Antique Painting Attr. to E. Moretti Lazese Last Judgement '800 - The Last Judgment

Landscape with Figures

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. Achille Vertunni was born and trained artistically in Naples, but then moved to Rome where, in his mature age, his studio in Via Margutta was a point of reference for many Italian and foreign critics and artists (D'Annunzio, De Sanctis , Franz Listz, to name a few) and was frequented by the nobility and politicians of the time, figures of the Risorgimento and visitors of the "Grand Tour". His first themes were inspired by historical events, but he then dedicated himself to landscape which, from the seventies, became the almost exclusive subject of his paintings. Its sunsets in the Roman countryside and in the Pontine Marshes are characteristic, sometimes animated by butteri and herds of buffalo. This painting shows two figures in traditional Lazio clothing, a couple of farmers resting near a small votive chapel along the road; on the right the coastal landscape opens up along the Tiber, at the bottom of which the profile of Rome stands out, with the Dome of St. Peter and Castel Sant'Angelo. Above all, the typically romantic atmosphere of a sunset, with its play of soft, pink lights. The painting, relined, is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. Inside a rural kitchen, a peasant family allows themselves a moment of celebration: the father plays the mandolin, listened to by the little girl who seems to want to dance, assisted by her mother, and by the other women of the house, smiling as they carry out their domestic tasks. The production of the Neapolitan painter Giuseppe Giardiello always looked to the folklore of Neapolitan rural and peasant life, painting, with intimate and delicate tones, both scenes of domestic life and landscape views animated by figures. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Oil on the table. The picturesque landscape has a wide path in the foreground on the right which winds between fronds and green meadows, where flocks graze; a small family of peasants passes along the path, all engaged in the transport of goods: even the girl carries a large bundle on her head, while the mother carries the basket with her newborn son in the same way! In the background, the plain extends wide to fade towards the distant hills and into the clear and rarefied sky, which gives off an almost pink light. The fir table of the painting has undergone restoration and parqueting. The work is presented in a mid-1900s frame.

Composed of woodblocked sheets, sewn together and partly colored, with matching figures and texts. The group consists of 23 booklets, of which two in three copies and one in four copies; another couple has the same cover but different contents. The booklets can be considered as "manga" of the nineteenth century: the word "manga" still today can designate many different productions, such as single cartoons, scattered drawings, more elaborate illustrations, comic strips, comic books, as well as animated drawings. Therefore, starting from the assumption that there is no "manga form" but different ways of conceiving objects and graphic forms all denominated with this word, the term manga can be attested in literary and essayistic use in Japan as early as the eighteenth century to indicate, as mentioned above, drawings and sketches. But it is from the first half of the nineteenth century that Katsushika Hokusai's 15 volumes of illustrations, studies, graphic entertainment and detailed bichromatic prints became established, thanks to the progressive publication, starting from 1814. If, on the other hand, we want to give the word the more specific meaning of “stories drawn in sequence”, then the debut must be placed in the second half of the nineteenth century, similarly to what happened in Europe and the United States for comics. The booklets are in good condition.

Oil painting on canvas. North European school of the 19th century. The romantic taste pervades this nocturnal landscape, illuminated by the light of the full moon, barely veiled by scattered thin clouds; on the country path, which runs alongside the torrential course of a river, two figures of wayfarers can be glimpsed, a child holding a woman's hand. The painting is presented in a gilded frame from the end of the 19th century.

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the 18th century. The painting depicts the death of Saint Joseph which, according to the apocryphal gospels, occurred assisted by Mary and Jesus: the dying man lies in fact in his bed of agony, supported affectionately by his putative son Jesus and his wife Mary, while several angels assist, both at the foot of the bed, or from above where the heavens already open to welcome the soul of the saint. Joseph's is considered the most desirable and peaceful form of death, of old age, in one's bed and surrounded by one's loved ones, and for this reason the Saint is considered the patron saint of the dying and of sweet death. Restored and relined, the painting is presented with a frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the 17th century. The Saint is depicted inside his study, intent on reading and studying the sacred texts, but in penitential garb, i.e. clad only in a red cloth draped around his naked body. The painting, relined, has a significant crack; It is placed in a contemporary gilded wooden frame.

The Months of the Year

Watercolor etchings. Series of twelve loose sheets etched and colored by hand, with caption and name of the relevant month at the bottom, depicting typical scenes linked to each month of the year. Made based on drawings by Giuseppe Zocchi (1711 -1767), the engravings by Giovanni Battista Cecchi (1748 -1819) were printed between 1750 and 1799 by the Florentine publishers Giacomo Moro and Giuseppe Bardi. The series is in good condition, with small moisture stains and minor defects. The engravings are presented in style frames.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th-18th centuries. The scene shows the clash between knights outside the walls of a besieged city, with the smoke of firearms invading the sky. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an adapted antique frame. The scene shows the clash between knights outside the walls of a besieged city, with the smoke of firearms invading the sky. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an adapted antique frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The Madonna is depicted in glory, standing in the heavens and surrounded by little angels. The work, still on the first canvas, was applied on a modern stretcher: this fact, together with the incompleteness of the figure of Mary, suggests that the painting was part of a larger canvas. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Augustus is one of the Eleven Roman Emperors who were portrayed half-length in a series created by Titian in 1536-40 for Frederick II, Duke of Mantua. Passed first to the English royal house and then to the Spanish court, the paintings were all destroyed in a catastrophic fire at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in 1734 and are now known only from copies made by various Flemish engravers between the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. Among these, we have received the engraving of the portrait of Vitellius made by Aegidius Sadeler (1570 -1629), compared to which our copy presents some small differences, as was usual when works by other great artists were copied. The emperor, characterized by a prominent nose, thin lips, plump cheeks and a double chin, holds the staff of command and wears armor with a red cloak over it. The painting has been restored and relined.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the 18th century. Caratacus was a Celtic king of the Catuvellauni tribe of Britons and leader of the anti-Roman resistance and famous as a freedom fighter. For eight years he resisted the Roman invasion of Britain starting in 43 AD. For eight years he was the most wanted man in the Roman Empire, hunted relentlessly, from fight to fight, from fortress to fortress, in the mountains of Wales, until he was not betrayed and handed over to the Romans in 51 AD by Cartimandua, queen of the Yorkshire Brigands, to whom he had turned for help. Defeated, he was brought in chains to Rome with his entire family: brought before the emperor, the British king spoke with such wisdom and pride (with the speech reported by Tacitus in his Annales) that Claudius, struck by his words, granted the grace to him, his wife and brothers, allowing them to spend the rest of their days in Rome. The painting presents the moment of Caratacus' peroration, at the center of the scene in chains, fervently pleading his case before the emperor: he is sitting on his throne, flanked by his wife and surrounded by senators and soldiers. The painting, restored and relined at the end of the 19th century, has slight damage.