Vintage Dressing Table Painted Mahogany Mirror Italy XX Century

Guillaume Apollinaire, Tavy Notton
Aux dépens de l'Artiste

Oil on canvas. The scene depicts an episode from the 17th-century novel "Les Aventures de Télémaque" (The Adventures of Telemachus) by François Fénelon, published in 1699. In Fénelon's tale, Telemachus (son of Ulysses), while searching for his father accompanied by Mentor (who disguises himself as the goddess Athena), is shipwrecked on the island of Calypso and falls in love with a nymph. To prevent Telemachus from leaving the island and abandoning the girl, the goddess Calypso, who has taken them in, orders her nymphs to burn the ship on which Telemachus and Mentor had arrived. In the painting presented, in the left foreground, Mentor urges the young Telemachus to turn away, while he is still gazing at the girl standing on the path to the right; meanwhile, the other nymphs set fire to the boat, stranded on the shore, with their torches. The canvas, previously relined, has several paint losses. It is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The virgin holds her Child, who is lying on a pillow and he's asleep. Mary looks at the viewer, almost as if showing off her Son, with a serious expression, aware of his destiny, of which the child, however, seems completely unaware, still simply a child, not the Son of God. The physiognomic features of the two figures are also distinctive, particularly Mary's rounded, plump face, snub nose, round eyes, and not slender build, which are far removed from more traditional depictions of the Madonna. At the top left are some letters of an inscription that appear to have been cut off. The painting has been restored and relined in the past. It is presented in a period frame.