PAINTINGS ONLINE | ANCIENT AND CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY

Vase of Carnations

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. The Pisan artist was best known as an engraver (he taught engraving at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence) but also devoted himself to painting, which he achieved with remarkable originality and extraordinary poetic depth, using colors that he himself defined as "the colors of the soul." Although he favored popular subjects, flowers were also often the subject of his works, so much so that a section of a recent (2023) retrospective dedicated to him in Pisa was titled "The Colors and Flowers of the Soul". The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Oil on canvas. English School, early 20th century. Unidentified signature lower right. The work continues the 19th-century trend of depicting interiors with family scenes. In this scene, which probably takes place inside a restaurant, the mother and three children on the right appear to be bidding farewell to their departing father, while on the left another group of people observe, along with the maid who is cleaning. There is no drama; even the little boy kneeling before his father seems to be affectionately asking for a last embrace. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Flemish School, 18th century. The work was attributed to the circle of Hendrick Mommers (1623-1693) at a Christie's auction in 1991. It features a classic architectural capriccio, a vast landscape featuring the ruins of a majestic classical building. This work also features numerous figures walking along the path in front of the ruins: a herdsman with his flock, a woman with a child, and a couple on a romantic stroll. The work is still on its original canvas and is in excellent condition. It is presented in a period gilded frame.

The Proposal

Oil on canvas. The scene depicts a marriage proposal between two commoners and is a copy of the work by Eugène Von Blass (1843-1931) from 1887. The Italian-Austrian artist often depicted this theme, as well as other genre scenes of simple, everyday life. The work is presented in a period gilded frame.

View of the Matterhorn

Three oil paintings on cardboard. All three panels are signed in the lower right corner. The three paintings together create a single, continuous composition: the central panel depicts the summit of Mount Cervino, while the two lower panels extend the mountain range on both sides to the most famous peak. Alessandro Catalani painted views and landscapes, in oils and watercolors, characterized by soft colors and loose brushstrokes. The work is presented in a contemporary frame (to be restored).

Wooded Landscape with River

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. The painting is of considerable size, likely executed for a prestigious client. Eugenio Gignous established himself as a landscape painter, creating softly lit views and almost impressionistic atmospheres. The work is presented in a frame from the first half of the 20th century.

Oil on canvas. The signature G. Freye appears at the bottom left, which may attribute the work to Georg Hermann Freye (1844-1921), a Dresden artist known primarily for his religious and historical works. The genre scene draws on subjects and styles from 17th- and 18th-century Dutch painting. Set in a private home, it depicts a family meal, with the stern father speaking to his more light-hearted son, under the smiling and complicit gaze of his mother. The work is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The title "Campagna romana" is an old pencil inscription on the back. A Grand Tour painting, it features a glimpse of a popular village featuring the remains of classical columns; several figures enliven the scene, while a small town can be seen in the background. The work is presented in a period frame.

Shepherd with Sheep

Ink on paper. Signed lower left. Neapolitan artist Filippo Palizzi, also known as "the painter of animals" is considered a revitalizer of 19th-century Neapolitan painting. Abandoning academic painting, following contemporary French experiences, Palizzi devoted himself to life studies, especially humble subjects, such as small landscapes and animal paintings, creating works of intense realism yet imbued with an intimate poetic tone. He stood out above all for the meticulous execution of the details of his portrayed subjects. Herds with shepherds are a recurring theme in his work, as in this small drawing. The work is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Artist unknown (inconsistent signature G. Induno at the bottom). Genre scene inside a rather humble home, in which an old man sitting on his bed welcomes the embrace of his visiting grandson. The tenderness of the gesture of affection and dedication between the two figures contrasts with the poverty of the dwelling. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Fishing Boats

Color lithographs. Signed in pencil. The French painter and engraver Guinegault created numerous views and landscapes, both of Paris and the coasts of northern France, often featuring fishermen. The two lithographs are presented in bamboo frames from the 1960s.

Gathering

Watercolor on paper. Signed lower left. De Albertis devoted himself to the military-patriotic genre, producing a rich repertoire of battles, replicated in various variations, which gradually became his specialty. Later, he turned to watercolor, but military subjects, often featuring horses, continued to dominate his work. This watercolor, in fact, features two saddled but unridered horses, responding to the trumpet call—the rallying call—sounded by the rider at the head of the squadron, visible on the right. The work is presented in a frame.

Etchings. The names of the engraver and painter are at the bottom. The series, based on drawings by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754), included fifteen prints and was titled "The Twelve Apostles or Work painted by Giambattista Piazzetta (1683-1754) engraved by Marco Pitteri Veneto with Privilege of the Most Excellent Senate". The eleven apostles (excluding the traitor Judas) were joined by the face of Mary, the image of the Father with the Holy Spirit, and Saint Paul. This series lacks the representation of Christ. The prints have stains and water stains. They are presented in 18th-century lacquered wood frames with contemporary glass.

Fake fresco tear. Emulating an ancient fresco, the face of Saint Anthony the Abbot is depicted here, recognizable by several of his iconographic features: he is dressed in a friar's habit with a scapular, holding a staff to which is attached the bell used by friars and hermits to announce their arrival for almsgiving, and with his right hand in blessing, from which emerges a tongue of fire, a symbol of both illness, punishment, and the dominion of the underworld by Good. The work is framed by a listel.

Landscape

Oil on panel. Signed lower right. Luigi Comolli, a Milanese artist, distinguished himself for his landscape and still life paintings. His work displays an Impressionist influence, drawn from his formative years in Paris. Presented in a mid-20th-century frame.

The Medical Herb Seller

Oil on canvas. West Africa. The naive-style painting depicts a woman selling medicinal herbs, holding a sign indicating the ailments she cures. These types of paintings, often used as advertisements for market stalls, reference traditional African values of motherhood, fertility, and prosperity, but transposed into a contemporary cultural context.

People at the Bar

Oil on canvas. Signed lower left. A signed declaration of authenticity is on the back. Influenced by Expressionism during his Parisian years, Fantuzzi placed a strong emphasis on the expression of emotions and moods in his works. Color dominates his canvases, typically in cool tones of blue, green, and purple, creating sometimes violent contrasts. Fantuzzi's main themes are the loneliness of the metropolis and the difficulty of communicating in interpersonal relationships; he often paints poorly defined figures and eyeless faces. Framed.

The Orange Seller

Oil on canvas. West Africa. This naive-style painting depicts an orange seller in an urban market. These types of paintings, often used as advertisements for market stalls, reference traditional African values of motherhood, fertility, and prosperity, transposed into a contemporary cultural context.

Untitled, 1992

Mixed technique on paper. Signed lower center. The artist's stamp with the signature and date of the work is on the back. Caccioni, an artist born, trained, and still lives in Bologna, is one of the protagonists of a generation that has now reached a definitive linguistic maturity and occupies a prominent place within the contemporary art scene. His research primarily utilizes unusual materials such as acetates, PVC, and, more recently, stage backdrops from 19th-century plays, upon which he paints forms drawn from personal memory and influences from diverse cultures and historical periods. A recurring element in Luca Caccioni's work is writing, a self-signifying sign that shapes the work and is capable of expressing thoughts; working through superimposition, the images are constructed by adding or subtracting color across various supports. Framed.

Oil on canvas. Early 1900s. This high-quality painting was created by an anonymous artist inspired by the works of Vittorio Reggianini (1858-1938), who enjoyed enormous success with his interior and living room scenes, depicting women or children engaged in everyday, often recreational, pursuits, like these two ladies enjoying tea and chatting amiably. The painting is presented in a contemporary frame.

Figures with Flowers

Oil on canvas. Signed lower left. A signed declaration of authenticity is on the back. Influenced by Expressionism during his Parisian years, Fantuzzi placed a strong emphasis on the expression of emotions and moods in his works. Color dominates his canvases, typically in cool tones of blue, green, and purple, creating sometimes violent contrasts. Fantuzzi's main themes are the loneliness of the metropolis and the difficulty of communicating in interpersonal relationships; he often paints poorly defined figures and eyeless faces. Framed.

Oil on canvas. The work, painted in the style of early 17th-century Spanish painting, is actually from the late 19th century. It depicts a noblewoman wearing a ruff, the stiff, decorative, pleated collar typical of both men's and women's clothing from the 16th and 17th centuries. The work has been previously restored and relined. It is presented in a mid-19th-century gilded frame, inserted into a larger 20th-century frame.

Sole Produttore

Silkscreen, applied to a metal plate. Signed lower right, titled at the bottom. Edition 446/500. The sun has been a theme dear to Giò Pomodoro since the 1950s, a theme the artist never abandoned, developing it particularly from the second half of the 1970s until a few years before his death, when, in 2000, he donated a monumental white marble sun to the City of Genoa, located right at the mouth of the harbor, on the Ponte dei Mille. The Producing Sun is a metaphorical representation of society's equitable exploitation of the sun's generative power. Passionate about astronomy, geometry, and poetry, Gio's Pomodoro has always been fascinated by the vital and symbolic potential of the image of the star. In these works, the artist represents it through a stylized circular shape, which is broken to accentuate the potential of elementary geometric forms (the circle, the square, the triangle) to open up to different dynamic tensions. Around these basic shapes, Pomodoro then inserts writings consisting of words that refer to referential concepts, such as real, possible, collective—in this case: "It moves, turns, builds a common harvest"—combined with other inscribed shapes that indicate physical structures, such as the hinge, the wheel, and the seed.