecture. The land that used to be home to the Wechquaesgek Indians are now dotted with rowhouses in styles ranging from Neo-Grec to Renaissance Revival.

Our next door neighbors are in the process of renovating their building, and we couldn't be more excited that they are petitioning to have the Landmarks Preservation Commission approve a restoration which falls in line with the caliber of other façades on the block .  

One of our absolute favorite structures are the two joined clapboard houses located on East 92nd Street.  According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, these were thought to be built around 1859 and 1860.

There are two other wooden houses still erect in Carnegie Hill believed to be constructed around 1852 and 1866.  Together, these four homes comprise the oldest buildings in the neighborhood.

Our own building was used for many different purposes in it's lifetime.  The design of the mansion was executed by John Russell Pope for Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt in 1930. The building went on to become the Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations in 1957, and then the Lycée Française de New York in 1978.  The mansion has been listed on the National Registry of Historic Places since 1982.

Soon after our building was completed, two more impressive houses were built on the same block. Across the street there stands a Georgian townhouse built for George F. Baker Sr., president of First National Bank. Commissioned by his son, George Jr., the house was designed by architects Delano & Aldrich. The firm had previously completed the younger Baker's mansion (on the corner of Park Avenue and 93rd) in the same style and in the neighboring lot.

The second house was built for William Goadby Loew, who married the elder Baker’s daughter, Florence. Loew commissioned his English Regency-style house to be built next door to our Vanderbilt mansion.  It was designed by A. Stewart Walker in 1931 and was the last of the luxury townhouses.

With all the history present on our street already, we look forward to seeing our neighbors beautiful façade added to the list!

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Greening Our Spring Cleaning!

Now that spring has sprung, why not try a new approach to your spring cleaning? Instead of grabbing the Windex and 409 to take care of dull winter dirt, purge your house of all those toxic chemicals and clean with products that help you as much as the environment! 

We use all-natural, organic cleaners in the office; they are so much more gentle on the earth and work just as well! (Not to mention, they limit your exposure to awful toxins.) Some of our favorite products in the office are:

Seventh Generation Products

Based out of Vermont, this company is dedicated to being "socially responsible."  The company takes its name from the Great Law of the Iroquois: "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

The company also donates 10% of profits to non-profit community, environmental, health and responsible business organizations

ECOVER

This company was just nominated for the European Business Award for the Environment!  This company also offers a variety of cleaning products that are super green.  Even the company's main building has an entirely grass covered roof!

GET SERIOUS

An environmentally friendly stain, oder, and pheromone extractor for pets!  We like this product because it's non-toxic and enzyme free, and we don't want to expose our dogs to chemicals either!

We try to stay away from commercial cleaners that have harsh chemicals in them like, bleach, chlorine, formaldehyde, ammonia, and hydrochloric acid. In the past 40 years, at least 70,000 new chemicals have been released into the environment through new consumer and industrial products and food. According to the American Poison Control Center, more than 120,000 children were unintentionally exposed to harmful chemicals from cleaners.  Asthma, eczema, and other allergic reactions can be triggered by irritating household cleaners.

 

The warning labels on cleaning products aren't just chosen by chance.  These words are required by law to be on the bottles according to how harmful the toxins within are. 

CAUTION means...

An ounce to a pint may be fatal or harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin by an adult 180-pound man. 

WARNING means...

A teaspoon to an ounce may be fatal or harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin by an adult 180-pound man.

DANGER means...

A taste to a teaspoon is fatal if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin by an adult 180-pound man.

Mike Watson, Ph.D, a toxicologist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, says that household cleaners labeled as disinfectants must be registered pesticides with the EPA. Do you really want to spray pesticides in your home when other, less toxic products can do the trick? For many everyday tasks, there are readily available natural products that can serve the same purpose, may be less harmful, and may even cost less. For example, mixing one tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in one quart of water makes an excellent glass cleaner! 

Whichever method you choose, remember to

(photos: www.ic.nc.gov; http://www.greenphoenixproperty.com/)

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With Spring Around the Corner, Carlton Hobbs LLC Gets Energized!

Here's a look at some recent internet developments for Carlton Hobbs LLC, and how you can be a part of our online community: 

We've updated our blog with fresh, fun posts as well as a slightly new look, and we're ready to hear from you! Don’t know the difference between a bergère and a fauteuil? Can’t remember what a particular style is called? Want to know more about the origins of Egyptomania? Let us know! We are happy to answer your decorative arts questions and write about the topics you recommend. You can send your questions and blog suggestions to: blog@carltonhobbs.net

Carlton Hobbs LLC is going green! We've started a new green initiative in the office to increase awareness and reduce our impact on all things environmental. You can follow us on Twitter for tips and tidbits (we also use the #GoingGreen tag) or visit our new Tumblr site specifically for our greenery. We've got a lot of ideas, including setting up our new compost bin as soon as all of this NYC snow disappears! In the meantime, Dana and Jess are bringing their coffee and lunch to work in reusable containers, and Mike is doing his part at home by using gDiapers for his little one. 

Lastly, we're always looking to add to our Twitpic page with items for our "Art in the Everyday" series. If you notice a doorway, contemporary object, or even a vegetable that resembles a piece of furniture or art, take a snap and let us know -- your "everyday art" could be featured on our Twitter feed!

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Running for a Breath of Fresh Air!

On March 21st, Dana will be running in the NYC Half-Marathon in support of the Fresh Air Fund! 

As a member of The Fresh Air Fund’s half marathon  team, she is training on behalf of New York City children who visit Fresh Air host families and camps during the summer.  Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million low-income New York City children.  Many Fresh Air children have never run barefoot in the grass, watched stars at night or gone swimming in a lake. One child explains, “You get to see all the stuff you can’t see in the city, like fireflies!” 

  

Dana was lucky enough to spend her childhood summers in the great outdoors and wants to bring the same experience to Fresh Air children who rely on generous individuals to make summer fun! 

By participating in this year’s NYC Half-Marathon she'll help thousands of children enjoy simple summertime pleasures…and train for the NYC Marathon in November at the same time!

You can check out her "fund-racing" page here:  http://freshair.kintera.org/danadonadio and thanks for taking a look!

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Blockbuster Reincarnations of the Country House

What do Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire, Wrotham Park, in Middlesex, and Syon House in London all have in common?

Besides their majestic beauty, individual sections of these estates were compiled to create the fictional Gosford Park in the award winning film of the same name.

The English countryside has always been a popular hunting ground for historically accurate movie locations.  Some of the more popular films being Pride and Prejudice (Basildon Park), The Remains of the Day (Dyrham Park), and The Hound of the Baskervilles (Knightshayes Court). 

Belton House, featured in a number of BBC period miniseries and Castle Howard, most recently filmed for Brideshead Revisited, are a few other country houses that have benefited from disguising themselves as movie sets.  Some mansions have experienced increases in visitor attendance up to 120%!   The Historic Houses Association celebrates these giants and encourages film crew invasions. www.hha.org.uk

Large country estates were most popular in the 18^th and 19^th century.  Used as a weekend or seasonal escapes for magistrates, aristocrats and sometimes clergy, the country house was an entire world of it’s own.  Some estates employed literally hundreds of people.  But while the striking country homes that decorate the landscape are no longer recreational get-aways for England’s Ruling class, they still create entirely new worlds through the magic of movies. 

Be sure to check our upcoming blogs for another look at the use of British country houses, as well as American buildings, in film and TV--and don't forget to let us know which famous buildings you recognize from your favorite period movies! 

Photos: Wrotham Park, ©2007 Wrotham Park; Dyrham Park, and Belton House. © The National Trust 2003-05 

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Goodbye Sweet Jasper

We are very sad that we had to let go of Jasper last Sunday, our sweet little man, our first rescued dog from Battersea Dog Home in London, who was with us for exactly 10 years and died aged around 17 years of age.

Among many other things, we remember him for spontaneously herding a group of baby ducklings and their mother for one mile to safety, while fending off air attacks from crows, for being a fantastic swimmer and even diving under water to fish out something very unpleasant, for playing frisbee at lunchtime with our incredibly handsome South African employees and then walking over to pee on the leg of a smitten young girl, who distracted them from their game.  He was loyal, extremely gentle and beautiful and knew straight away that Tillie was best used as a cushion. We will always miss him.

Image showing Jasper with Tillie last year.

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Time and Truth at Carlton Hobbs

Amongst Jean-Luc Baroni's beautiful works on show at the Carlton Hobbs antiques gallery is this pen and ink drawing by G. B. Tiepolo.

Three further studies of of the figures of Time and Truth are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a fourth at the Pierpoint Morgan Library. The menacing angle of the scythe held by Time may be an expression of the transience of beauty.

 

Time and Truth
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Venice 1696 - 1770 Madrid
Pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk.
222 by 211 mm (8 3/4 by 8 1/3 in.)

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Jean-Luc Baroni's Il Guercino at Carlton Hobbs Antiques

We are thrilled Jean-Luc Baroni brought over to Carlton Hobbs gallery this

 most intriguing ink drawing by Giovanni-Francesco Barbieri, called  Il Guercino  (Cento 1591 – Bologna 1666) A Group of Spectators, probably at a Bullfight, peeping through a fence. This unique drawing with its surprising subject could well represent spectators catching a glimpse at a bullfight. It is stylistically datable to the 1630s, when bullfighting was still widely spread in Italy. In fact, this cruel spectacle has a roman origin, and it is thought that the Romans actually introduced it into Spain. In 1567, Pope Pius V issued a Papal bull which forbade the fight of bulls, and which eventually brought about prohibitions against bullfighting throughout Italy. It was not until the 19th century, however, that bullfighting disappeared altogether in Italy.

Spectators Hiding behind a Barricade

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino

Cento 1591 - 1666 Bologna

Pen and brown ink and wash, within brown ink framing lines. The verso inscribed with a long letter and a sum. Also bear inscription by another hand: Guerchino. 

171 by 247 mm (6 3/49 by 9 3/4 in.)

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Jean-Luc Baroni's Il Guercino at Carlton Hobbs

We are thrilled Jean-Luc Baroni brought over to Carlton Hobbs gallery this most intriguing ink drawing by Giovanni-Francesco Barbieri, called  Il Guercino  (Cento 1591 – Bologna 1666) A Group of Spectators, probably at a Bullfight, peeping through a fence. This unique drawing with its surprising subject could well represent spectators catching a glimpse at a bullfight. It is stylistically datable to the 1630s, when bullfighting was still widely spread in Italy. In fact, this cruel spectacle has a roman origin, and it is thought that the Romans actually introduced it into Spain. In 1567, Pope Pius V issued a Papal bull which forbade the fight of bulls, and which eventually brought about prohibitions against bullfighting throughout Italy. It was not until the 19th century, however, that bullfighting disappeared altogether in Italy.

Spectators Hiding behind a Barricade

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino

Cento 1591 - 1666 Bologna

Pen and brown ink and wash, within brown ink framing lines. The verso inscribed with a long letter and a sum. Also bear inscription by another hand: Guerchino. 

171 by 247 mm (6 3/49 by 9 3/4 in.)

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January is 'Adopt a Rescued Bird' Month!

In 2002 the ASPCA declared that January should be a month devoted to finding homes for rescued birds.

As some of you know, our menagerie includes four albino ringneck doves rescued in Queens, NY and another dove we took on for a deceased neighbor. These lucky birds are headed to a new home in bucolic Vermont at the end of the week.

For a time, our gallery was also the happy home to a chicken which we found in Pelham Bay Park and adopted. Unfortunately, before it moved from our backyard to a new home, the chicken met its end at the beak of a descendant of New York City's infamous hawk, Pale Male.

If you are interested in adopting a domestic, rescued bird there are plenty of bird sanctuaries and rescue centers across the country where you can find a feathered friend not only this month, but year-round. And if feathered pets aren't your favorite, remember that there are also hundreds of dogs and cats waiting for loving homes too!

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Modern Day Flintstones?

At Carlton Hobbs we're always interested in people like us, who are intrigued and fascinated by the past. In this case, the fascination goes a little farther back than usual.

A recent article in the NY Times (The New Age Caveman and the City) discusses a trendy throwback diet. Faddy diets are always popular in New York, but the new Paleo diet is something different entirely.  Like a sort of super Atkins det, it consists of eating large quantities of red meat, sometimes raw, and lot very much else.

 Devotees of this regime refer to themselves as "cavemen", and frequently go long periods without eating to replicate the long gaps between meals our hunter-gather ancestors would have experienced.

 Dissappointingly, Paleo followers don't sharpen spears to hunt down wooly mammoths like proper cavemen but buy it from butchers instead, although actual hunter-gathering would actually be illegal within Central Park. (An assault on a mere squirrel results in a $1,000 fine!). Although given Manhattan real estate prices living in a cave might be an economically wise option.

 Life tens of thousands of years ago was probably nasty, brutish and short. The nearest modern Paleos get to being chased by a sabre toothed tiger is to frequently donate blood, this is in order to simulate the frequent injuries their prehistoric role models are believed to have sustained.  Although a tiny minority in New York, paleos should be popular with the City's butchers, if not the greengrocers.

(Photo courtesy of NY Times.com)

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Modern Day Flintstones?

At Carlton Hobbs we're always interested in people like us, who are intrigued and fascinated by the past. In this case, the fascination goes a little farther back than usual.

Faddy diets are always popular in New York, but the new Paleo diet is something different entirely. Like a sort of super Atkins det, it consists of eating large quantities of red meat, sometimes raw, and not very much else.

Devotees of this regime refer to themselves as "cavemen", and frequently go long periods without eating to replicate the long gaps between meals our hunter-gather ancestors would have experienced.

Dissappointingly, Paleo followers don't sharpen spears to hunt down wooly mammoths like proper cavemen but buy it from butchers instead, although actual hunter-gathering wouldn't be very practical in New York (not to mention illegal), unless you are Pale Male the 5th Avenue hawk. Although, given Manhattan real estate prices, living in a cave might be an economically wise option.

Life tens of thousands of years ago was probably nasty, brutish and short. The nearest modern Paleos get to being chased by a sabre toothed tiger is to repeatly donate blood; blood which must be very protein rich indeed. Although a tiny minority in New York the Paleos should be popular with the City's butchers, if not the greengrocers.

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Mahogany Turtle Stone

The striking tabletop of the present piece is constructed from a section of a septarian nodule, a type of concretion, created when pores in a mass of sedimentary rock are filled in with jelly-like mineral deposits before hardening in a spherical or ovoid form. The nuclei of these concretions are often fossils dating from the Cretaceous period (50-70 million years ago). Septeria is the name given to the angular internal cavities, deriving from the Latin septum, meaning "partition".

The concretions are often reddish or golden in color, and because of the radiating design made by the internal cracks, are colloquially referred to as "turtle stones". Septarian nodules have been found to be as large as 9 feet in diameter, as in the case of the Moeraki Boulders of New Zealand. Smaller examples were found in the Oxford and Kimmeridge Clays along the Wessex Coast of England. It is likely that the present tabletop was made using a septarian nodule from this area.

While the "turtle stone" top is certainly the focus of the table, reminding one of radical modern art, the base is splendid in its own right. Derived from designs for early Roman bronze candelabra, this masculine and powerful design is a particularly suitable vehicle to display the superb example of a Cretaceous period specimen.

A related table was sold by Christie's London 15 September 2005. It has a similar septarian nodule top and its classical base shares the same fluting found on the present table stem.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Mahogany Turtle Stone

The striking tabletop of the present piece is constructed from a section of a septarian nodule, a type of concretion, created when pores in a mass of sedimentary rock are filled in with jelly-like mineral deposits before hardening in a spherical or ovoid form. The nuclei of these concretions are often fossils dating from the Cretaceous period (50-70 million years ago). Septeria is the name given to the angular internal cavities, deriving from the Latin septum, meaning "partition".

The concretions are often reddish or golden in color, and because of the radiating design made by the internal cracks, are colloquially referred to as "turtle stones". Septarian nodules have been found to be as large as 9 feet in diameter, as in the case of the Moeraki Boulders of New Zealand. Smaller examples were found in the Oxford and Kimmeridge Clays along the Wessex Coast of England. It is likely that the present tabletop was made using a septarian nodule from this area.

While the "turtle stone" top is certainly the focus of the table, reminding one of radical modern art, the base is splendid in its own right. Derived from designs for early Roman bronze candelabra, this masculine and powerful design is a particularly suitable vehicle to display the superb example of a Cretaceous period specimen.

A related table was sold be Christie's London 15 September 2005. It has a similar septarian nodule top and its classical base shares the same fluting found on the present table stem.

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