The Collection of Constantine Alexander Ionides

Room 81, Collection, Constantine Alexander Ionides, paintings, galleries

Portrait of Constantine Alexander Ionides

Portrait of Constantine Alexander Ionides

Portrait of Constantine Alexander Ionides
George Frederick Watts (1817-1904)
1880
Great Britain
Oil on canvas
57.8 x 50.5 cm
Museum no. CAI.1141
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides.

Before settling in London in 1864, Constantine Alexander Ionides (1833-1900) represented his father's firm in Constantinople (now Istanbul) . He made a considerable fortune on the Stock Exchange and began to collect pictures on a large scale in 1878. He left his collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Landscape with figures, or the Resting Horseman (La Halte du Cavalier)

Landscape with figures, or the Resting Horseman (La Halte du Cavalier), Probably by Louis Le Nain

Landscape with figures, or the Resting Horseman (La Halte du Cavalier)
Probably by Louis Le Nain (1593-1648)
Probably 1640s
Paris
Oil on canvas
54.6 x 67.3 cm
Museum no. CAI.17
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

The brothers Antoine, Louis and Mathieu Le Nain shared a studio in Paris from about 1630. They specialised in scenes of the poor, depicting them with a sombre dignity that was unusual for the period. These paintings were once criticised for ‘their low and often ridiculous actions’, but by the 1850s they were admired for their realism.
Portrait of a Lady known as Smeralda Bandinelli, Sandro Botticelli

Portrait of a Lady known as Smeralda Bandinelli, Sandro Botticelli

Portrait of a Lady known as Smeralda Bandinelli
Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510)
1470s
Florence
Tempera on panel
65.7 x 41 cm
Museum no. CAI.100
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

An old inscription states that this portrait shows the grandmother of the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. Earlier Florentine portraits were in profile. The woman's three-quarter pose, with her hand on the window frame, was Botticelli's own invention
The Mill - Girls Dancing to Music by a River, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones

The Mill - Girls Dancing to Music by a River, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones

The Mill-Girls Dancing to Music by a River
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898)
1870
Great Britain
90.8 x 197.5 cm
Museum no. CAI.8
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

Both the style of this painting and its subject, the Three Graces dancing to the music of Apollo, were inspired by Italian Renaissance art. The models were friends and relatives of Ionides. His cousin Mary Zambaco, who posed for the woman on the far left, was Burne-Jones's lover.
Self-Portrait as a Young Man, Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto

Self-Portrait as a Young Man, Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto

Self-Portrait as a Young Man
Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto (1518-1594)
1548
Venice
Oil on pine panel
87.7 x 67.3cm
Museum number. CAI.103
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

This early and forceful self-portrait, by one of the greatest Venetian painters, was done with the aid of a mirror. Portraits of artists became popular with collectors during the Renaissance. Ionides bought this work in the belief that it was by Titian
The Wood Sawyers, Jean-François Millet

The Wood Sawyers, Jean-François Millet

The Wood Sawyers
Jean-François Millet (1814-1875)
1850-1852
France
Oil on canvas
57 x 81 cm
Museum no. CAI.47
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

Millet seems to have painted this vigorous scene soon after he moved to Barbizon, a village near the forest of Fontainebleau. X-ray photography shows that it was painted over a figure symbolising the French Republic, which he had submitted unsuccessfully to a state competition in 1848.
L'Immensité, Gustave Courbet

L'Immensité, Gustave Courbet

L'Immensité
Gustave Courbet (1819-1877)
1869
France
Oil on canvas
60 x 82.2 cm
Museum no. CAI.59
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

Courbet spent the late summer of 1869 at Etratat, a village on the Normandy coast popular with painters. This powerful seascape may have been influenced by the panoramic views of the early French photographer Gustave Le Gray. A critic praised its portrayal of 'the grand impassiveness of nature'.
The Day Dream, Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The Day Dream, Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The Day Dream
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
1880
England
Oil on canvas
158.7 x 92.7 cm
Museum no. CAI.3
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

The sitter was Jane Morris, the wife of William Morris, who often posed for the artist. Rossetti was also a poet, and the subject relates to his poem of the same title which ends:
'She dreams; till now on her forgotten book
Drops the forgotten blossom from her hand.'
Interior of a Room with Figures: a man playing a lute and a woman, Adriaen Brouwer

Interior of a Room with Figures: a man playing a lute and a woman, Adriaen Brouwer

Interior of a Room with Figures: a man playing a lute and a woman
Adriaen Brouwer (1605/6-1638)
About 1635-1638
Belgium
Oil on oak panel
37 x 29.2 cm
Museum no. CAI.80
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

The Flemish painter Brouwer studied in Holland and settled in Antwerp. He specialised in tavern scenes. This work has a distinguished history. It may have belonged to Brouwer’s fellow artist Rubens, as well as to the 10th Duke of Hamilton, an important 19th-century collector.
Twilight: Landscape with tall trees and a female figure, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Twilight: Landscape with tall trees and a female figure, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Twilight: Landscape with tall trees and a female figure
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1795-1875)
about 1855-1860
France
Oil on panel
42 x 29 cm
Museum no. CAI.65
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

X-ray photography shows that the artist completely revised the composition. Underneath lies a scene with a bridge, a diagonal tree and a cottage. The severe cracking is the result of Corot painting over this scene before it had completely dried.
The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera `Robert Le Diable', Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas

The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera `Robert Le Diable', Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas

The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera `Robert Le Diable'
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
1876
France
Oil on canvas
76.6 x 81.3 cm
Museum no. CAI.19
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

Meyerbeer’s opera was first performed in Paris in 1831. This scene features the ghosts of nuns who had offended heaven with their impure thoughts. The foreground figures include Degas’ friends: the collector Albert Hecht, the bassoonist Désiré Diahu and the amateur painter Vicomte Lepic.