Fine Paintings & Sculpture

Featured in Skinner’s upcoming Fine Paintings & Sculpture auction is a ski scene from Alfons Walde. The available painting shows intense alpine sunlight glaring on a group of skiers. Walde was trained as an architect but aspired to be an artist, a profession he eventually pursued. He designed a logo and the first tram for Kitzbühel, a famous ski village in Austria and his hometown. However, his paintings of skiing are considered his greatest contribution to the sport and his birthplace. 

An equally snowy landscape, painted by George Henry Durrie, is featured in this auction. The painting, titled Sleighs Arriving at the Inn, includes minute details in the background such as a woman holding a baby on a horse-driven carriage, the bark of a tree, and several street dogs. Durrie was a 19th-century Connecticut artist who focused his landscapes on his local area. They often served as backgrounds in his portraits as well. Many of Durrie’s “snow picture” ads were published in the local newspapers, and his Sleighing Party piece was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1845. 

This auction features 217 lots of fine art and sculpture. A professionally restored landscape painting by Jasper Francis Cropsey is among the featured lots. Cropsey, like Walde, was trained as an architect, which strongly influenced the style of his paintings. Cropsey died in anonymity, but many of his works were later rediscovered by galleries and collectors. They can be found in the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Princeton University Art Museum. To view the entire catalog for this auction and register to bid, visit Bidsquare.