Lombardy late 19th century

Carved sideboard with urn-shaped riser, antique breccia top, front with two doors, uprights at 45 degrees. The whole structure of the piece of furniture is veneered with Indian walnut, thuya briar and is richly carved with maple worked with floral motifs. Carving with medallions with cherubs in nature surmounted by a fern branch contained in a pointed arch vault within the reserves of the doors decorated with four carved nozzles. Carvings also present on the uprights and on the corners, key with handle with liberty motifs. Ferdinando Pogliani was a furniture maker whose most frequent production concerned the use of ebony and ivory, a bedroom signed by him has recently been put on the market which corresponds to the structural and decorative characteristics of this sideboard. Pogliani was born in Milan in 1832 and ran a workshop in Porta Vittoria and a shop in via Montenapoleone together with his sons Carlo, Giuseppe and Paolo.

France Second half of the 19th century

Napoleon III display cabinet supported by turned feet, on the front it has three doors with glass, surmounted by a compartment with glass on the front, accessible by raising the shelf; the riser consists of three rooms with doors; glass also present on the sides. In dark-stained wood, it is decorated with bronze applications and brass-plated threads and edges of the top.

The model derives from an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi based on a drawing by Raphael, specially made for the graphic work, deriving from a painting placed in the Stanza della Segnatura (1513-1515). This model was taken up and changed by Hans von Aachen in a canvas dated 1588 and today preserved at the Museum of the Charterhouse of Douai, in turn taken up in an engraving of the following year by Raphael Sadeler, in the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the 'Carrara Academy of Bergamo. The canvas in question is derived from this last version, which shows the same changes made with respect to the Raphaelesque original. At the center of the scene, which takes place immersed in a natural landscape, are the three goddesses who competed for the title of the most beautiful: Juno with the peacock, her symbolic animal, Venus accompanied by Cupid and Minerva next to which are the helmet, spear and shield. Paris, from behind, is giving the golden apple that decrees the winner to the goddess of love, under the gaze of Judge Mercury. Two cherubs flit around the protagonists, while in the foreground, always from behind, there is a male figure. A country boarding school is taking place on the back lawn. The work, as evidenced by a small scroll, is attributed to Domenico Lupini, an artist about whom not much is known but for whom it is possible to hypothesize the scope of his activity between Bergamo and Venice. The only two signed works are a "converted Magdalene" and an "Annunciation", but other works have been attributed to him by the scholar Federica Nurchis and placed in the monastery of Santa Chiara in Bergamo. These paintings present a warm and refined chromatism which, together with the elegance of the characters and the compositional modality, suggest a Venetian stay by Lucini, which seems to recall the atmospheres of Tintoretto, Veronese and Palma il Giovane. Presented in a 17th century gilded frame, restored and relined.

Piacenza, Late XVIII Century

Pair of chests of drawers with walnut veneer, walnut root and bois de rose, maple and boxwood trim; inlaid rosettes with shading on tops, sides and fronts with three drawers. Retractable chain that allows the continuity of the inlay. Interior in fir and original locks. One seatback has been replaced.

Italy Last quarter of the 18th century

Lombard neoclassical chest of drawers veneered in briar walnut with borders in bois de rose and violets, Italy, last quarter of the 18th century. On the front, the three drawers as well as the sides are framed by a relief frame, highlighted by the uprights where the pilasters have a third order of projection that outlines the architectural character of the piece of furniture. On the sides as on the frote, thanks to the flush drawers with retractable chain, we find reserves in walnut briar inlaid in boxwood and maple, with floral and phytomorphic motifs arranged circularly and vase elements. On the frames of the reserves are Greek inlaid with successive leaves and on the uprights motifs with sloping discs. Feet in a jar. Top in Bardiglio gray marble replaced, restorations. The piece of furniture presents in the taste of the inlay and in the arrangement of the same, different points of contact with the work of Mortarino both in the furniture attributed to him and in the certain ones; to this example the inlaid motifs on the uprights are reflected in the side borders of the two Mantuan dressers. See Enrico Sala, Maggiolini & Co.

Winter Landscape with Figures on Ice

Oil painting on canvas. Flemish school of the XVII-XVIII century. On the frame there is a label attributing to Thomas Heeremans (but with incorrect date). The large scene offers a winter landscape appropriate to the Dutch territory, as it is characterized by a frozen canal, near a village, populated by numerous figures of skaters, intent on daily activities: the horse-drawn sleigh for transporting people, the the man who pushes the "wheelbarrow" full of wood, the child who pushes himself into his little box; other figures pass by on the embankment along the canal. The gray and cold sky of a winter day hangs over everything. The subject was the recurring one in the production of the Dutch painter Thomas Heeremans, who mainly painted winter landscapes of his land, replicating them several times due to the success obtained, and inducing numerous other artists to imitate him; it is therefore thought that this work can be traced back to an imitator of the Heeremans, rather than to him directly. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period 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.

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.

Faun-Demon. Female figure with goat legs. Animal skin on her shoulders. Demonic face. She is holding a turtle.

Oil on canvas. A large architectural structure, imposing in its classicism, with tall twisted columns and elaborate Corinthian-style capitals, dominates a gentle and nuanced lake landscape, which teems with the daily activity of small figures of wayfarers, fishermen, and commoners, well described in their peculiarity. The painting is close to the manners of Viviano Codazzi (1604 -1670) to which it was traditionally attributed. Originally from Bergamo but then active in Rome and Naples, Codazzi was a famous painter of perspectives, considered by many to be the inventor of the view and of the architectural whim. Also close to the Bamboccianti genre, he distinguished himself for the descriptive care of the various protagonists, their gestures, their clothing, care indicating a vision and a study from life of everyday life, read and interpreted without literary filters but with marked naturalism. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a coeval frame.