STAGING WORLDS OF IMAGERY
PREVIEW OF THE OLD MASTER AND 19TH CENTURY PAINTINGS
AND DRAWINGS AUCTIONS ON 27 MARCH 2026
From the 1760s onwards, the Zurich-born Johann Heinrich Füssli made his artistic home in London. He became a full member of the Royal Academy in 1790 and Professor of Painting in 1799. His standing in the London art scene brought him important commissions, including contributions to the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery. Literature profoundly shaped his work: alongside Shakespeare, he engaged intensively with texts by John Milton, Christoph Martin Wieland and others.
The painting presented here was created in 1803 as the model for an engraving by William Sharp. It illustrates a key scene from an essay by Eustace Budgell, published in 1712 in the recently founded periodical ‘The Spectator’. Budgell criticises scholars’ tendency to conceal knowledge and refers to the legend of Christian Rosenkreutz. Füssli depicts the dramatic moment of intrusion into the tomb: an armoured guardian destroys the ‘eternal lamp’, symbol of hidden knowledge. With powerful draughtsmanship and striking lighting, Füssli condenses literary allegory and painterly drama.
Johann
Heinrich
Füssli
(1741–1825)
The tomb of the Rosicrucian, 1803
Oil on canvas, 92 × 77.5 cm
Estimate: CHF 150 000/250 000
From 1976, the painting formed part of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and was exhibited at Villa Favorita in Castagnola until 1993, before entering Swiss private ownership. It now returns to the public sphere.
A previously unknown painting by François Boucher from a long-standing family collection represents an important rediscovery for 18th-century French art. It depicts ‘The Marriage of Ariadne and Bacchus’, a popular theme from classical mythology. After Theseus abandoned Ariadne on Naxos, she found a new companion in the wine god Bacchus. Boucher stages the scene as a bacchanal with satyrs, maenads, putti and the iconic leopards. The grisaille suggests a date around 1750 and is closely connected with Boucher’s designs for the Royal Tapestry Manufactory at Beauvais. The work belongs to the artist’s mature production, and may once have been associated with the circle of Madame de Pompadour.
François
Boucher
(1703–1770)
The marriage of Ariadne and Bacchus
on the island of Naxos. Grisaille.
Oil on canvas, 41 × 80.5 cm
Estimate: CHF 200 000/300 000
François
Boucher
(1703–1770)
The marriage of Ariadne and Bacchus
on the island of Naxos. Grisaille.
Oil on canvas, 41 × 80.5 cm
Estimate: CHF 200 000/300 000
The provenance of Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s ‘Tête de vieillard chauve’ can be traced back to 1793. Among its distinguished former owners was the avant-garde Parisian fashion designer and collector Jacques Doucet (1853–1929).
Jean-Honoré
Fragonard
(1732–1806)
Tête de vieillard chauve, after 1767
Pen and brown ink over black chalk
35 × 27.8 cm
Estimate: CHF 20 000/30 000
CONTACT FOR
ENQUIRIES AND
CONSIGNMENTS:
KAROLINE WESER
Head of DepartmentOld Master Paintings
weser@kollerauktionen.com
+41 44 445 63 35