PAINTINGS ONLINE | ANCIENT AND CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY - Page 8

Studio, 1993

Mixed media on paper. On the back, the artist's signature, the title, the date and a dedication to a friend. Caccioni, an artist who was 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 space within the contemporary artistic panorama. His research mainly uses unusual materials such as acetates, PVC and, more recently, stage backdrops of nineteenth-century theatrical works, on which he intervenes by painting shapes drawn from a personal memory and from suggestions coming from different cultures and historical periods. A recurring element in Luca Caccioni's work is writing, a self-signifying sign that designs the work and is capable of recounting thoughts; working by superimposition, the images are constructed by adding or subtracting color on the various supports. Work in frame.

The Birth of Venus, 1935

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left on the left lateral canvas. The large composition is made up of three separate canvases, the central one developed vertically (dimensions 220 x 128 cm) and rounded on the upper margin, the two lateral ones developed horizontally and shaped at the corners (dimensions 150 x 328 cm). The central canvas is dominated by the figure of Venus, who emerges naked from the sea foam, with one arm raised to cover her eyes to protect herself from the light of dawn; on the two lateral canvases, a group of tritons, sirens, sea nymphs, sea monsters, led by the god Poseidon, recognizable on the left by the trident he holds, witness the event with amazement and joyful exultation. The figures stand out against the background of sea and sky, fused in a luminous continuum of shades of blue, into which the pink light of dawn insinuates itself, illuminating the scene. Trained at the school of Cesare Tallone, Brignoli learned from him the naturalism deriving from the Venetian tradition, the observation of nature, the decisive brush stroke, the strong contrasts of light. Moreover, after several trips to Africa, begun in 1922, Brignoli approached orientalist painting, but he shunned forms of exotic rhetoric, to instead relive the new subject with a careful research of colors and the effects of light on the landscape. This work, belonging to the artist's already "African" period, is influenced by this imprint, in the bright and clear chromatic choices. Due to its size and the composition of the three canvases, it has a great scenographic impact: coming from a large villa in Brescia, where it was displayed on the imposing staircase, it was probably conceived and created specifically as a custom-made decorative element. The canvases are presented in contemporary gilded frames, missing some parts.

Family Lunch 1802

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left. Genre scene of popular taste, it portrays a bourgeois family preparing to have lunch: the father, already seated at the table, is about to bless the meal, while his wife and son, standing, follow the prayer. Little is known about Charles Christophe Coventry, an English painter of whom we know mainly genre scenes of popular settings, such as this one. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Fantastic Vision with Figures

Oil on canvas. The signature of the painter Franco Rognoni appears at the bottom right, but the work has not been recognized as authentic by the artist's archive. It also well reflects Rognoni's pictorial style, characterized by figures, both men and houses drawn in black with a few precise strokes, and then filled with color that fades into the background. In the canvas, an elegant male figure appears, leaning impassively and indifferently on the flowered railing of a terrace overlooking a city; below him, at the bottom left, another face emerges (the same man?) wearing a military helmet and placed on a darker, less sunny city background: whether it is the man at war who recalls the time of peace or vice versa, the reference to the alternation in life of peace and war, of serenity and drama is evident. The work is presented in a frame.

Oil on canvas. Central European school of the 18th century. The distinguished lady, who flaunts a dress enriched with bows and lace, is seated at her desk and holds a letter in her hand; at the bottom left an envelope bears traces of a name, unfortunately illegible, a device to make the portrayed character known. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an early 1900s frame.

Oil on canvas. French school of the second half of the 18th century. This bucolic landscape of verdant countryside opens up in the background with fields and blue mountains. In the foreground, near an imposing fountain consisting of a monumental marble base on which rests an amphora vase, a shepherd and a shepherdess are engaged in conversation, while they rest together with their herd of cows and sheep. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th century gilded frame.

Untitled, 2003

Mixed media on paper. Signed and numbered on the back. Copy No. 40 of an edition of 350, of which the first 50 copies are numbered and signed by the artist. These works were created as an attachment to the Catalogue of the 1040th exhibition at the Galleria del Cavallino -Venice, held in October 2003 and dedicated to the works of Paolo Patelli, as indicated in the colophon of the brochure, where there is a further signature of the artist and dedication. Paolo Patelli, an artist of Istrian origins, expresses the joy of painting, creating works that are enriched by his passion for music. The rhythmic spirit of the artist's style captures movements, translating them into a visual language that breaks the mold of traditional artistic models, making every line and every brushstroke visible, leaving a wide exposure of the paper surface.

Burnished and wrought copper plate, with lighter spot decorations, embossing and holes, mounted on a red-stained plywood panel.

Copper and brass panel, worked with irregular geometric figures. Inspired by the works of the sculptor and painter Lino Bersani (Genoa 1935). Mounted on a white lacquered wooden panel.

Bas-relief in wood, fabric and white tempera, evoking a stylised Crucifix. Mounted on a panel and presented in a display case.

Oil on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th century. Veronica, a character who appears during the Passion of Christ, was the pious woman who, following Jesus on his climb to Calvary with the cross on her shoulders, cleaned his face with a cloth: according to tradition, Jesus' face remained imprinted on the cloth. Therefore the saint is iconographically depicted while presenting this cloth, in memory of the miracle received following her charitable gesture, as in this painting, where on the left in the background appear the three Crosses of Golgotha, towards which Veronica turns, to remember that she was a witness to the death of Jesus. Already restored and relined, probably in the late 19th - early 20th century, the canvas presents further small losses of color and stains. It is presented in an antique regilded frame.

Oil on canvas. The scene depicts a battle between an army of Moors and white soldiers, defending a fortification from which they fire cannons, while in the background, on the top of a promontory, a white city emerges. Set near the sea, with several invading vessels heading towards the coast, the scene focuses on the capture of the Moorish king, in the center on his white horse, with a dismayed expression on his face because he is surrounded by opposing soldiers who try to unseat him, while his own soldiers try to defend him. The atmosphere of the scene is dominated by the dust and smoke of the cannons, which cover all the characters in an earthy veil, even where the colors of the clothes would be more vivid. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The large painting tells the famous mythological episode of the Judgement of Paris, the event that helped trigger the Trojan War. Paris, a Trojan prince, was called to settle the dispute between the three goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, over who deserved to be awarded the golden apple to "the most beautiful", thrown by the goddess Discord on the table of the gods. Each of the three goddesses promised Paris a reward in exchange for the apple, and he chose Aphrodite, who had promised him the most beautiful woman in the world, namely Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. In the large scene, Paris is sitting in the center, between the legs of the goddess Aphrodite, to whom he holds out the apple with his raised arm; Aphrodite is taking the apple with one hand, while she turns upwards to indicate to the god Cupid, hovering above her, to carry out his task. On the left, the other two goddesses turn their backs, indignant and frowning, while above the god Mercury decrees Aphrodite's victory, pointing at her with his staff, the caduceus symbol of the agreement reached, and the god Cupid, on Aphrodite's instructions, prepares the fiery arrow with which he will make Helen fall in love with Paris. The scene is completed by a putto who pours water from a vase from above, perhaps a sort of baptism, or consecration of the choice. The imposing and strongly carnal figures fill the scene in a tangle of bodies, which with the variation of the flesh colors - pale those of the divinities, more vivid that of the shepherd prince, (the only mortal in the fact!), but all played out in a single chromatic range -, create a chromatic homogeneity. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Venetian school of the 18th century. The large Nordic landscape, with verdant mountain slopes through which a river flows, is inhabited by several figures in the foreground: a group of people are listening to a young man standing in the center, who is announcing something, pointing, with his arm stretched upwards, to the sun that is tearing apart the dark clouds. It evokes a sermon by Saint John the Baptist, although no iconographic element specifically refers to this character. The painting, restored and relined, is mounted on a stretcher from the early 1900s. It is presented in a contemporary frame.