Wadsworth Director Susan L. Talbott beside Francois de Troy's "The Astronomy Lesson for the Duchesse de Maine"

Representatives from the venerable Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art swept through the Tefaf Maastricht fair this week, selecting three major pieces for the Hartford, Connecticut museum’s permanent collection. The works include a French canvas by Francois de Troy, an haute Baroque sculpture and a rare  colored Delft charger.

The items have been reserved by the museum and will be shipped to Hartford  for a final decision by the curatorial committee.

“We are looking now for pieces that fill holes, or are so fabulous we just can’t walk by them,” said Wadsworth’s director Susan L. Talbott.

A group of about ten Wadsworth museum curators, trustees and supporters–led by Talbott–fanned out at the annual Dutch fair. Last year the group snagged two major acquisitions. This year the haul was upped to three. Talbott declined to reveal prices.

The jewel-toned de Troy painting, titled The Astronomy Lesson for the Duchesse du Maine,  depicts a petit and rouged Duchesse, during a lesson with her tutor, Nicholas de Malezieu. In a feminist twist, the Duchesse is the figure of power and intellect in the picture, gesturing to a globe and seated on a throne, scientific and astronomy tools strewn on her desk. The painting was on offer at Didier Aaron, Inc.

Saf Waterman, director of Trevor Philips and Sons, holds the Wadsworth's armillary sphere at Tefaf

By chance a Wadsworth curator unearthed a paper mache 1790s armillary sphere (the stars rotate around the earth), nearly identical to the one depicted in the de Troy painting at the Tefaf stand of London dealer Trevor Philips and Sons, Ltd. The museum acquired the sphere and plans to display it near the new painting.

Balthasar Griessmann c. 1700 linden wood presentation model, selected by the Wadsworth Atheneum at Tefaf

The group also selected a circa 1700 swirling putti-riddled presentation model, attributed to Saltzburg sculptor Balthasar Griessmann. The piece represents a bacchanalia and was probably a model for a reliquary, according to Tony Blumka, whose stand featured the work. The swirling model, made from linden wood, includes allegorical figures holding a snake and a cornucopia.

Griessmann detail of female figure displaying bountiful cornucopia

Sotheby’s sold a Griessmann ivory relief plaque, estimated to fetch up to $100,000, for $1.2 million in 2007 in New York.

The Wadsworth also selected an 1680s Chinoiserie charger that may have been part of a gift from the Hapsburg family, according to Amsterdam-based dealer Robert D. Aronson.

Hoppesteyn charger from Aronson, bound for Wadsworth Atheneum

The design originates from a Japanese scroll depicting an Emperor and pair of courtiers, according to Aronson. It is signed by Jacob Wemmersz Hoppesteyn, who ran Delft factory and was the first to introduce color to the traditional blue and white Delft ceramic. The Wadsworth charger includes green, red, gilding as well as blue and white. It is one of three known Hoppestyns with color and based on an Asian scene.

The Wadsworth recently launched a $16 million restoration of the galleries, slated to be completed in 2012.

Other U.S. museums staked out the fair. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston director Malcolm Rogers led a group, including photography and American modernist collector Sandra Lane. Kaywin Feldman, the director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, toured with two of her curators.