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Martyrdom of the Franciscans in Nagasaki

Oil painting on canvas. The work is a faithful copy of the homonymous masterpiece by Tanzio da Varallo (1580-82 /1633), created by the painter from Valsesia for the Franciscan convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Varallo, and currently preserved at the Pinacoteca di Brera. The painting depicts the martyrdom which occurred in 1597 in Nagasaki of twenty-three Franciscan friars, who were subsequently beatified in 1627, a date which allows us to place the work in the last years of the artist's activity. Tanzio da Varallo was probably inspired for its creation by the text "Life and exploits of the Martyrs of Japan" by the Spanish Franciscan Marcello di Ribadeneira; of the Brera painting we know a partial preparatory drawing (preserved in the Pinacoteca di Varallo), a sanguine drawing published by Testori (1964) and a canvas (from a private collection in Borgosesia) published by Ferro. The replica proposed here is faithful to the original, even in size, only a few centimeters lower in height, probably lost during the re-lining of the work. Although it is a copy of notable quality, where in particular the richness of highlights stands out which stand out on the warmer and darker tones of the flesh tones, compared to the original one notices a lower fineness of execution, a tendency towards simplification and a pathetic accentuation, which they testify to the hand of a copyist concerned with reproducing the model in every detail, without granting himself any license. Furthermore, this copyist seems to have been very familiar with Tanzio's style, to the point of even perfectly imitating his hooked hands. One can therefore think of a pupil of Tanzio or of his workshop (which was continued by his brother Melchiorre upon Tanzio's death), or of an artist who saw and appreciated his works, such as for example Pietro Francesco Gianoli, who worked above all in churches in Valsesia and in the Novara area and of which other replicas of works by Tanzio da Varallo are known, such as David with the head of Goliath. Furthermore, since the work presented here, before being acquired by a private collector, remained located for centuries in a Franciscan convent in Lombardy, it is plausible that it is a copy of that of Tanzio commissioned by the Order itself, for another monastery, by a painter who was stylistically close to Tanzio and could look to the original. The painting has been relined and restored. It is presented in a late 19th-early 20th century setting.

The Wayfarers 1910

Oil on cardboard. At the bottom left is the autographed inscription "Bozzetto per una copia", with the signature and the date Christmas 1910; the title at the bottom right. It is a sketch for a replica with variations of the homonymous painting made by Carena in 1907, large monumental (159 x 300 cm), exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1909 and now kept in the Civic Museums, Modern Art Gallery of Udine, Some moving figures appear in the work, precisely of wayfarers, representing the different categories of humanity, men and women, adults and children, old and young, but all traveling in the same direction. Compared to the original, in this sketch with still undefined facial features, the figures are placed in slightly different positions, with the young man wrapped in a red cloak in the center, and the lower part as well as the background are missing. The colors are almost harsh, lively, spread with rapid brushstrokes and with undefined contours. The painting belongs to Carena's still symbolist pictorial phase, inspired by the French symbolism of Eugène Carrière, a period which ended with his participation in the 1912 Biennale. The work is presented in a coeval frame.

Landscape with Architecture and Figures

Oil on canvas. The large landscape is dominated by an imposing architectural structure with columns overlooking the sea, which occupies the entire central part of the canvas, while a fortress is outlined on the right. The scene is then animated by numerous figures of commoners intent on daily activities: in the foreground on the left, on the quay, a group of men awaits the load of numerous crates and trunks. The monogram D.G. This abbreviation, together with the baroque stylistic modality, refers to the attribution to Domenico Gargiulo, stage name of the Neapolitan painter Micco Spadaro (1609/1612 - 1675). Active mainly in Naples, especially in the two decades between the mid-seventeenth century, the Gargiulo established itself mainly as a landscape painter and above all for having documented the tumultuous events of Naples in the seventeenth century (eruptions, epidemics, the revolt of Masaniello). The progressive specialization in the representation of landscapes or city scenes, crowded with figurines presented with minute descriptions and with attention to popular social reality, meant that his commission was mainly of a private nature, receiving commissions from numerous Neapolitan notables, regents, knights and finding his works in all the most important Neapolitan collections of the time. Among its major clients there was also the great Flemish collector Gaspare Roomer, to whom the Gargiulo owed its fortune. Gargiulo often inserted his abbreviations in his works, but rarely dated them; it was possible to establish the dating of his production only thanks to the realization of a series of works for the monks of the Certosa di S. Martino, which took place between 1638 and 1646, among the few religious works he made but the only ones in be documented with some accuracy. The large canvas proposed here is presented in a stylish frame.