Walnut Drop-Leaf Cabinet - Mantua, Early 18th Century

Italy, XVIII Century

Wall cabinet in Botticino marble, front part in chestnut wood.

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.

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.

Italy, Early XVIII Century

Carved and gilded wooden frame with baroque decoration. Non-coeval mirror from the late 19th century, shaped and finely beveled.

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.

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.

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, with rocky peaks visible on the left, in which architectural ruins are inserted, with figures of wayfarers passing nearby. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Central European school of the eighteenth century. Under a blue sky, a large, rather barren landscape is depicted, with the edge of a wood opening onto a rocky valley, with a river flowing between the rocks and snow-capped peaks in the background; in the foreground, scattered, some figures of shepherds with their flocks. On the stretcher at the back of the work, a cartouche refers to Poussin, the artist representing seventeenth-century classicism whose pictorial methods inspired the author of the painting. The painting, relined, is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the eighteenth century. Within a rather barren landscape, with architectural ruins on the left and snow-capped peaks in the background on the right, some shepherds pass along the path, leading their flocks of cows, sheep and goats. In the Nordic landscape setting, the pinkish hue of the sky and the pastoral character of the scene give that idealistic atmosphere typical of eighteenth-century landscape painting, in which the satisfaction of feeling prevailed rather than the intention of realistic transposition. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The landscape of a countryside rich in vegetation and in the background a mountain range of sharp peaks opens up, is animated by the presence of three washerwomen, who are going to the river with wheelbarrows full of clothes, while a traveler crosses the small bridge that crosses the small stream. The work is executed in the style of Antonio Peruzzini (1650 - 1724), probably by one of his students or followers. Peruzzini was a key figure in landscape painting of the 17th-18th century, in which he started from a 17th-century expression to then arrive at an interpretation of the movement and color typical of the Rococo, using lighter and brighter tones and inserting a sort of vitality in his paintings. The use of color is particular, especially in the hatching of the human figures, which are outlined by thick brushstrokes of material, which make them emerge in the foreground from the landscape. The painting has already been restored and relined in the past, and is currently in good condition. It is presented in a style frame.

Oil on canvas. Central European school of the 18th century. At the center of the scene, set in a landscape rich in vegetation, is a shepherd with his flock of sheep, captured in a moment of rest; behind them is the farmhouse with the stable. On the back there is a collection label and the word "Tedesco" (German) is hand-written on the frame, probably to indicate the provenance. The painting is on the first canvas, with the original frame and contemporary frame, regilded.