Antique Louis Vuitton Wardrobe Trunk Jacquard Canvas 1910 - Paris, c. 1910

Oil on canvas. Emilian School, 18th century. The large canvas depicts the Madonna in glory, seated on clouds in the sky, with Baby Jesus in her arms; angels and winged cherubs flutter around her. The entire scene is characterized by light and movement, and an atmosphere of lightness and serenity; the little cherubs in particular are depicted in joyful and playful poses, contrasting with the serious, yet smiling, attitudes of the two angels and of Mary and Jesus, engaged in an important symbolic gesture. In fact, the angel on the right and the two cherubs below are holding "scapulars"—two rectangular pieces of fabric held together by a string—and are handing them to Mary. These objects are a devotional symbol linked to the Madonna del Carmine (or Madonna of Mount Carmel), one of the oldest and most widespread Marian devotions, linked to the Order of Carmelites founded on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land in the 12th century. A symbol of protection and consecration, wearing the scapular—a gesture performed by various religious orders and lay people alike—is equivalent to a commitment to live one's faith united with Mary, imitating her virtues. The painting thus celebrates Mary's commitment to take under her protection those who trust in her. Originally from a major Bolognese collection, the canvas has been restored and relined in the past.

Italy, Late XVIII Century

Pair of neoclassical Lombard chests of drawers. Made of walnut and fir, they have three drawers on the front, one inserted in the band under the top and two larger ones without visible chain. Completely veneered in bois de violettes, maple fillets and inlays in various woods. In the band under the top there is an inlaid motif with a necklace of beads with cameos held by galls on which flower baskets rest, in the reserves of the front and sides a rosette with inlaid popular figures, on the tops a rosette with a musical panoply, on the uprights ending in truncated pyramidal feet inlaid candelabras with stucco background.

Nativity

Oil on canvas. Second half of the 16th century. The painting comes from the historical family collection of Count Castracane, as documented by the original autographed paper receipt of Francesco Bassano (attached to the work) which states: "Your Illustrious Count Castracane. Recipio de somesso sua somma de quinquaginta ducati per lo dipinto de mano mia de Nativitas Domini Nostri come Ella mhada ordenato. Dev.mo Obb.mo Servo suo Franciscus da Ponte de Bassano. Il die 12 decembre 1589". On the back of the frame there is also an inventory label at the top and the writing "proprietà Castracane" at the bottom. The aforementioned Count Castracane belongs to the noble family of Castracani degli Altelminelli di Fano, of Lucca origin. Francesco Dal Ponte da Bassano, known as Il Giovane, worked for many years in the important workshop of his father Jacopo, known as Bassano il Vecchio, before moving to Venice in 1578 where he opened his own personal atelier, while continuing to collaborate with the Bassano workshop, which was managed in the meantime by his brother Leandro after the death of his father. Towards the end of the 1580s, however, Francesco experienced a crisis that was also reflected in his allegorical production: in a progressive approach to the taste of his brother Leandro, the colour became lighter, losing strength, the forms dilated and simplified, the composition became fragmented. The production of the Bassano family was distinguished above all by sacred subjects, inserted however in rural settings, which lead to their being defined as biblical-pastoral. In this painting too, the Holy Family does not dominate the centrality of the scene, but is one of the two groups of very human figures that occupy the right part of the scene, while on the left stands out the group of shepherds with the animals of the countryside and the simple objects of everyday life. The rural context is also well defined by the surrounding objects, despite the hut of the birth being replaced by an architectural structure with marble columns, but of a colour that blends in with the other surrounding structures. The only spiritual elements are the angel - solitary! - who appears to the shepherds for the announcement, relegated to the top, small and barely hinted at; and the halo that surrounds the head of the Baby Jesus, who is also depicted peacefully asleep, unaware of what is happening around him and what awaits him. Characteristic of the production of his father's Bassano workshop were the richness and chromatic vivacity and the luminous contrasts, which however were toned down in Francesco, translating into more tenuous chromatic choices and simplified forms, losing part of their strength. This can also be seen in this work, which dates back to the last years of the artist's life, especially in the characters' clothes; note in particular how Mary's dress is no longer red as per tradition, a colour strongly symbolic of human pain, but is the same pink shade as the central shepherd's tunic, almost as if to underline the Madonna's belonging to humble and simple humanity. Moreover, Francesco Bassano in his last period, due to his health compromised by serious hypochondria (he committed suicide in 1592), received commissions for works that were only partially executed by him, but delegated at least partially to his assistants. This indicates that the work was commissioned to him and came from his workshop, as his autographed declaration states, but probably not made directly by the master, but rather by one of his collaborators. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in an antique wooden frame from the late 18th - early 19th century.

Rome, Late XVIII Century

Walnut trumeau completely veneered in bois de violette, fillets and phytomorphic inlays in maple, on the entire surface. Base with three drawers with a wavy front, pierced and carved pilasters with a curling movement, two placed on the front uprights at 45 degrees and another four halfway up the sides where the piece of furniture widens through a constructive leavening. Drop-leaf door, concealing a cabinet with a pair of lateral drawers surmounted and a central open compartment, secret in the sliding top. Upper part with a pair of mercury mirror doors and two lamp-holder drawers underneath, internal castle composed of three drawers and open compartments, cymatium with a carved scroll molding. The carved parts of the piece of furniture, frames and curls are ebonized, the feet end in a shelf at the front. Interior of the drawers in poplar. Antique escutcheons in chiseled and gilded bronze. Restoration. Rome, second quarter of the 18th century.

Snowy Landscape with Figures 1872

Oil on canvas. Signed, dated 1872 and located in Parma in the lower right corner. It is a large winter landscape with a strong scenic impact, which fits well into the scenographic traditionalism of the painting of Mentore Silvani, a native artist of Traversetolo (Parma), a landscape painter but also known as a set designer. In the scene, sprinkled with the white of a short snowfall that creates that typical rarefied and silent winter atmosphere, between bare and dry trees, a dirt road winds its way through by a traveler; on the right a dilapidated building with a wash house where a woman draws water; in the center a small column on which a sacred image is mounted. Trained in his hometown, Silvani participated in the exhibitions of the Encouragement of Parma starting from 1864, and it is mainly in his city that his works are found today (at the Municipality of Parma, the National Gallery, the Paolo Toschi artistic high school ); however, he also exhibited in Milan (1872) and Florence (1875). Trained as a scenographer at the school of Gerolamo Magnani, Silvani held this position in Parma but also in Venice starting from 1871. His pictorial production, which includes mainly rural landscapes of the Parma countryside, is always characterized by fidelity to reality. The work proposed here is presented in a contemporary frame.