Lot #782: Two Vintage 1900s Art Postcards - "Charles the First" Anthony van Dyke (Lapina, Paris, France) - "The Holy Family" Rubens (Eastman Kodak AZO)

Two Vintage 1900s Art Postcards. (1) One Vintage France 1900s Art Postcard, unused, showing an elegantly dressed King Charles I, with caption "Portrait of Charles the First, King of England - Anthony van Dyke - Musée du Louvre". This richly coloured postcard indicates the publisher as "Printed in Paris - Lapina". No Stamp. Never Postally Used. No Message. This Musée du Louvre card captures one of the most famous portraits in the history of European monarchy: Anthony van Dyck's Charles I at the Hunt ("Le Roi à la chasse"). Published by Lapina in Paris, it represents the high-water mark of French museum souvenirs from the early 20th century. Painted around 1635, this masterpiece is the definitive image of the "Cavalier" King. Unlike formal portraits showing a king on a throne, Van Dyck depicts Charles I in a casual, yet supremely confident, hunting pose. He stands beside his horse, his hand on a cane, looking out with an air of "divine right" that feels effortless. The King's elegant dress—the shimmering silver-satin doublet, red breeches, and wide-brimmed hat—was designed to showcase the King's taste and sophistication. Van Dyck was a master of rendering silk and leather, textures that the "richly coloured" printing of this card was designed to highlight. The painting was acquired by Louis XVI in 1775 and remains one of the crown jewels of the Louvre’s Flemish collection. The firm of Lapina was one of the most respected printers in Paris during the Belle Époque. Lapina held a prestigious contract with the Musée du Louvre to produce their official art postcards. These were not cheap souvenirs; they were high-fidelity reproductions intended for serious art students and international tourists. French printers of this era, like Lapina, excelled in the collotype and heliogravure processes. These methods avoided the grainy "dots" of cheaper American or British halftone prints, resulting in a continuous, painterly tone that looked remarkably like the original oil on canvas. Lapina often used a specialized varnish or "tinted" inks to give their museum cards a depth and luster that mimicked the aging of a 17th-century masterpiece. (2) One Vintage USA 1900s Art "Real Photograph" Postcard, unused, showing the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, with Saint Joseph, Saint Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptist, with title caption "The Holy Family - P. P. Rubens - Metropolitan Museum of Art". This postcard does not indicate the publisher, but the "stamp box" contains the abbreviation "A Z O" four times. No Stamp. Never Postally Used. No Message. This Rubens card is an example of the "AZO" Real Photo Postcard (RPPC) lineage—even though it reproduces a painting rather than a snapshot. The Artwork, "The Holy Family" by Peter Paul Rubens, was painted around 1630, and is a classic example of Rubens’ "High Baroque" style. The Metropolitan Museum acquired this work in the late 19th century. In the early 1900s, it was one of the "must-see" Baroque masterpieces in New York, and postcards were the primary way for the museum to disseminate its image to the American public. The "AZO" Stamp Box is a critical piece of evidence for dating and origin. AZO was a brand of silver-chloride photographic paper manufactured by Eastman Kodak . Unlike a "printed" card that uses ink dots (lithography), an AZO card is a Real Photograph. This means a photographer took a picture of the Rubens painting and printed it directly onto postcard-backed photographic paper in a darkroom. This results in much higher detail and smoother tonal transitions than standard printing. The Kodak AZO "Stamp Box" with Square Corners, and the asymmetrical "Full Bleed" with Right Side Margin date this card to the period after WWI. Dimensions: 9 mm x 14 mm Pickup category timeslot {A}