Contemporary Artwork Signed Dario Zaffaroni Italy 2019 - Fluorescent Polychrome Dynamics, 2019

The Medical Herb Seller

Oil on canvas. West Africa. The naive-style painting depicts a woman selling medicinal herbs, holding a sign indicating the ailments she cures. These types of paintings, often used as advertisements for market stalls, reference traditional African values of motherhood, fertility, and prosperity, but transposed into a contemporary cultural context.

Big New Year's Eve Party 1960

Mixed media on paper. Signed and dated lower right. A humorous and ironic presentation of the menu for the 1960 New Year's Eve party, by the renowned Russian set designer, painter, and illustrator Nicola Benois, who was the chief set designer at Milan's Teatro Alla Scala from 1935. The work includes a photo of a thank-you note that accompanied the piece, addressed to the friend with whom the artist shared the party. Framed work.

Oil on canvas. This large composition, inspired by ancient models, features game resting on the branches of a tree along a path, along with various fruit, especially large bunches of grapes. In the landscape behind it, on the left, stand the architectural ruins of a classical-style temple. The work is presented in a frame.

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right "J. Dupont da Velzquez". This is a copy of Diego Velazquez's famous masterpiece, painted around 1657 and housed at the Prado Museum. Until the mid-20th century, the painting was titled "The Tapestry Factory of Santa Isabel in Madrid": only in 1948 did studies by art historian and critic Diego Angulo Íñiguez identify a connection between the painting and the ancient Greek myth of Arachne. In the foreground, several spinners work in a bare, dimly lit room, with a soft light reflected from the background. Five women are depicted: on the left, in the dim light, the eldest spinner operates the reel; in front of her, on the right, in full light, a young girl is collecting thread on the reel; They are respectively the representations of Athena, still hidden under false guise, and the human Arachne, during their contest. The other three women are merely surrounding elements; the central one is merely a static silhouette. In the background, central and illuminated by a powerful beam of light emerging from the left, and enlivened by the bright colors of the tapestry and the robes, is the scene of the goddess's revelation to the woman. Compared to the original, this copy, while faithful in the figures and details depicted, is painted with more nuanced brushstrokes and less defined outlines, as well as less vibrant colors. The work is presented in a frame.

City View

Oil on wood. Signed lower center and on the back. Aldo Bressanutti, a Friulian painter and engraver over a century old, has created numerous views of Friulian and Istrian cities, rendered with an initially hyperrealist style that then evolved, starting in the 1970s, into a surrealist approach. This aerial view of a small town likely dates to the 1960s. Despite its faithfulness to real-world geometry, the color palette and illustration-like style stand out. The work is presented in a frame.

Portrait of Dorina

Oil on canvas mounted on a wooden panel. The artist's monogram appears on the left margin. A small label, likely a participation in an exhibition, bearing the title "Dorina" is attached to the back. Casimiro Ottone, a painter and decorator from Vigevano, created numerous figure studies, as well as still lifes and floral compositions. His attention to the figure is particularly evident in the dense sequence of intense female faces, which recall late Scapigliatura stylistic criteria. The work is presented in a mid-20th-century frame.

Copy from Paul Delaroche

Oil on canvas. This is a copy of the famous work by Paul Delaroche (1797-1856), which presents the story of baby Moses not as usually depicted, rescued from the waters, that is, at the moment of his discovery by the Pharaoh's daughter, but in the dramatic moment of the child's entrustment/abandonment to save him from the Pharaoh's decree, with his sister Miriam, who had been entrusted with the task, watching the basket hidden among the reeds on the shore. Delaroche's work, dated around 1853, is actually lost, but is known through engravings and preparatory studies. Some paint loss from a vertical scratch at the top. The painting is presented in a period gilded frame.

Female Portrait

Watercolor on paper. Signed lower left. Vincenzo Migliaro always found Naples, with its vibrant popular life, his main source of inspiration. He depicted various figures from Neapolitan everyday life, both in specific settings and as half-length portraits, as in this case. The work has some moisture stains on the paper. Framed in period style.

Female Portrait

Watercolor on paper. Signed lower left. Vincenzo Migliaro always found Naples, with its vibrant popular life, his main source of inspiration. He depicted various figures from Neapolitan everyday life, both in specific settings and as half-length portraits, as in this case. The work has some moisture stains on the paper. Framed in period style.

The Involuntary Confession

Oil on canvas. This is a copy of a painting by Benjamin Vautier from 1881, sold at a Sotheby's auction in 1998. The Swiss artist specialized in popular genre scenes: in this painting, two young women walking along the path leading out of the little church behind them exchange secrets, unaware of the priest sitting reading his breviary on the bench behind the tree! The work is presented in a period frame.

Woodland Landscape

Oil on canvas. Signed lower left. The Veronese painter Ise Lebrecht devoted himself primarily to landscapes, and in particular painted many views of his city, Verona, inspired by Southern realism, especially that of Antonio Mancini. Presented here is a glimpse of a forest on the slopes of a mountain, with a bridge crossing a stream. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Inlay made with various woods. The inlay depicts the figure of a cellist in eighteenth-century dress. Francesco Ferrario was an accomplished cabinetmaker, influenced by the Neoclassical and Art Nouveau movements. Having trained in drawing at the Brera Academy, after collaborating with the finest artists of the time, he opened a workshop in Milan, first on Via Tenca, and then in 1927 on Corso Sempione. A label on the back of the work places it among the workshops of this latter location. The work is presented in a period frame. A version of this work appears in Bianca Tosatti's monograph, "I Ferrario maestri di tarsia," published in 2000.