POMPOUS RICH GUY

I was hesitant to post my previous blog entry because I thought it would make me look like a pompous rich guy showing off his stuff.

Hey, I might be pompous but I'm not rich. Trust me on that. When I said that I lost everything in Texas it wasn't an exaggeration - but I won't go into ugly details. Fortunately I still have most of my art collection (minus some that the movers "lost").

Eventually I'll have to consider selling some of it - - but dealing with greedy, unscrupulous art dealers is another story I won't go into. Believe me, I've had bitter experiences.

I've had an "expert" sniff at my Venice by Moonlight painting by Paulucci and tell me it's worthless (see previous post). I've since discovered that one of Paulucci's paintings sold for $18,000. No lie.

But what about me - a pauper collecting art? It started long ago when I decided that it would be neat (yes, I still use the word "neat") to own one antique painting. I snagged a very old painting for a low price at an auction: a family home painted in 1732 by someone named Lounsbury. 
My first art acquisition. Not much to look at but ancient, nevertheless.

 Thus, my passion for collecting antique art had begun. I always look for bargains - the lowest prices I can get. Fortunately I know a lot about art, which helps. The paintings that I purchase are not always the ones I want, but the price is usually right.

I got this 65 year-old painting of a deer on masonite for 9 dollars. Yup, nine bucks! It's very large and I still have it hanging on one of my walls here in TN.

  

I admittedly paid a sizeable sum for my two Henriette Ronner paintings. I threw them in the trunk of my car when I moved to Tennessee. That was an extremely fortunate decision. If the movers got their hands on those paintings, I would have never seen them again.

When the two Ronners were shipped to me from Italy, they were held in customs and sprayed (sprayed with what, I don't know). 
I think it would be a great idea if all foreigners would be held in customs and sprayed.
Some of my "sensitive" readers are cringing right now. Jon is a heartless Nazi!

Another of my more expensive acquisitions is this 1850 painting of a harvest scene. I bought it from the mayor of a city in New Jersey. It hangs above a piano in the living room.

 Sometimes I'm intrigued by paintings simply for the colors. I love this 1915 German mountainscape (below) which hangs in my bedroom.

I also like this snowscene (below) which I gave to my Mom for her bedroom when I lived in Texas.

I have numerous portrait paintings - but it never occurred to me until recently that several are smokers. That's merely coincidence (see Boy With Cigarette on previous post).

 The boy with the pipe is circa 1885 and painted on a wooden panel. Huckleberry Finn, perhaps?

 This 1949 painting is by Otto Helmut Eberspracher, who lived to age 101. He was a professor at Johns Hopkins University.

 Another bargain basement 19th century painting from France. I think it was around 20 dollars.

I have a large collection of antique drawings and watercolors. The best part about this medium is that they're more compact than oil paintings.

 A watercolor of the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga, with the signature C.N.Doughty.
Fortunately I recognized that "pseudonym". This in fact painted by John Joseph Englehart (1867-1915) who was a very well-known landscape artist.

 Two watercolors from the early 1930's

I have dozens of watercolors. Let's skip to some drawings. 

 A German pencil drawing titled Vertrauen (trust, or confidence), dated Christmas Eve, 1837

 A pencil drawing from England, circa 1845

 I have a portfolio of drawings by this German landscape artist (above). I have his name in my files, but unfortunately I can't remember it and am too lazy to look it up. These drawings were preliminary sketches for paintings.

 San Paolo (St. Paul)

by Giuseppe Beghelli

This post was a continuation of my previous post, and these examples are only a small part of the things in my collection.

I won't bother to mention the fact that I have a small insignificant unframed painting of two trees, which I got from a woman in France, and which has a curious but familiar signature on the verso....

C. Monet

I am not jesting. Could it possibly be........???