ANCIENT PAINTING - Page 5

Oil on canvas. Italian school of the 17th-18th century. Mary and the Baby Jesus, standing on her knees, are depicted already in the glory of heaven, with little angels at their side. Peculiar are the coral necklace and bracelets worn by the Child: in Christian symbolism the color of this material represents the blood that Jesus will have to shed; moreover, since ancient times, coral was also considered a talisman of protection against the evil eye and the forces of evil, and small children were adorned with it to protect them from the devil. The painting is on the first canvas and presented in an ancient contemporary frame.

Oil on canvas. Genoese school of the 18th century. The countryside landscape sees a crumbling structure rising in the center, the ruins of a building through whose torn walls you can see the masses of white clouds in the background flowing; in front of it flows a stream, in which a woman is washing clothes, while her companion sits on a nearby rock, in line with the female figure and almost symmetrical with the female figure. The scene is characterized by a particular search for light, by a dynamism of forms (you can notice the directional continuity of the treetops with the roof of the ruin and the clouds) and by the theatricality of the figures, all elements that have defined the pictorial production of the Genoese Baroque. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Venetian school of the eighteenth century. The portrait proposes the figure of a young woman wearing an everyday dress, but embellished with spotted fur edges; curiously, with the raised arm she flaunts a fur muff tucked over one hand, probably a habit to underline a fashion of the time. The painting shows signs of restoration, with conservation of the original canvas, although reassembled on a new frame. It is presented in a coeval oval frame, but surmounted by a wooden frieze added at a later time.

Oil painting on canvas. Central Italian school of the 17th century. According to the iconographic tradition, also in this painting the guardian angel is depicted as a winged young man who accompanies a child along a stretch of road, indicating the sky as the destination of the journey. The winged figure stands out and dominates the scene, lively in its colours, powerful in the physical strength it emanates, albeit sweet in its delicately protective attitude towards the child, whose small figure is enveloped in the limbs of its guardian. The scene is enclosed within a garland of bright and colorful flowers, which give color to the figures, otherwise placed in a dark and almost monochrome landscape. The depiction of characters, mainly religious, enclosed in floral frames had great development especially in Rome, linked to names such as Giovanni Stanchi (1608 -1675), rather than Mario Nuzzi known as Mario de' Fiori (1603 -1673), and others. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a strip frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The large painting recalls the pictorial methods of the 17th century but is from a later period, and was created on a canvas applied to an older one. The scene tells the biblical episode (taken from the Book of Kings) widely narrated pictorially, depicting the bath of Bathsheba, the wife of General Uriah, in the service of King David. According to the biblical story, David is on the terrace of his palace when he notices the woman bathing in the garden of her home, surrounded by her handmaids. Davide falls in love with her and seduces her, making her pregnant. To hide the crime, he recalls General Uriah from the front, to make him lie down with his wife, but Uriah does not want to leave his soldiers; then David sends him to fight on the front line hoping that he will be killed: this happens and David can marry Bathsheba, but he will be punished by God for the adultery and impiety committed. The painting shows the moment in which Bathsheba, having just come out of the bathroom, while she is reflected in the mirror held by a slave girl, and surrounded by other servants, reads the note that King David sent her; the latter appears at the top right, overlooking the terrace. The scene is dominated by female figures intertwined with each other, in a tangle of clothes and fabrics, and surrounded by flowers from the garden; in the center stands the mirror in a rich golden frame. The painting has a patch at the bottom right. It is presented in an antique gilded frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Central Italian school of the 17th century. In its pictorial style, the painting recalls the production of Angelo Caroselli (1585-1652), a Roman Baroque artist who was a painter, copyist, restorer, but also a pasticheur and connoisseur of art, i.e. creator of paintings "in the manner of"- in “technique” and in the “style” of a specific artistic period or of a specific author, even assembling “parts” taken from different paintings. Initially Caravaggesque, Il Caroselli later developed his own personal artistic language, which was copied by many minor artists. In this work the fixed and almost exasperated expressiveness of the character stands out, whose elegance of the seventeenth-century dress and the almost feminine features of the face with its rosy complexion contrast with the crudeness of Goliath's head, bloody, with the large stab wound that stands out against the mortal pallor. The painting has been restored and relined, retaining the original wooden frame. It is presented in a contemporary wooden frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the 17th-18th centuries. A large composition of colorful flowers, in embossed metal vases, and some fruits scattered on the ground, are placed close to a wall overlooking a maritime landscape: the brightness of the sky and sea on the right contrasts with the shaded area on the left, on which the colors of the flowers stand out. The painting, relined and restored, has a significant crack. It is presented in a contemporary lacquered and gilded frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The scene takes place near a military camp: outside a tent on the left an army leader, probably Greek, is receiving offerings from a group of men, poor and ragged, who prostrate themselves before the new master; the first is holding out some loaves of bread, another is taking something out of a sack, the third is showing the wounds on his body to ask for mercy; behind them other figures of beggars are approaching, forming a scattered line on the path fading into the distance on the right. In the background on the left, life in the military camp is bustling. The painting has been restored and relined.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th century. The large painting presents as its subject a well-known Old Testament theme, the wealth of King Solomon, told in the First Book of Kings: "King Solomon surpassed, therefore, in wealth and wisdom, all the kings of the earth. In every part of the earth to approach Solomon to listen to the wisdom that God had placed in his heart. Everyone brought him, every year, offerings of silver and gold objects, clothes, weapons, spices, horses and mules". In the painting the king, richly dressed with the symbols of royalty (the crown, the scepter, the ermine cloak), listens standing to the postulants who come to him to receive the advice dictated by his proverbial wisdom, and in exchange they bring him offerings, which are commensurate with their social role: some farmers bring gifts of bags of grain, the fruits of their work in the fields, another raises a cup high, to attract the king's attention. The colors and pictorial style of the painting refer to the production of northern Italy, especially Venetian. The painting has been restored and relined.

Oil painting on canvas. A delicate composition of flowers is placed inside a sort of wooden cradle, with mushrooms and fruit on the ground; the background is external, but poorly defined by various stains. The work, on the first canvas, is also presented in a beautiful frame from the early 18th century, in lime wood carved with a leafy wreath held together by ribbons, and gilded with gouache.

Oil painting on canvas. The painting offers a half-length portrait of a young man who, in deshabillé, is lighting his pipe by drawing fire with a stick from the candle placed in front of him, on the table where a sword is also placed: perhaps it is a young knight in a moment of rest. It is precisely the candle, the only source of light in the scene, which suggests that the artist looked to the production of Georges De La Tour (1593 -1652), the French painter of the Caravaggio style who established himself for his "nocturnal" scenes, characterized by figures, usually low-ranking people rather than historical models or high-ranking figures, illuminated by the light of a candle, to create a special atmosphere of intimacy. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the 18th century. Caratacus was a Celtic king of the Catuvellauni tribe of Britons and leader of the anti-Roman resistance and famous as a freedom fighter. For eight years he resisted the Roman invasion of Britain starting in 43 AD. For eight years he was the most wanted man in the Roman Empire, hunted relentlessly, from fight to fight, from fortress to fortress, in the mountains of Wales, until he was not betrayed and handed over to the Romans in 51 AD by Cartimandua, queen of the Yorkshire Brigands, to whom he had turned for help. Defeated, he was brought in chains to Rome with his entire family: brought before the emperor, the British king spoke with such wisdom and pride (with the speech reported by Tacitus in his Annales) that Claudius, struck by his words, granted the grace to him, his wife and brothers, allowing them to spend the rest of their days in Rome. The painting presents the moment of Caratacus' peroration, at the center of the scene in chains, fervently pleading his case before the emperor: he is sitting on his throne, flanked by his wife and surrounded by senators and soldiers. The painting, restored and relined at the end of the 19th century, has slight damage.

Oil painting on canvas. Central Italian school of the 17th century. The unusual and particular representation presents on the left the three figures of the Holy Family, with Jesus already a child, sitting at the table and blessing the simple meal they are about to consume (consisting of fruit and bread); the scene, a subject depicted rather rarely and generally with a more sacred character due to the presence of angels serving food to the family, here instead has the flavor of very normal and simple domestic intimacy. Instead, everything around the Holy Family stands out majestically, the glimpse of a Renaissance city, with tall buildings with loggias and colonnades, presented according to a beautiful perspective effect which leads, at the bottom on the right, to the entrance walls of a richly turreted city, probably Jerusalem. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the 17th century. The large composition presents a variety of foods on a kitchen table: on the left a large wicker basket full of vegetables, surmounted by a group of hanging fish; other vegetables are placed on the table top, next to a plate of cherries, one with a loaf of bread, and further back another with prawns; on the right stands a vase full of colorful flowers and, sitting on the shelf of a cupboard, a black cat calmly licking its paw. The sharpness of the colors stands out, enhanced by the reflections of light on some foods, such as cherries or prawns, and on the copper jug ​​in front of the flowers. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a strip frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The scene tells the biblical episode of the book of Exodus in which little Moses, whom his mother had entrusted to the river inside a basket to save him from the massacre of the Israeli male children (ordered by the Pharaoh of Egypt to prevent the Israeli population became too numerous and could rebel against slavery), he was found by a handmaid of Pharaoh's daughter, who decided to adopt him and saved him. The scene, set along the river, is entirely occupied by the female figures of the princely retinue, crowded together and projected towards the bottom right corner where the basket with the newborn is placed. All eyes are also turned towards the child, in the direction indicated by the outstretched arm of the woman in the foreground on the right. The roundness of the female forms stands out, especially of the three figures in the foreground, where plays of light and shadow highlight the complexions that emerge from the clothes. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Emilian school of the 17th-18th century. This is an ancient copy of the famous panel painting by Correggio, entitled The Madonna of San Girolamo or Il Giorno, dating back to around 1528 and preserved today in the National Gallery of Parma. The subject of the representation is Saint Jerome's presentation to Jesus of the translation of the Bible from Hebrew into popular Latin, a work carried out by the saint at the request of Pope Damasus and which he accomplished by locking himself up in solitude in the Bethlehem cave. In the painting, the centrality of the scene is occupied by Mary sitting with the Baby Jesus in her arms. Various figures are composed around them in a semicircle. On the left is the powerful figure of old Jerome standing, looking at the Child, while clutching the translation scroll in his hand, with the lion, his hermit companion, crouched at his feet. On the same side, an angel holds the Bible while smilingly addressing the Madonna and Child. On the other side, Magdalene lies semi-reclining, affectionately embracing the baby's foot, who in turn caresses her hair, in an intimate gesture that underlines the intense bond between the two figures. Behind Magdalene, a little angel wrinkles his nose sniffing the penitent saint's jar of ointments. The scene is placed under a red curtain, open onto a large landscape. Correggio's painting was widely successful, so much so that numerous copies and ancient replicas exist, including this one presented here. The work, restored and relined, is presented in an ancient contemporary frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The scene tells the biblical episode of the book of Exodus in which little Moses, whom his mother had entrusted to the river inside a basket to save him from the massacre of the Israeli male children (ordered by the Pharaoh of Egypt to prevent if the Israeli people became too numerous and could rebel against slavery), he is found by a handmaiden of Pharaoh's daughter, who decides to adopt him and saves him. The scene is set on the banks of a river but in a non-oriental landscape, with architectural structures on the right: numerous figures, depicting the princess' entourage, placed in the center together with the child in the basket. The restored canvas was applied on a modern stretcher. It is presented in chronicle of the 19th century.

Oil on canvas. Mittel-European School. There is a No.S monogram on the back and numbers probably from an inventory. The painting reminds of pieces from the Austrian area. It represents a battle between knights, it is dominated in the foreground by the confrontation between two of them. The painting comes from a historical collection from Lombardy. The painting is still in its first canvas and original framing; there are patches on the back and signs of antique restorations, it has also undergone an additional pictorial and reperativr restoration, in our lab. Well marked crack. The painting is presented in an original and coeval frame, lacquered.

Figures with Autumnal Still Life

Oil painting on canvas. The H.Sanders signature is present on the barrel at the bottom left. The scene, set outdoors in a street of a Flemish city, with the canal in the background on the left, sees in the foreground a vegetable seller behind her stall, which is set up with a varied composition of winter vegetables, a composed still life from cauliflowers, cabbage, carrots, corn on the cob; next to the woman, a passer-by carrying a harpoon on his shoulder is offering her some fish, evidently the fruit of his catch that he wants to sell. The setting brings to mind Amsterdam, the city where the Dutch painter Hercules (or Herkules) Sanders was born and lived, who established himself mainly as a portraitist, but of whom an interior genre scene is known, currently at the Detroit Institute of Arts, dated 1647 and entitled "Woman cleaning fish", whose female figure closely resembles the seller of the work presented here. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.