Contemporary Three-Dimensional Painting Mixed Technique XX Century - Glimpse of the Cloister of the Dome of Monreale

Portraits of Children, 1930

Photographs retouched with pastels. Signed bottom right. On the back of three of them is the date 11 November 1930. A photographic sequence of the portrait of three children is shown, who slightly change their pose or expression. They are the work of the British photographer Eva Barrett who, after an initial experience as a painter, decided to dedicate herself to photography, thinking that "it was better to be a first-rate photographer than a second-rate [painter]. Having moved to Rome in 1913, she established her laboratory here. Pictorialist, with a small camera, Eva Barrett created her own photographic method that was reminiscent of drawing sketches: she applied a few very light pencil strokes, managing to create subdued images but with particularly dense blacks, thus maintaining the characteristics of photography and portraits. In this way he was very successful and his career took off. Eva Barrett photographed the Italian royal family, the wives and children of foreign ambassadors, as well as received numerous commissions from European royalty in Belgium, Sweden, Greece. The four portraits are presented in style frames.

Still Life with Game

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower right. On the back, gallery cartouche with the data of the work. Alfio Paolo Graziani chose the faithful transposition of reality onto his canvases, creating almost hyper-realistic compositions due to the precision in reproducing the various materials and surfaces, as well as the effects of the light incident on them. Nicknamed "Prince of Flowers" for the abundant production of floral compositions, he also created landscapes, portraits and still lifes, such as the work presented here, which presents a hunter's corner, where the hunted prey is added, scattered disorderly on a support surface, the remains of the hunting trip (the rifle, the horn, some shells, the remains of some provisions). The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Thomas's disbelief

Lead glass, with hand painted polychrome glass. The scene from the Gospel is depicted in which Saint Thomas, after having doubted his Resurrection announced by the other disciples, recognizes Jesus who appears to him and asks him to touch his wounds on the Cross with his hand. The work has some slight breaks and some original glasses are missing, which have been replaced. It is mounted in a recent frame.

Bronze plaque with bas-relief figure. The figure of a naked man is depicted, holding an arrow and aiming it at the center of a target: the symbolism is evident, that is, the exaltation of the determination of the man who must go straight to the target; this meaning is well suited to the fascist period to which the plaque dates back, as is the reference to classicism. The plaque is inserted and presented in a contemporary wooden frame.

Composition on 4 Panels, 1978

Mixed media on canvas applied to wooden panels, showing a sequence. On the lower right the artist's initials GB and the numbering of the panels; on the verso of each panel is the signature in full, with the date and the following sequential titles: 'By Bosch', 'Declination of an Owl', 'Transcription' and 'Disappearance for Coquetry'. Gabriella Benedini has defined her as an artist as 'a nomad in search of the profound meaning of things'. Although attracted and interested first by abstract-informal painting, then by Existential Realism and then by the New Figuration, Gabriella Benedini proceeds on a strictly personal quest that cannot be assimilated into any specific current. The entire 1970s were mainly marked by pictorial works that reflected literary cues filtered through her need for growth and confrontation. Then, through her passion for Alchemy, Benedini began to transform anything that came her way into works of art; shells, pages of old books, bottles, everything is combined into a harmonious whole that recalls spaces. Her works therefore become mainly three-dimensional, either to hang on the wall, or they are sculptures, even large ones. The four panels are presented here in a single frame.

Rovereto, 1920

Oil on the table. Signed lower left. The title and date on the back in pencil. Riccardo Viriglio, a landscape painter from Pavia, portrayed urban views mainly of his city and landscape views especially of Lombardy. Here is a glimpse of the village of Roveleto, a small village in the Piacenza countryside at the foot of the pre-Apennine hills. The work is presented in a frame.

The path of San Rocco (Camogli)

Oil on cardboard. Signed lower left. On the back this title in pencil. An extremely original landscape painter who experimented with oil painting but also with watercolors and engraving, Raul Viviani came very close to pointillist painting, however developing his own personal technique, characterized by very thin filaments of color in the shape of thin commas, which define the structures of his landscapes. With his transfer to Liguria, which made the landscape of that region the protagonist of his works, his technique changed, moving away from the original divisionism to open up to a broad and summary brushstroke, which finally resulted in the last period in a production of nature death with violent and contrasting colors. This landscape can also be placed in the Ligurian period, which offers a glimpse of a well-known Ligurian locality, still rendered in the characteristic style of Viviani, made of brushstrokes in thin filaments, superimposed on spots of lively color, in the chromatic ranges of the colors of nature. In frame.

Still life

Oil on the table. Signed upper right. An extremely original landscape painter who experimented with oil painting but also with watercolors and engraving, Raul Viviani came very close to pointillist painting, however developing his own personal technique, characterized by very thin filaments of color in the shape of thin commas, which define the structures of his landscapes. With his transfer to Liguria, which made the landscape of that region the protagonist of his works, his technique changed, moving away from the original divisionism to open up to a broad and summary brushstroke, which finally resulted in the last period in a production of nature death with violent and contrasting colors. This still life, a composition of vegetables and a vividly colored bottle, can be placed in this period. The work is presented in a frame.

Pulcinella's Games

Oil (mixed) on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. Additional signature, title, technique and declaration of authenticity on the back. Mario Cortiello, a Neapolitan painter, pupil of Gennaro Villani and later friend and collaborator of Umberto Lilloni, participated in the renewal of Neapolitan painting with his own personal style, without straying from tradition. Endowed with fertile invention and remarkable representational ability, he left behind a rich and varied production. Recurring in his production are landscape or urban views, populated by numerous figures, often, in the Neapolitan setting, by Punchinello, depicted floating on dreamlike backgrounds, so much so that he is defined as the Neapolitan Chagall.

The Olona

Oil on hardboard. Signed lower right. Further signature and title on the back. Giovanni Balansino, Piedmontese by origin but Lombard by adoption, chose to depict his love for both lands with his painting made of broad and nervous brushstrokes, dedicating a large part of his production to them. In the proposed painting, Balansino presents a glimpse of the Olona river, a watercourse entirely in Lombardy, as it flows through the villages of the Lombard plain. The work is presented in a frame.

Glimpse of a snowy town

Oil on hardboard. Signed lower right. Born in 1905, Gaetano Valbusa worked for over forty years as a worker in the Brescia Mechanical Workshops, until retirement, devoting himself to painting only as a passion. Landscape painter, thanks to business trips he was able to portray "en plein air" glimpses of the whole world, even if the glimpses of the places in Brescia are the most recurring subject. Affiliated to the Brescian Artists Association, he was able to exhibit his works and make himself known by critics. In his canvases the landscapes are permeated with great serenity and tranquility, an elegy of serene memories of real life. The glimpse proposed here is presented in a frame.

Landscape with Sheaf

Oil on the table. Signed G. Zocchi lower right. It is probably a late work by the Florentine painter Guglielmo Zocchi, best known for the lively genre scenes of Greco-Roman setting, which earned him great success especially abroad. Landscape production is rare. The painting is presented in a coeval frame with shortcomings.