PAINTINGS ONLINE | ANCIENT AND CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY - Page 4

The Hair Cut

Tapestry on canvas. The scene, set in the 18th century, features a wealthy, bejeweled lady drinking tea with a friend, while a valet stands behind her, preparing to cut her long ponytail. The scene, likely allegorical, also features a winged cherub grasping a lock of her cut hair, while another flutters upward. The canvas requires restoration due to obvious tears and loss of color. It is presented in a late 19th-century frame.

Reading the Letter

Antique tapestry on canvas made. The scene, set in the 18th century, depicts a wealthy lady seated at her dressing table, reading a letter, while her maid offers her jewelry. A few cherubs hover above, lending an allegorical meaning to the scene. The canvas requires cleaning. It is presented in a late 19th-century frame.

In Nome della Pace sulla Terra 1969

Oil on canvas. Signature, title, and date in Cyrillic on the back. Viktor Petrovich Rudametkin is a Ukrainian artist who has established himself as a landscape painter and colorist. In this work, using his characteristically vibrant palette, he depicts a peasant mother in the middle of a field of sunflowers, a symbol of life and peace, contrasting with the images of military planes streaking across the sky. Created during the years when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, the image can be thought of as a call to peace and a message of hope for the artist's native land, still torn apart by the serious conflict with Russia.

Oil on canvas. The scene beautifully expresses the dramatic pathos of a shipwreck: under a sky filled with dark clouds, a small boat is sinking offshore, while the fisherman's family takes refuge on the rocky shore, where white, foaming waves crash. The work is presented in a contemporary gilded frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The coastal glimpse, near a rocky inlet where torrential waters flow, sees figures at the landing place of the ships, ready to welcome the boats that are approaching; in the distance the profile of the city. Restored and relined, the painting has widespread dirt stains especially in correspondence with the sky. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the eighteenth century. The landscape, set on the banks of a wide river, sees in the center some figures of peasants intent on picking fruit from a tree: a girl holds the ladder while the boy cuts off a bunch, on the left another couple places the fruit collected in a tub. All around a vast green countryside and some farmhouses. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Winter landscape

Pastels on paper applied to canvas. Signed lower left. The large landscape is completely dominated by the play of colour: divided into two hemifields given by the sky and the earth (a mountainous land where sporadic fir trees sprout), it sees the pinkish blue of the sky prevail above, under the greenish blue of the snow on the ground , two shades of the same color range that then meet in the skyline of the mountains. Cinotti was a landscape painter who was an exponent of Italian Divisionism, whose painting is characterized by a material and pasty application with touches of spatulated color. In coeval frame.

Inlay made with various woods. The inlay depicts the figure of a cellist in eighteenth-century dress. Francesco Ferrario was an accomplished cabinetmaker, influenced by the Neoclassical and Art Nouveau movements. Having trained in drawing at the Brera Academy, after collaborating with the finest artists of the time, he opened a workshop in Milan, first on Via Tenca, and then in 1927 on Corso Sempione. A label on the back of the work places it among the workshops of this latter location. The work is presented in a period frame. A version of this work appears in Bianca Tosatti's monograph, "I Ferrario maestri di tarsia," published in 2000.

Oil on canvas. This is a copy of the painting of the same name by Giulio Cesare Ferrari (1818-1899), created in 1863 and purchased a few years later by the Pinacoteca dell'Accademia in Bologna. The painting depicts a scene from Victor Hugo's novel "Notre-Dame de Paris": Esmeralda, a young gypsy who enchants with her beauty and dancing, is persecuted by the archdeacon Frollo because of his obsession and locked in the tower of the Parisian cathedral, where she is helped, however, by the hunchbacked bell-ringer Quasimodo. In the scene, the young woman is huddled in the narrow, dark cell accompanied by her inseparable goat. The work belongs to the historical-literary painting movement that developed in the 19th century alongside Romanticism and Realism, and is characterized by the depiction of scenes from history and literature, often with celebratory and commemorative intent. The copy proposed here, of good workmanship and datable shortly after the original, is presented in a mid-20th century style frame, contemporary with the restoration and relining of the work.

Genre Scene at Court

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. Antonio Zavaga was an Italian painter between the 19th and 20th centuries, specialized in 18th-century style painting, mainly of a gallant and salon setting. The scene of this work is also set in a rich 18th-century style hall: a lady and a gentleman sit at a table playing chess, while the lady-in-waiting brings tea and another gentleman watches amused. The work is presented in a painted frame from the late 19th-early 20th century.

Oil on canvas. The scene corresponds to a station of the Via Crucis, during which Jesus falls under the weight of the heavy cross, which he carries on his shoulders as he climbs towards Golgotha. Christ, bent over on the ground, his gaze low and sad, is pursued by the guards, who prod him with the sticks of the lances, and one tugs at him with the rope that he has tied around his waist; a commoner looks at Jesus afflicted, while he supports the heavy wood. The painting shows traces of previous restoration and has been relined. It is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Central European school of the first half of the 19th century. The painting refers to a graphic by Johann Gottfried Haid (1704 -1767), a German engraver known for his mezzotint copies of works by great masters. The original work is probably attributable to Antonio Mercurio Amorosi (1660 -1738), known for his portraits of popular characters in the "childish" style. Our painting presents several small differences from the reference graphic. Still on the first canvas, it is presented in a mid-1900s frame.

Adoration of the Shepherds

Oil on canvas. A composition replicated several times by disciples and students of the Bassano school, in particular a work by Jacopo Bassano (1515 -1592). In the original scene, here reproduced with fidelity to the composition of the figures but not to the colors, Bassano had approached the theme on the one hand respecting tradition, on the other introducing innovations. In fact, they act as a scenic backdrop of archaeological ruins, a frequent element in Italian iconography of the Nativity. Here we see a row of broken columns on a high pedestal, on the model of Greek temples, against which a hut is leaning. The unusual architectural structure symbolizes the overcoming of paganism and the construction of the Christian church, of which the birth of Jesus is the first act of foundation. The shepherds occupy the center of the scene, and if it were not for the left side of the painting, it might seem like a genre scene with a rural character. The shepherd from behind is kneeling, showing his bare feet, a reminder of his extreme humility, and holding a lamb, the sacrificial animal par excellence, a reference to the future Passion of Christ. On the far right, a curious insert: a crouching boy blowing on a burning ember, in a futile effort to rekindle a flame. In this replica, the yellow and red colors of the robes of the two shepherds in the center and of the boy on the right stand out, prevailing in vivacity even on the figures of the Holy Family and emerging from the ochre hues of the landscape and the architectural structures in the background. The painting was restored and relined in the 19th century, with the replacement of the frame (on it there is contemporary writing in English, probably export addresses). It is presented in a period frame.

Scene with Guards in the City, 1875

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left. The English painter George Goodwin Kilburne specialized in genre scenes set in the life of the Victorian upper middle class, with hunting scenes, living room scenes, all characterized by elegance, by the meticulousness of details especially of the female figures. In 1875 Kilburne stayed a few months in Rome, and then traveled to other Italian and European cities. The scene depicted here, actually from 1875, seems to be set in Rome: at a guard post in the city, as the urban glimpse that can be seen from the open door clearly explains, some soldiers wearing the uniform of the Vatican guards are resting. The work is presented in a late 19th-early 20th century frame.

Jesus on the Road to Calvary

Oil on canvas. The work is a replica of the one executed by Pierre Mignard and donated to Louis XIV, now preserved in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The dramatic scene is set just outside the walls of Jerusalem; a procession of people accompanies Jesus on his climb to Calvary, which can be glimpsed in the background on the right, with the crosses of the two thieves already erected. Instead, the Cross of Christ is carried by Simon of Cyrene, forced by the guards after Jesus' umpteenth fall, who is rudely urged with a whip to get up. In front of Christ walk the two thieves tied up, accompanied by some servants; on the left is the group of pious women who accompany and support Mary, broken-hearted with grief. In contrast to this group, there is another group of women of the people on the right, who watch in an attitude of pious compassion, averting the gaze of their children from the terrible spectacle. The landscape in the background is harsh and barren, under a sky that is filling with grey and dark clouds. The work was restored and relined in the mid-1900s, and mounted on a new frame. It is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th - 18th century. The widely known biblical scene of the quarrel between the two brothers, sons of Adam and Eve, which then leads to the fratricide of Abel at the hands of Cain, is depicted here within an Italian landscape, rich in vegetation, with the complement of two particular fires. In fact, on the sides of the two figures, which occupy the center of the scene, there are two sacrificial pyres with a burning fire: however, while from Abel's, on the left, a high smoke rises which is sucked up by the clouds above it, to indicate that God has accepted this sacrifice, instead Cain's fire is low, almost crushed on the embers, and no smoke rises from it, a sign that God rejects it. Even the red color of Abel's tunic is intended to emphasize his sacrificial value, his martyrdom. The painting needs cleaning. In a period frame.

Sant'Ilario 1945

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left. Title on the back of the frame. The painter Mario Guerzoni distinguished himself as a landscape painter, proposing glimpses of different parts of Italy, often coastal views. Sant'Ilario is located in the Riviera di Levante, in the Golfo Paradiso, on the slopes of the Ligurian Apennines. Framed.

Oil on canvas. In an Italian landscape, the scene is centered on a group of commoners who are trying to get away from the besieged and burned city, carrying their goods on the cart and leading the small flock; a small group of enemy soldiers, however, has chased them and is trying to stop them, with their weapons drawn. On the back of the frame there is a pencil inscription that attributes the work to Jan Both (1618 -1652), a Dutch painter known above all as the author of Italian landscapes, often animated by figures. The painting has been restored and relined in the past. It currently requires cleaning. It is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th century. In this Holy Family, the central figure is Mary: sitting in the center of the scene, she turns her face to her left toward Joseph, listening intently and concentratedly to what her companion is reading to her from a book; meanwhile, the woman's arms are lovingly covering the little Jesus with a cloth, who is sleeping peacefully in the cradle to the right of his mother. The Child's face is also illuminated and radiates its light toward his Mother. In the background is an Italian landscape. The figures appear harmonious and balanced in the movements of their bodies and the whole scene emanates a tranquility and domestic serenity, very earthly. The painting was relined at the beginning of the 20th century. Traces of previous tears and slight losses of color are visible. It is presented in a golden frame from the early 20th century (loss of gilding).

Oil on canvas. Second half of the 18th century. On the back there is a hand-written cartouche, dated May 1835 and indicating several important families (Castelbarchi, Fraganeschi, Castelbarco Litta Albani) from Northern Italy, who probably owned the work. The painting shows a Nordic landscape, of a rather barren countryside, crossed by a watercourse; a path, on which some wayfarers are passing, leads to the village at the foot of the hill. The painting is presented in a period frame, with several missing parts.

Mother with Child

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. On the back there is a cartouche of authentication from "Meeting Art Roma"; with the data of the work, and stamp of provenance from the "Centro Artistico Mercurio, Milan". Giuseppe Migneco, originally from Messina but who moved to Milan when he was young, was one of the major representatives, together with Aligi Sassu, Renato Birolli, Bruno Cassinari, Renato Guttuso, of the Corrente group open to the European artistic avant-gardes. In favor of a painting of social commitment, he investigates reality with a critical, objective, historical eye. His characters with hard, square faces, marked by hard work and rendered with bright and strong tones, recall his Sicily with violent and clear features, but also the social realism of the Mexican muralists. In this work appear his characteristic figures (which could belong to both Sicily and Mexico!) engaged in a very prosaic and realistic activity of popular daily life, that is, a mother who combs and cleans her son's head, probably infested with parasites. The work is presented in a frame.

Oil on canvas. Northern European school of the 18th century. Near a small group of buildings, along the dirt road, a scene of popular life takes place, animated by various figures: in the foreground on the right, two hunters offer their prey and some fruit to a pregnant woman, who is traveling on horseback accompanied by her companion; in the background, a couple of women sit on the ground resting with their children, one of the two is breastfeeding; and again groups of people chatting, while others are climbing on the haystacks covered under the barn. The figures stand out for the bright colors of their clothes against the almost monochromatic background of earth tones, with the buildings blending into the flat and barren landscape. The painting, still on the first canvas, shows signs of a small tear on the back. It is presented in a period frame.