The more he looked, the more Sebastian M. wondered.

Where did the many paintings and artworks in his mom’s home come from? She lived in a sleepy, suburban town sixty miles north of New York City, not exactly a hotbed for art collecting.

They included three stone wall mosaics with an intriguing “M’ logo; an odd oil painting signed with a simple letter “B”; two botanical watercolors filled with butterflies, and an antique marble desk obelisk. How on earth did the family end up with these curiosities, he asked his mother one day.

The surprising answer turned out to be a World War II friendship forged between Sebastian’s grandfather and a Chicago millionaire artist turned Navy pilot named Richard Blow.

The two men had met as naval officers during the war, and stayed in touch after V-J Day. According to family lore, Richard would stay with them at times when traveling in the area from the late 1940s into to late 1970s. During those visits, Richard stored artworks at the house, which he sometimes gifted to the family. Sebastian’s mom distinctly remembered getting in trouble for playing in Richard’s studio with her sister as children.

Intrigued and eager to learn more about his grandfather’s good friend, Sebastian started googling, found the Montici Society website, and fired off an email to me. Was I interested in seeing what they had?

More than interested, I quickly replied. A single new Blow artwork was a cause for celebration; eight was extraordinary. Could Sebastian send me photos?

I reminded Sebastian that the Society doesn’t offer authentication or valuation services. But I could compare his artworks with any similar pieces in our database, and provide some hopefully helpful commentary.

He sent the photos, and I set to work.

Ready to take a look at Sebastian’s wonderfully eclectic collection of Blow/Montici artworks?

Andiamo!

This piece could be special. It’s unsigned but seems to match the obelisk that appears in a photo of Richard sitting at his desk in Montici in the 1950s.

The shape, format, and sequence of geometric elements appear to be the same (unfortunately we can’t compare the colors since the 1950s photo is black and white). The obelisk also comes from a family with both a known, personal connection to the artist (war buddies), and a geographic connection (Richard owned a home/workshop near Sebastian’s family home). How did it end up with them? One possible scenario: when Richard retired, sold his Italian villa and workshop in 1973, and returned to the States, he brought the obelisk back with him. It subsequently passed to his friends, Sebastian’s family. The obelisk itself has a noticeable crack that has been repaired, which would likely affect its value if sold, but if it really is the Blow desk ornament, its sentimental value is still very high.

Richard loved obelisks, and incorporated them into the landscape of his Villa Piazza Calda. Above is a photo of two villa guests (date unknown) standing next to two magnificent garden obelisks.

The wild card? Maybe it’s not Richard’s desk obelisk, but simply one of multiple Montici obelisks produced and sold over the years. Egyptian-themed marbel obelisks were popular desk objects during the Victorian and post-Victorian era in both England and the USA. They often sported old-fashioned, mercury weather thermometers.

This early 1950s Montici advertising photo confirms that Richard’s workshop produced, advertised, and sold obelisks.

In the end, we’ll never know if Sebastian’s obelisk is from Richard’s desk, but based on the obelisk’s design, provenance, and the Montici workshop’s history of selling obelisks, we feel confident that, at minimum, it’s a Montici work. This make it the first and only obelisk to date to be officially logged into the Society’s database.

This is the first of three Montici mosaic photos Sebastian sent us. All three mosaics feature the Montici logo, making them genuine. This one becomes the 8th variant of this popular design logged into our Society database to date. Richard started producing this iconic Montici design as early as 1952, based on an exhibition photograph we came across in the files of the Opificio in Florence. The smallest artwork of this design in our database measures a mere 2 x 3.25 inches; the largest is 10.5 x 7.75 inches. Richard experimented with a full palette of stone colors — crimson red, lapis blue, lemon yellow, wispy aurora green, bright orange; he even executed one employing nothing but alabaster white for the geometric shapes (with black onyx shadows).

This pretty piece is a variant of the familiar “Pyramids, Ball, Block” design – it lacks a block, and doubles the normal number of pyramids, making it first of its kind in our database. It’s unclear whether the black mark on the ball is by design or an accident/error.

This delightful work becomes the first Cancer Crab astrology mosaic logged into our database, joining two Capricorns, three Sagittarius, and one Pisces. Stylistically it’s close to “Capricorn #3. Both use an oval shape background to represent the heavens, and a blue stone with gold veins to suggest the starry night sky. It is the first Montici in our database to feature a round inventory sticker.

According to Sebastian, Richard gave to the family some artworks that were “supposedly practice paintings.” This painting, a winter scene showing bare trees and snow on the ground, appears to be a genuine Blow work, as seen by the stylized letter “B” in the lower right corner. This was one of two known painting signature styles used by Richard. The painting is also very similar in style to the Blow painting used as a model for the “Cat and Water pump” mosaic (see Michael’s Blog 9/14/21, “Collector’s Profile #1 Jeff Greenberg”). That Blow painting is shown in the 2019 Wright/Edelsberg catalogue, along with a painting of a ring-tailed lemur executed in the same style. Last but not least, the odd, brown, background/sky color scheme, is also found in at least two other verified Blow paintings --portraits he executed of Montici workshop maestro Bruno Lastrucci’s father Guido, and grandfather Giovan Battista. In short, the evidence strongly suggests that Sebastian’s painting was done by Richard Blow. For cataloging purposes, we’ve given this painting the MSID title “Bare Trees.”

This artwork apparently lacks a signature. Is it a Blow work? Who knows? But it’s interesting nonetheless. To me, it looks like a mother and child strolling along the waterfront in a European town at sunset. What suggests a possible connection to Richard is the theme; the reddish-brown color scheme found in three known Blow paintings; and the fact the painting was found among the larger trove of Richard Blow art owned by Sebastian’s family,.

Paintings #3 and #4

Neither of these two works have a signature, so we’ll never know if they are Blow watercolors. But like Painting #2, you can make an argument. First, we know Richard Blow painted watercolors as well as oils. Second, both butterflies and Nature were big themes in Richard’s art. As we mention in his “Illustrated Biography” on the Home webpage, “Richard’s interest in art blossomed early, stimulated by watching his mother, who had studied art in Paris before her marriage. It was her habit to roam the estate, sketching from nature, and Richard recalls following her around making his own drawings. It is certain that his interest in nature, animals, birds, and insects began early also, for he kept many odd pets and began collections of butterflies.” Lastly, it was found among the larger Montici art collection.

And there you have it.

All in all, a quite remarkable collection of art for Montici Society members to enjoy.

A big mahalo (Hawaiian for “thank you”) to Sebastian for sharing his fascinating finds!

Michael Schmicker