UK attempts to purchase a very rare Flemish work from the 17th century

A very rare Flemish work of the seventeenth century is in danger of leaving the United Kingdom , and the government is temporarily halting its export: the measure will be used to allow time for a British public institution to raise the sum needed to secure the work for national collections. We are talking about the Fairhaven Panels, the only known work by the elusive Flemish artist De Vély, about which nothing is known. They are four relief semiprecious stone panels, and were sold last July at auction by Sotheby’s for £1.6 million, including auction fees (about €1.9 million): they started from an estimate of £200-300 thousand. They are called Fairhaven Panels after the name of their owner before the sale, Ailwyn Henry George Broughton, third baron of Fairhaven, who received them as an inheritance (they were in fact purchased around 1920-1930 by Cara Leyland Rogers, a.k.a. Lady Fairhaven, daughter of American oil magnate Henry Rogers of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and were certainly in the collection of Ailwyn Broughton’s grandfather, namely Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, first baron of Fairhaven).

The panels, made in the 17th century, depict four different personifications or deities: Mars, Invincible Virtue, Minerva and Magnificence. It is therefore an allegory of triumph in war and prosperity in times of peace. The four panels still have their original gilded wooden frames, and each one features a skillful combination of glass, beads, shells, semiprecious stones, enamel and gilded metal. These are materials that do not fade over time, so their vibrant colors remain especially striking to modern audiences.

These works may offer new insight into this otherwise unknown artist and the unique sculptural technique he used to create them, as they are a rarity in European art: they are works that embrace the Baroque taste for extravagance. The elaborate technique that De Vély employed would have been time-consuming and is reflected in the nearly two decades it took the artist to complete the panels (the time of execution is underscored by De Vély himself in the cartouche on the right, which states that the ensemble was begun in 1685 and completed in 1700).

The process of securing the work for British collections.

The minister’s decision to block the export follows the opinion of the Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest. The Committee made its recommendation on the basis that the panels met the second and third Waverley criteria, which are the criteria that guide the British government in such decisions (these are, respectively, the work’s extraordinary aesthetic importance and extraordinary significance to research, in this case the study of collecting). The committee members also highlighted the work’s importance for research on 17th-century artworks that employed pearls, precious and semiprecious stones, and glass granules, as well as for the light they shed on De Vély, an artist about whom very little is known.

The decision on the export license application for the panels will be postponed for a period ending on and including March 17, 2025. At the end of this first deferral period, the owners will have a 15-business-day consideration period to consider any offer to purchase the panels at the recommended price of £1,620,000 (plus VAT of 54,000). The second deferral period will begin after an option contract is signed and will last four months. Bids from public entities at a price below the recommended price through sale agreements following private negotiation, where appropriate, may likewise be considered by the minister. Such purchases often provide a substantial financial benefit to a public body wishing to acquire the item.

"The Fairhaven Panels," says British Minister for the Arts, Sir Chris Bryant, “offer an exciting opportunity for a British institution to investigate the fascinating artist De Vély and the origins of this magnificent sculptural technique. I hope that placing an export freeze on these four exquisite panels will give a museum or institution time to acquire them so that the public can admire them for years to come.”

“These mystery panels,” says Pippa Shirley, a member of the Committee on the Export of Works of Art, “are a feast for the eyes. We still don’t know for sure who commissioned them, or why, or even much about the virtuoso craftsman who made them, but their size, extraordinary composition, technical brilliance and the way they celebrate the wonder of natural materials are unique to this country and ripe for new understanding. They have much to tell us about the links between workshops and artistic practices, the trade in precious materials, patronage and taste, not to mention the connection to the all-important Fairhaven collections. All this and more can only be fully explored if the panels remain here.”

The work in detail

Unique in European art, De Vély’s Fairhaven Panels draw on the legacy of Parisian goldsmith François I Roberday, who lived in the 17th century and created animals, herms and figurative groups in pearls and semi-precious stones during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Each panel offers a brilliant display of technical virtuosity and patience. In their dazzling incorporation of exotic and expensive materials, from beads and shells to lapis lazuli and sardonyx, De Vély’s works form a unique marriage of nature and artifice. A French origin for the Fairhaven Panels is supported by the iconography of the panel with Mars, which stands in front of an elaborate military trophy consisting mainly of flags associated with the court of Louis XIV: the banner of the Gardes françaises (a white cross on a blue field enlivened by golden lilies) and a white flag decorated with the golden sun. Interestingly, the Angevin flag (or the banner of Plantagenet England: three golden lions on a red background) can be seen in the lower left corner next to a fallen helmet and sword. Additional unidentified flags adorn the upper level of the panel, suggesting that De Vély did not intend to convey a political message such as the triumph of France over England (as the presence of the Angevin/Plantagenet banner might suggest). Rather, it seems more likely that he was drawing on a contemporary visual repertoire for purely decorative effect, a point underscored by Mars’ generic theatrical costume. However, the heavy presence of imagery associated with Louis XIV is a strong indicator that De Vély, like many Flemish artists, worked in Paris.

The Fairhaven Panels are defined by the use of expensive and exotic materials and arranged to create mesmerizing ensembles. The two outer panels with Mars and Magnificence are defined by their elaborate canopies, each supported by monolithic columns of lapis lazuli adorned with Baroque pearls and engraved gems. The figures themselves are formed of beads, while their costumes are highlighted with gold and mother-of-pearl and set with cabochon gems. The figures stand atop carved busts in the round, each flanked by lions and panthers with sparkling garnet eyes. The interior panels, depicting Invincible Virtue and Minerva, are topped with cartouches proudly proclaiming De Vély’s authorship and differ from the more sumptuous exterior panels in their predominance of shells and mother-of-pearl. While the outer panels depict fantastic animals, the two figures in the inner panels are depicted above animal furs made of colored mother-of-pearl and shells.

The most apt comparison for the Fairhaven Panels is with a remarkable sculptural group featuring François I Roberday’s Escape to Egypt preserved in the Louvre. As in De Vély’s panels, the figures of the Virgin and Child, the donkey, St. Joseph, and the attendant are each covered with beads of different colors depending on whether the surface is presumably fabric or animal skin. The main difference is that the areas of the embodiments are composed of large baroque pearls, although this finds a parallel in the two pearl armors above De Vély’s figure of Mars. One of the most striking concordances is found in the Virgin’s cloak, which, as in the costumes of De Vély’s female figures, is set with cabochon gemstones. The almost identical treatment of the figures, whose surfaces are covered with beads, combined with semiprecious stones, mother-of-pearl, and pearls in the Escape to Egypt, is so similar to De Vély’s technique that one should wonder if he trained under Roberday’s son, François II Roberday, a famous musician, who began his career as a goldsmith and later became valet de chambre to Queen Marie-Thérèse. Unfortunately, little is known about young Roberday’s career as a goldsmith.

UK attempts to purchase a very rare Flemish work from the 17th century

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