Umbertina Mirror - Italy Late 19th Century

Oil on plywood. Northern European school, late 19th-early 20th century. In a lush mountain landscape, with slopes of green meadows climbing up through leafy woods, a stately home can be glimpsed on the right, while herds graze in the valley below. The painting is presented in a contemporary frame (with slight damage to the upper left corner).

Oil on canvas. The composition, set outdoors, with a mountainous landscape in the background, features two white painted ceramic amphora vases with blue leafy decorations, containing bunches of multi-colored flowers, and with mostly autumnal fruit (figs, pears) resting on the ground. The painting is presented in a mid-20th century gold frame.

Confidences

Watercolor on paper. Artist's monogram top left. Tranquillo Cremona, after an initial period close to romantic painting, from 1870 onwards distanced himself from the influences of Francesco Hayez and adopted a painting style with indefinite contours, developing the concept of "macchia scapigliata" together with his friend Daniele Ranzoni: after an initial intervention with brushes, he refined the works with his fingers to blend, using all his fingers to make his paintings as vaporous as possible. This technique (which cost him his life due to lead poisoning caused by repeated contact with the skin of the colors) was compared by Camillo Boito to the views of the magic lantern, when the right focus of the lens had not yet been found: the image is already distinguishable, but is immersed in an almost gaseous vapor. The subjects of Tranquillo Cremona's works were always human figures, present in the historical-literary scenes of the romantic period, as in the portraits and genre scenes of the scapigliata phase; his subjects were taken from everyday life, in its simplicity and spontaneous immediacy, like these three female figures depicted in a moment of confidential and intimate conversation between friends. The work is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Female Figure

Watercolor on paper. Artist's monogram top left. Tranquillo Cremona, after an initial period close to romantic painting, from 1870 onwards distanced himself from the influences of Francesco Hayez and adopted a painting style with indefinite contours, developing the concept of "macchia scapigliata" together with his friend Daniele Ranzoni: after an initial intervention with brushes, he refined the works with his fingers to blend, using all his fingers to make his paintings as vaporous as possible. This technique (which cost him his life due to lead poisoning caused by repeated contact with the skin of the colors) was compared by Camillo Boito to the views of the magic lantern, when the right focus of the lens had not yet been found: the image is already distinguishable, but is immersed in an almost gaseous vapor. The subjects of Tranquillo Cremona's works were always human figures, present in the historical-literary scenes of the romantic period, as in the portraits and genre scenes of the scapigliata phase; his subjects were taken from everyday life, in its simplicity and spontaneous immediacy, like this female figure intent on her toilette. The work is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Oil on canvas. Lively naturalistic composition of multicolored flowers in blue ceramic vases, which recall the sky color of the upper part of the background, which then fades into an earthy color in the lower part; on the left a parrot stands out for its unusual dark color. The painting has slight color losses, especially in the background. It is presented in a contemporary regilded frame.

Oil on canvas. Flemish school of the 19th century. The hilly landscape features on the left in the foreground a tall tree towering over the fields below, with a hunter intent on aiming at a prey hidden among its branches; not far away are some farmhouses, with the typical Nordic sloping roof, in front of which other figures can be glimpsed; in the background in the distance the blurred profile of a city emerges. On the frame is applied a plaque attributing to Anthony Van Borssom (1629 -1677), a Flemish landscape painter, to whose production the painting refers in some ways. The pictorial panel has been parqueted. The painting is presented in a gilded frame from the mid-1900s.

Italy, Late XIX - Early XX Century

Pair of late 19th century boiserie panels, in carved poplar wood with neoclassical motif frames and female heads in the centre, lacquered in yellow and beige with gilded frames.

The Return from the Feast of the Madonna dell'Arco in Naples

Oil on canvas. This is a copy of a famous painting by the painter Louis Léopold Robert (1794 -1835), which was exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1827 and bought by King Louis Philippe; it is currently preserved in the Louvre Museum. The painting depicts a joyful festive scene, rich in folklore with costumed characters dancing the tarantella and in the background the fantastic panorama of the city of Naples. Robert, a Swiss artist, stayed several times in Italy, where he found inspiration for the creation of many works and established himself as a romantic genre painter and Grand Tour landscape painter, whose subjects were highly appreciated and replicated. The painting of the "Return from the feast of the Madonna dell'Arco in Naples", was part of a project by Robert, who intended to paint four large canvases on the seasons, set in four different parts of Italy: this one represented Spring. The canvas presented here, unsigned, is nevertheless of high pictorial quality. Restored and relined, it is presented in a late 19th - early 20th century frame.

Oil on canvas. French school, 19th century. Monogram JP at the bottom left. In orientalist style, the painting portrays a young woman in oriental clothes, adorned with jewels, who is holding a parakeet in her hand. In Christian symbolism, this bird has a meaning of purity and innocence, while in more secular iconography it indicates elegance, communicative ability or, more generally, refers to exoticism. The painting is presented in a contemporary frame.

Oil on canvas. Unidentified signature lower right. This is a copy of the work, also a full-length one, by Domenico Morelli, called "Mater Purissima", created around 1880 and subject to numerous replicas and variations in the following decades. The work is presented in an early 20th-century frame.

Oil on canvas. Tasty depiction of popular life with caricature-like figures: three full-length commoners are depicted on the street while they converse intensely with each other, exchanging confidences or... gossip! Unsigned, the painting requires restoration due to a tear at the bottom.

Oil on metal plaques. The miniatures present two portraits of Augusta of Bavaria (1788 -1851), Duchess of Leuchtenberg and Vice-Queen of Italy as consort of Viceroy Eugene de Beauharnais, stepson of Napoleon Bonaparte; although Milan was the capital of the kingdom, the couple loved to reside in the Royal Villa of Monza, where there are several spaces dedicated to the queen. The portraits are presented in ebonized wooden frames with gilded metal profiles.