GALLERY
 

The denial of Peter

Oil on oak board, coming from an important historical Florentine collection. The collection started by an ancestor of the family who was in Vienna in 1798 and then in Wurzburg until 1813, as a companion of exile of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand III. The collection was transferred to Florence after the fall of Napoleon, and its importance is proved by a copy of an inventory compiled in 1881. At number 14 of it (corresponding to the one shown on the cartouche at the back of the table), the compiler's description:...a two feet and four and a half inches long wooden footboard, and one foot and eight and a half-inch high, representing Peter who denies Jesus Christ to the maiden in Anna's house. We see the Savior from far away carried to that pontiff to be examined, in the midst of a crowd and a quantity of soldiers. In the 1960s, an initial attribution to Bruegel was denied and relocated to Francken. The composition was obviously successful because other versions of the workshop were known (see for example, an oil on copper with identical subject and dimensions in the Koller auction on 18/09/2015). Presented in a refurbished frame.

Oil on canvas. Lombard school. The painting portrays the two saints sitting on rocks in the shadows of leafy trees, while they break bread, in the foreground on the left; Saint Paul is traditionally dressed with animal skins, Saint Anthony Abbot is wearing the habit of the Order and he is holding a prayer book. The two Saints have often been represented together becasue they share many traits: they both lived in the third century, they are both Egyptian, they both left all of their properties very young to devote themselves to a life of complete solitude, living in prayer and poverty. Saint Anthony Abbot has been one of the most famous hermits in the history of the Church. Saint Paul the Hermit lived all of his life in complete solitude in the desert as well, fed only with the bread a raven would regularly bring to him, according to hagiographic narratives. When he was closer to death, Saint Anthony Abbot visited him, with whom he broke bread. In this representation, the landscape context doesn't remind of the desert lands of Egypt, but they are located in a Nordic or Alpine landscape. On the left, there is an eremitical landscape, with some green and a small stream bottom right. The painting, already restored and recanvased, presents evident craquelure. Frame in style.

Oil on canvas. North-European School. This is a funny allegorical scene of profane love, that wants to prove how everyone, of any social class and every age, can fall into the trap of falling in love. The background of the canvas is occupied by an enormous keepnet, the basket net used in some kinds of fishing, above its opening sits a putto playing the violin; the keepnet is crowded with couples, while a parade of other couples walks in front of them to reach the entrance. Between them, there are couples of old and young people, rich and poor people, nobles, bourgeois and proletarians. Everyone has a content and light expression, they share looks of love or they benevolently look at the happiness of the others. Inside the keepnet, there is even a couple of royals, that correspond, for their features and clothing, to the Elector Palatine of Rhineland, John William of the Palatinate-Neuburg and his second wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici. On the back of the painting, there is a label bearing a historical attribution to Jan Frans Douven (1656-1727), the Dutch artist who moved to Düsseldorf in 1682 as the official painter at the Court of the Elector Palatine of Rhineland, mostly representing scenes of the daily life of the prince and his second wife. The label would confirm the scope of the attribution to an artist of the 17th-18th century in Northern Europe. The painting comes from a historical collection in Milan. It shows some traces of restorations and a patch. Frame in style.

Oil on canvas. Lombard School. It is the portrait of a man in armour standing proud, almost in motion, his hand sitting on the hilt of his sword; there is a coat of arms top left, a painted title block bottom right with a long Latin inscription, that identifies the man. He is Bartolomeo III Olevano, who belongs to the powerful noble family of the Olevano, feudal lords of many towns in the Pavia and Lomellina areas (where their castle still exists), who was very involved in the history of Pavia and its countryside until the 18th century. Bartolomeo III, born in 1512, had dedicated himself to the art of war for 40 years, carrying out numerous and highly honoured deeds, and was prefect of Mortara and Novara during the domination of Charles V, leader of soldiers and ambassador of Philip II. His most important achievements are summarised in the title block: a translation of the text is available. The coat of arms of the family has an olive tree on the left, from which the family took its name. The painting comes from an important historical Lombard family collection.

Siege Scene

Oil on canvas. Outside the fortifications of a city, a commander, surrounded by his soldiers, is about to light the fuse of the cannon. The army defends the citadel outside the walls and the soldiers scan the horizon looking downwards: this leads us to place the scene on the fortifications of a city, in particular those of Genoa, that rise on the mountains behind it and from which the Genoese defended the city from attacks from the sea; the Genoa setting is also supported by the banner that flies over the walls, the Saint George Cross (red cross on a white background), flag of the Republic of Genoa. The shape of the armor, weapons and clothing would refer to the siege of Genoa in 1522. It is therefore the nineteenth-century representation of a historical episode, which is then part of that pictorial production widespread in Italy in the nineteenth century, inspired by the new historical novel popular in literature. On the back of the frame there is the name G. Boni, together with a number that refers to participation in an official exhibition. Giovanni Boni was a pupil of the Brera Academy, in particular a follower of Giuseppe Sogni, an artist who was among the first to favour historical painting in its innovative romantic declinations. Not much is known about Boni, neither from a biographical point of view nor from his production. Of his certain attribution we know only the Nude of Man (painted Academy) with which he won the first prize for the Scuola del Nudo in Brera in 1852. The piece expresses the figures and the pathos of the scene with expressive efficiency; the characters in the foreground are very well characterized in their poses, expressions, in the details of the clothes and weapons, while the other figures fade into the background, suggesting the presence of a large army. The painting, still on the first canvas, shows small widespread losses of colour. It is presented in a frame in style.

Oil on canvas. Mid 19th century. The large scene tells an unidentified historical episode, set in the Renaissance period, in which an archbishop listens to the plea of a young man in arms, accompanied by his mother, who supports his plea. The setting is inside the reception hall of the high prelate, presumably in the bishop's palace, which from the loggia in the background overlooks the Cathedral, whose dome can be glimpsed; the bishop is surrounded by his subordinates and guards, while different people of the people attend. Particular is the presence of the man sitting in the foreground on the left, who looks towards the viewer and points to the scene, as if he were telling it. The atmosphere is played on the contrasts between lights and shadows, between the bright colors of the dominant characters compared to the dull and suffused tones of the surrounding figures, who literally tend to disappear into the shadows at the limits of the scene. The work is part of that large nineteenth-century production that drew on the historical or literary subject, re-proposing it in a romantic key. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in an important frame from the second half of the 19th century, with some shortcomings.

Oil on canvas. Intense and high quality, the painting depicts a monarch of the royal house of Scotland. Around the portrait, in a painted oval frame, there are some writings: the name Rober(t) appears at the top left, the title Rex at the bottom left and the abbreviation Scot, which stands for Scotorum, on the right; the writing at the top right is not identifiable, but it seems to be an acronym. The man portrayed wears a hat and a coat adorned with ermine fur, which is considered the noblest fur, reserved for royalty. He wears a golden pendant around his neck, which depicts two leaves with the fruit of the thistle, which, in heraldry, symbolizes Scotland. The writing and the pendant therefore refer to a Robert of Scotland, probably from the dynasty that reigned in the fourteenth century. The portrait was however executed in the romantic nineteenth-century period, probably using some ancient engravings for inspiration. Restored and relined, it is presented in a frame in style.

River Landscape with Shepherdess Child and Herds

Oil on canvas. The painting is accompanied by the expertise of two art historians, dr. Dario Succi and Dr. Federica Spadotto. Both confirm the attribution of the painting to Giuseppe Zais, "the master from Belluno unanimously recognized as one of the most original and genuine interpreters of the great landscape painting of the Venetian seventeenth century." In the landscape, under the branches of a tree that frames the left and with the background of blue mountains, a shepherdess and her little son stand out in the foreground, making their animals (sheep and cows) water from the river. the Zais, after an initial training in his native country at the school of his fellow countryman Marco Ricci, who moved to Venice in 1732, soon became part of the ranks of lagoon landscape architects, appreciated and hired for large decorative works in the palaces of the city. In the 1970s the Zais abandoned this production and chose to devote himself only to small works, which reflected an adhesion to the world of the humble and a contemplative dimension of the past, rarely subjects present in the paintings of important clients. The work presented here can be considered an example of this last creative phase, according to art historians in the 70s of the eighteenth century: the Zais proposes a rather barren foothill landscape, where the shepherdess followed by her little son play the their assignment, without any concession to an ideal beauty, but rather with a reminder of a precise, hard, simple real life, made up of effort and affection at the same time. Even the colors of the canvas enhance the artist's empathy for the world he depicts: the warm golden-brown tones of the landscape, illuminated by the blue of the distant peaks reverberating that of the sky, envelop the human and animal figures in the foreground, which they emerge thanks to material brushstrokes and brighter but not bright colors, especially in the fleece of animals and in women's clothes. Peculiar of the Zais are also the faces, round and full, with features that are repeated always identical in the peasant figures of his works, associated with turned bodies, dressed in clothes that look like papier-mâché. The work shows signs of restoration, although still on the first canvas. On the back there is an inscription in German with the name of the previous owner and the date "Christmas 1977". It is presented in a gilded frame from the early 1900s, with small cracks and lacks.

Jesus In Front Of Caiaphas

Oil on canvas. The painting reprises the piece of the Dutch master Gerrit Van Honthorst, realized in 1617 and now preserved in the National Gallery in London. Dutch by birth, he came to Rome soon after the death of Caravaggio, from whom he assimilated the style that earned him the nickname "Gherardo delle Notti". While in Rome, the artist was hosted by the Giustiniani family, who commissioned him a piece for his private collection, where it stayed until 1804. Brought to Paris first, in the Bonaparte collection, after more changes of ownership, it finally got to London in 1922. The painting tells the dramatic episode of the encounter between High Priest Caiaphas and Jesus, during his Passion. The whole upper part is occupied by the dark: the emptiness, the void, they focus the attention on the two protagonists and on the tragedy that is happening. The scene is strongly static, almost frozen in a specific moment, the accusatory act of the Priest towards Christ, to highlight the intensity of the inner drama, profoundly painful. In the scenem Caiaphas is on the left, sitting at the table on which the book of Jewish Law is sitting, and holds his finger up in an accusatory tone; Jesus is on the right, standing with his hands tied, in a humble attitude. There is a candle in the middle, the only source of light, that connects the face of Caiaphas and Jesus', that meet in a game of glances along a diagonal line, and of which the artificial light undelines mercilessly the expressive contrast, the priest's grotesque and angry, while Christ's is bright and composed. On the background, behind the two protagonists, there are figures of High Priests. They are just shadows in the dark who are waiting on the judgement and their faces are shrouded in the darkness that increases the tension. The mark of Caravaggio's influence is easy to spot in the contrast between lights and dark and the intensity of their gazes. The canvas here proposed, half the size of the original but faithful in the stylistic and interpretive forms, was probably commissioned in a smaller size by someone who appreciated the original in Palazzo Giustiniani. Restored and recanvased in 19th century. There are some names written on the back, signs of ownership. Frame in style.

Oil painting on canvas. The wide view of the Imperial Forums of Rome is part of the vast landscape production of the Grand Tour period, intended for wealthy European aristocrats traveling to Europe - and in particular in Italy, where Rome was considered a must - who wanted a souvenir of the places visited. The Roman Imperial Forums are an architectural complex consisting of a series of monumental buildings and squares, the center of political activity in ancient Rome, built over a period of about 150 years, between 46 BC. and 113 A.D. Despite the enlargements, the fires, the restorations and the reconstructions, during the Antiquity the Imperial Forums kept intact both their architectural conformation and their function. Their almost definitive destruction occurred during the Renaissance at the hands of Pope Julius II (1503-1513), who used the whole area as a quarry for materials to be reused in the building and artistic renovation of the city he initiated. The protests of leading artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo were of little use. In the following centuries various excavation campaigns were undertaken, with greater vigor starting from the nineteenth century, but the area was completely excavated at the beginning of the twentieth century and the ancient architecture was almost completely erased to make room for the construction of via dei Fori Imperiali , which connects Piazza Venezia with the Colosseum. The Forum was rediscovered starting from the sixteenth century also thanks to the Roman view painters who at that time loved to paint the ruins emerging in the pasture area. The view proposed here presents the Imperial Forums before the excavations begun in the nineteenth century, when the road that still crosses them had not yet been built: they are still surrounded by green countryside and the Roman hills stand out in the background. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a re-adapted 19th century frame.

Oil on canvas. In the large scene set outside, the laboratory of a blacksmith stands out on the left side, who is intent to work on horseshoes with his helpers while the owner of the horse attends; in the centre, other knights arrive with their servants who are headed to the craftsman; on the right some popular figures are resting on the roadside. In the background, a large river landscape opens up on the right, while on the left there is the access to the village, dominated by a dilapidated building, with various popular figures intent on their activities: the woman who is about to breastfeed a child, while the other son runs away up the staircase, another woman hanging the clothes on the balcony of the house built on stilts on the rock, while a man climbs the ladder. It probably is a piece by a Flemish author working in Lombardy. Some references to clothing and construction certainly indicate the Northern European contamination, while other details indicate it was realized in a Lombard location. The painting comes from a prestigious historical residence of a Lombard noble family Still on the first canvas, it has some cuts and a hole in the lower band; some patches on the back from an old restoration. It is presented in a thin coeval frame.

Oil on canvas. The large scene is set at the entrance of a village near a stop for horses: numerous horsemen are standing with their animals, which are looked after by the servants and the peasants who fill the manger with hay; one of the servants, on the right, lets the animals drink in the nearby stream. In the background, the houses of the village arranged along the river, which then flows into the hilly landscape on the right. It probably is a piece by a Flemish author working in Lombardy. Some references to clothing and construction certainly indicate the Northern European contamination, while other details indicate it was realized in a Lombard location. The painting comes from a prestigious historical residence of a Lombard noble family Still on the first canvas, it has some cuts in the lower band. It is presented in a thin coeval frame.

The Tale of Apollo and Marsyas

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the seventeenth century. The large canvas derives from an engraving of 1562 by the Venetian Giulio Sanuto, who faithfully reproduced the homonymous work by Bronzino (1503-1572), currently preserved in the Hermitage; compared to the original, the engraving added the group of Muses and modified the landscape background by introducing views of the villages. The work is divided into four scenes, which must be read from right to left. The first scene depicts the musical contest between Apollo and the Silenus Marsyas, who played the flute so well that he was considered superior to the same god; the two contenders are performing, the god with the lyre and the silenus with the flute even upside down (to increase the difficulty of the undertaking), in front of King Midas and the goddess Minerva, recognizable by her attributes, the helmet, the spear and the shield. In the second scene Apollo is intent on skinning Marsyas, to punish him for having won the musical contest; lean on the ground next to him, his cloak and lyre. In the third scene, it is King Midas who is punished by the god for having preferred Marsyas to him: Apollo is putting the donkey's ears on Midas, while Minerva is watching. Finally, the fourth scene, in the foreground on the left, is characterized by a particular figure, identified in the faithful servant and barber of the king: since Midas had ordered him to keep the secret on his donkey ears, not being able to let off steam otherwise, he dug a hole in the ground and yelled into there his secret; in that place, however, legend has it that a bush of reeds grew that with the wind whispered "King midas has donkey ears", thus revealing the dreaded secret. The painting has been previously restored and relined, but currently needs any further color recovery. On the back in pencil there is an old attribution to the Ferrara school ("Ercole da Ferrara"). It is presented in a late 19th century style frame.

Aaron with Moses before the Pharaoh

Oil on canvas. XVII-XVIII century. The great scene tells a biblical episode from the book of Exodus, in which Aaron with Moses before the Pharaoh of Egypt, transforms his staff into a snake, to emulate the tricks that the Egyptian magicians had done to frighten them. The Pharaoh seated on his throne on the left, surrounded by servants, and the magicians on the right, observe the miracle in consternation and fright, while in the center Aaron, recognizable by the priestly headdress, indicates the event while at his side Moses, with the raised finger indicates heaven, to send the miracle back to divine power. The snake here has the shape of a winged dragon, which is trampling the snakes of the Egyptian magi. The typology of the scene and the pictorial modes refer to the production of Antonio Molinari (1655 -1734), one of the most authoritative representatives of Venetian painting at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who distinguished himself for his personal style, characterized by an accentuated theatricality of gestures , from a lively palette and a remarkable fluidity of the brushstroke. Molinari achieved considerable success with the production of room paintings depicting episodes of a historical, mythological or biblical nature, which were widely taken up and re-proposed. The large canvas, restored and relined, is presented in a style frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Lombard area of the late 18th century. The four canvases show scenes from Orlando Furioso, the famous epic poem written by Ludovico Ariosto and published for the first time in 1516. On the frame, on the back, there are handwritten writings in ancient Italian, which say the title of the scene and they give the reference of the song and the verse. All four scenes represent episodes taken from the first two songs of the poem and appear to be sequential. The attributive titles are as follows: 1- “This painting represents that Paladin galiardo (Rinaldo) son of Amone sig. di Monte Albano, which describes Ariosto in canto 1 to verse 12 ”: depicts the moment in which Rinaldo, on foot of his horse Baiardo, sees Angelica escaped from the camp of Namo di Baviera in the wood. 2- "This painting represents Angelica and Ferraù when she comes to their aid, which Ariosto describes in canto 1 verse 14": Angelica fleeing from Rinaldo, meets in the woods Ferraù, a noble Saracen knight who is also in love with the girl, who helps to escape by opposing the Christian knight. 3- “This painting represents Rinaldo and Sacripante who fall down, Angelica runs away from their fury. Ariosto describes it in Canto 2 verse 10 ": Rinaldo and Sacripante fight to compete for the love of Angelica, who in the meantime runs away. 4- “This painting represents Rinaldo and Sacripante in the act they fell for Angelica and were stopped by a spirit in the form of a Valletto. Ariosto describes it in canto 2 verse 15 ": while the two knights fight, Angelica meets a hermit, who, with a spell, evokes a spirit with the appearance of a footman, who interrupts the duel between the two contenders. The paintings therefore belong to a single pictorial cycle, attributable to the end of the eighteenth century and which, in accordance with the neoclassical taste, represents the characters in classical clothes - warriors dressed as ancient soldiers, Angelica dressed in a Roman tunic, shoes and bracelet - , but inserted in a landscape of Northern Italy, a shady and dense forest. The Orlando Furioso had the peculiarity of proposing the warlike theme associated with the love one (in particular the love story between Angelica and Medoro was preferred, which became the subject of numerous works by artists of all centuries) and obtained great popularity and success: His representations were numerous in all ranges of visual pictorial art, in stately frescoes, paintings, ceramics, even apothecary jars, cups, medals, pendulums, candelabra. It began in the Emilian land, the homeland of the poem created by Ariosto for Cardinal Ludovico D'Este, to arrive at the Medici courts, in Lombardy, where subsequently Ariosto's pictorial cycles were carried out in numerous palaces and stately homes. The canvases are presented in gilded style frames.

Landscape with Architecture and Figures

Oil on canvas. The large landscape is dominated by an imposing architectural structure with columns overlooking the sea, which occupies the entire central part of the canvas, while a fortress is outlined on the right. The scene is then animated by numerous figures of commoners intent on daily activities: in the foreground on the left, on the quay, a group of men awaits the load of numerous crates and trunks. The monogram D.G. This abbreviation, together with the baroque stylistic modality, refers to the attribution to Domenico Gargiulo, stage name of the Neapolitan painter Micco Spadaro (1609/1612 - 1675). Active mainly in Naples, especially in the two decades between the mid-seventeenth century, the Gargiulo established itself mainly as a landscape painter and above all for having documented the tumultuous events of Naples in the seventeenth century (eruptions, epidemics, the revolt of Masaniello). The progressive specialization in the representation of landscapes or city scenes, crowded with figurines presented with minute descriptions and with attention to popular social reality, meant that his commission was mainly of a private nature, receiving commissions from numerous Neapolitan notables, regents, knights and finding his works in all the most important Neapolitan collections of the time. Among its major clients there was also the great Flemish collector Gaspare Roomer, to whom the Gargiulo owed its fortune. Gargiulo often inserted his abbreviations in his works, but rarely dated them; it was possible to establish the dating of his production only thanks to the realization of a series of works for the monks of the Certosa di S. Martino, which took place between 1638 and 1646, among the few religious works he made but the only ones in be documented with some accuracy. The large canvas proposed here is presented in a stylish frame.

"L'arc en ciel" XVII Century

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the seventeenth century. The large pastoral scene presents a broad landscape that pushes the gaze to the distant sea coast; on it the sky is gradually opening up, revealing flashes of blue on the left, while on the right, among the darker clouds left over from the storm, a large rainbow is revealed. In the foreground, a group of shepherds and shepherdesses enjoy amorous games, discrete and festive, in the midst of their herds, which rest and drink from the nearby stream. The whole scene is animated by a dimension of joyful relaxation and refreshment, as if the rainbow had restored serenity to the environment, bringing light and with it serenity to the world. The attribution to Jordaens is linked both to the typology of subject, the pastoral one, a recurring theme in the production of the Flemish artist, and to the pictorial modalities: in this work we find his warm and luminous colours, the strong contrasts of light and shadow, the robust figures with red and healthy faces, sometimes with satyristic features, the compositions full of figures that give an air of sensual vitality. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period gilded frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Tuscan school of the seventeenth century. Scion of an ancient Longobard lineage of Aquino (in the province of Frosinone), Thomas (born around 1226) went to Naples to study, in 1243 he entered the order of Dominican preachers against the wishes of his relatives, but during the journey to the northerner was arrested by his brothers and held prisoner for about a year. In the scene, the young saint in the centre, already dressed in the Dominican habit, is surrounded on both sides by four richly dressed figures, precisely his relatives, probably including his mother, who hold him kindly, almost embracing him, while with gestures of the hands and the afflicted and loving looks try to convince him, almost begging him. The figures are also placed in a prison, as indicated by the bars in the window on the right, to underline the coercive action performed. Rich and detailed are the details of the clothes of the characters, with bright colors that contrast with Thomas' dress, plastic movements properly in Baroque taste. Already restored and relined, the painting is in good condition, with evident cracking. It is presented in an antique re-lacquered and re-gilded frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Lombard school of the seventeenth century. The large scene presents in the center the seated Madonna proposing her breast to the Baby Jesus, who instead stretches out to try to pick a fruit from the basket that St. John gives him, standing under them; around, five figures of saints, recognizable by their iconographic attributes. From the left you have: St. Paul, holding the sword, St. Anna, lovingly watching over his daughter and grandson, St. Peter holding the keys to the Kingdom, St. Joseph with his stick and a carpenter's tool at his waist , and finally, last on the right, San Carlo Borromeo, whose presence in the work supports the Lombard client. The painting also comes from the private collection of a Lombard family, of which it has been part since the 19th century. The work is still on the first canvas and with the original frame; on the back it has some small patches and signs of previous patches. It is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Still life with holes, fruit, a parrot and quail

Oil painting on canvas. Neapolitan school of the seventeenth-eighteenth century. The large composition is rich in numerous different elements: in the center stands a large floral composition, of multiple varieties in bright colors; on the left of the flowers, resting on a Doric capital, there is a budgie with bright colors contrasting with the dull ones of the dead quail lying on the floor below, together with some pumpkins and a pewter vase. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a period frame. It comes from an important collection (Commendatore Arturo Stucchi, an entrepreneur from Como, is mentioned on the back).