Iller (active 1840s)

half-plate daguerreotype, in the original passe-partout, titled, possibly by the photographer, in ink on the reverse, 1847

Collection of Anatole Demidoff, Prince of San Donato

By descent to Paul Demidoff, second Prince of San Donato

Vente Donato, 13 May 1880, no. 2813

Private Collection, Europe

Acquired by the Quillan Company from the above, 1989

Jill Quasha, The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs (New York, 1991), pl. 29 (this daguerreotype)

This beautiful daguerreotype has a surprising amount of three-dimensionality for a European daguerreotype, and delivers a great amount of detail about the villa's façade and louvered windows. A lovely, rose tonality is visible in the daguerreotype's highlights. There are a number of faint scratches and wipes on the surface of the plate, most of which are only visible in raking light. Visible when viewed straight-on are two small scratches, one measuring 1mm, the other 1cm, just below the center of the image. There is a small wipe in the sky, visible in the catalogue illustration. The paper passé-partout and paper seals are all tight and intact. The green paper seal, of indeterminate age, covers an older paper seal of a lighter shade of green. The writing on the reverse, has faded only slightly, and is still boldly legible on the backing paper. The backing paper is lightly foxed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The daguerreotype offered here shows a portico of the luxurious Florentine Villa di San Donato, home to one of the greatest art collections of all time.  Nineteenth-century engravings show the Villa, or palace, as an imposing structure flanked by a portico on either end, framing an immense park-like court.  The Villa was designed by Giovan Battista Silvestri, architect of the famed Uffizi Palace, for the Russian Count Nicholas Demidoff (1773 - 1828).  At the Count's death, the ownership of the palace and its elaborate grounds passed on to his son, Anatole Demidoff, the original owner of this daguerreotype. 

In its crisp detail and elegant austerity, this daguerreotype demonstrates the prescient modernity sometimes seen in the earliest photographs.  Within the Quillan Collection, the Iller daguerreotype resides as comfortably beside roughly contemporary work by John Beasley Greene (Lot 26) and Louis de Clercq (Lot  24), as it does beside 20^th-century work by Ansel Adams (Lot 1) or Harry Callahan (Lot 25).  

Anatole Demidoff (1812 - 1870) was one of the richest men of his day, and one of the great collectors of the nineteenth century.  Born in St. Petersburg, he inherited vast wealth from his family's industrial enterprises in Russia.  In 1840, he married Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, a niece of Napoleon I.  Demidoff spent considerable time at the villa pictured in this daguerreotype, and was granted the title of Prince of San Donato for his work on behalf of the poor of Florence.  The palace, which was destroyed during World War II, became a showcase for his ever-growing collections of paintings, art objects, furniture, and decorations.  Demidoff's holdings included masterpieces by Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, and other Old Master and Renaissance painters, as well as work by living artists.  Much of his collection was sold after his death in 1870 in an historic auction of nearly 2000 lots held in Paris.  The remaining items in the collection, including the daguerreotype offered here, passed to his nephew and heir to the title of Prince of San Donato, Paul Demidoff.  A voracious collector in his own right, Paul Demidoff amassed a collection of such magnitude that, when he dispersed it at auction in 1880, the sale's daily sessions lasted continually from mid-March into May (cf. The New York Times, 25 March 1880, p. 2, The San Donato Art Sale).