ART SELECTION

Drunk Baccus

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. The god is depicted standing on the scene, clad only in a cloth around his loins and by ivy leaves placed on his hips and head, while holding a chalice in one hand; his gaze is vacant and dazed. Behind him, a semi-reclining putto plays with ivy. All around are white clouds, just as the ground is white, with flashes of blue sky and a green bush creating the only contrasts. On the back of the work is the label 'Mario Galli Collezione d'Arte', with cataloguing number 64 and the artist's autograph inscription. The work well represents the painting of this artist, who was born in Modena but trained artistically first in Rome and then in Florence, where he spent most of his life. His rich production initially proposed mainly historical subjects, but then turned to portraits and finally to landscapes. His uniqueness can be recognised in his ability to range from historical subjects, often placed in settings taken from ancient Pompeii, to the Macchiaioli-style naturalism of his second period, in which Muzzioli sought a significant perception of atmosphere and light in subjects inspired by the rural Tuscan environment, often set in antiquity. In this work, a portrait of a mythological character, the artist's luministic intent strongly transpires, the search for the effect of light playing on the naked bodies of the god and the putto, then fading into the background. The Art Gallery label leads back to the Florentine Mario Galli (1877 -1946), a sculptor who was also an important collector of works especially by Macchiaioli. The work shows an important crack and has been retouched. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil on canvas. In the large scene set outside, the laboratory of a blacksmith stands out on the left side, who is intent to work on horseshoes with his helpers while the owner of the horse attends; in the centre, other knights arrive with their servants who are headed to the craftsman; on the right some popular figures are resting on the roadside. In the background, a large river landscape opens up on the right, while on the left there is the access to the village, dominated by a dilapidated building, with various popular figures intent on their activities: the woman who is about to breastfeed a child, while the other son runs away up the staircase, another woman hanging the clothes on the balcony of the house built on stilts on the rock, while a man climbs the ladder. It probably is a piece by a Flemish author working in Lombardy. Some references to clothing and construction certainly indicate the Northern European contamination, while other details indicate it was realized in a Lombard location. The painting comes from a prestigious historical residence of a Lombard noble family Still on the first canvas, it has some cuts and a hole in the lower band; some patches on the back from an old restoration. It is presented in a thin coeval frame.

Oil on canvas. The large scene is set at the entrance of a village near a stop for horses: numerous horsemen are standing with their animals, which are looked after by the servants and the peasants who fill the manger with hay; one of the servants, on the right, lets the animals drink in the nearby stream. In the background, the houses of the village arranged along the river, which then flows into the hilly landscape on the right. It probably is a piece by a Flemish author working in Lombardy. Some references to clothing and construction certainly indicate the Northern European contamination, while other details indicate it was realized in a Lombard location. The painting comes from a prestigious historical residence of a Lombard noble family Still on the first canvas, it has some cuts in the lower band. It is presented in a thin coeval frame.

Sculpture project

Pencil on watermarked paper. Signed lower left. The drawing is accompanied by an authentication on photo from the Fausto Melotti Archive, with code DIS 36 015, showing the data of the work. Fausto Melotti was a multifaceted and very prolific artist and it is almost impossible to link his production to a particular technique or theme, without providing only a partial view of his artistic vision. The salient features that are constant in Melotti are geometry, the study of abstraction, which leads him to use realistic but not scientifically accurate elements, and arranging the elements so that they recall a musical rhythm, a detail that refers to his training as a musician Sculptor, painter, musician, poet, he made numerous design drawings for his works. Drawing represented for him a fundamental exercise, to transfuse the original graphic trait from sheets of paper into sculptures and ceramics. The sculptures for which he is best known are made up of geometric elements made with metals (brass, iron and gold) worked into thin filaments, giving life to ethereal, weightless and almost fragile compositions. The work is presented in a frame.

Central Italy XVII Century

Baroque sculpture in walnut, central Italy 17th century. The male figure, created to be seen in an elevated position with respect to the observer and originally part of a larger sculptural group, is characterized by wavy hair and beard, right arm brought to the chin while the left in an enveloping position, in the act of to support an object or to cling to some element of support; dressed in a rich drapery that leaves the upper part of the bust and the legs uncovered, one bent and the other stretched out. The volume and plasticity of the body, combined with the sense of movement transmitted by the twist, look to the sculptural production of the Roman Baroque.

3 Faces 8 Leaves

Gouaches on paper. On the back there are stickers from Sotheby's Auction with the artist's name and the original title "Three faces eight leaves". These are two similar drawings, with the same subject albeit with small differences, and colored with different techniques. Jean Cocteau was a multifaceted artist: writer, playwright, playwright, he also dabbled in the visual arts, loving to experiment with all the avant-gardes of his century. Jean Cocteau published his first book of drawings in 1923, at just 36 years old. In it the poet portrayed his friends Raymond Radiguet, Pablo Picasso, Erik Satie, Francis Poulenc, but also numerous scenes of Parisian daily life, Nijinski's Russian ballets, allegories, caricatures, poetic images. Cocteau reveals himself to be a talented sketcher, but above all an artist capable of capturing the essence of faces, behaviors and human weaknesses. Framed work.

Winter Landscape with Figures on Ice

Oil painting on canvas. Flemish school of the XVII-XVIII century. On the frame there is a label attributing to Thomas Heeremans (but with incorrect date). The large scene offers a winter landscape appropriate to the Dutch territory, as it is characterized by a frozen canal, near a village, populated by numerous figures of skaters, intent on daily activities: the horse-drawn sleigh for transporting people, the the man who pushes the "wheelbarrow" full of wood, the child who pushes himself into his little box; other figures pass by on the embankment along the canal. The gray and cold sky of a winter day hangs over everything. The subject was the recurring one in the production of the Dutch painter Thomas Heeremans, who mainly painted winter landscapes of his land, replicating them several times due to the success obtained, and inducing numerous other artists to imitate him; it is therefore thought that this work can be traced back to an imitator of the Heeremans, rather than to him directly. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

The Tale of Apollo and Marsyas

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the seventeenth century. The large canvas derives from an engraving of 1562 by the Venetian Giulio Sanuto, who faithfully reproduced the homonymous work by Bronzino (1503-1572), currently preserved in the Hermitage; compared to the original, the engraving added the group of Muses and modified the landscape background by introducing views of the villages. The work is divided into four scenes, which must be read from right to left. The first scene depicts the musical contest between Apollo and the Silenus Marsyas, who played the flute so well that he was considered superior to the same god; the two contenders are performing, the god with the lyre and the silenus with the flute even upside down (to increase the difficulty of the undertaking), in front of King Midas and the goddess Minerva, recognizable by her attributes, the helmet, the spear and the shield. In the second scene Apollo is intent on skinning Marsyas, to punish him for having won the musical contest; lean on the ground next to him, his cloak and lyre. In the third scene, it is King Midas who is punished by the god for having preferred Marsyas to him: Apollo is putting the donkey's ears on Midas, while Minerva is watching. Finally, the fourth scene, in the foreground on the left, is characterized by a particular figure, identified in the faithful servant and barber of the king: since Midas had ordered him to keep the secret on his donkey ears, not being able to let off steam otherwise, he dug a hole in the ground and yelled into there his secret; in that place, however, legend has it that a bush of reeds grew that with the wind whispered "King midas has donkey ears", thus revealing the dreaded secret. The painting has been previously restored and relined, but currently needs any further color recovery. On the back in pencil there is an old attribution to the Ferrara school ("Ercole da Ferrara"). It is presented in a late 19th century style frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Lombard area of the late 18th century. The four canvases show scenes from Orlando Furioso, the famous epic poem written by Ludovico Ariosto and published for the first time in 1516. On the frame, on the back, there are handwritten writings in ancient Italian, which say the title of the scene and they give the reference of the song and the verse. All four scenes represent episodes taken from the first two songs of the poem and appear to be sequential. The attributive titles are as follows: 1- “This painting represents that Paladin galiardo (Rinaldo) son of Amone sig. di Monte Albano, which describes Ariosto in canto 1 to verse 12 ”: depicts the moment in which Rinaldo, on foot of his horse Baiardo, sees Angelica escaped from the camp of Namo di Baviera in the wood. 2- "This painting represents Angelica and Ferraù when she comes to their aid, which Ariosto describes in canto 1 verse 14": Angelica fleeing from Rinaldo, meets in the woods Ferraù, a noble Saracen knight who is also in love with the girl, who helps to escape by opposing the Christian knight. 3- “This painting represents Rinaldo and Sacripante who fall down, Angelica runs away from their fury. Ariosto describes it in Canto 2 verse 10 ": Rinaldo and Sacripante fight to compete for the love of Angelica, who in the meantime runs away. 4- “This painting represents Rinaldo and Sacripante in the act they fell for Angelica and were stopped by a spirit in the form of a Valletto. Ariosto describes it in canto 2 verse 15 ": while the two knights fight, Angelica meets a hermit, who, with a spell, evokes a spirit with the appearance of a footman, who interrupts the duel between the two contenders. The paintings therefore belong to a single pictorial cycle, attributable to the end of the eighteenth century and which, in accordance with the neoclassical taste, represents the characters in classical clothes - warriors dressed as ancient soldiers, Angelica dressed in a Roman tunic, shoes and bracelet - , but inserted in a landscape of Northern Italy, a shady and dense forest. The Orlando Furioso had the peculiarity of proposing the warlike theme associated with the love one (in particular the love story between Angelica and Medoro was preferred, which became the subject of numerous works by artists of all centuries) and obtained great popularity and success: His representations were numerous in all ranges of visual pictorial art, in stately frescoes, paintings, ceramics, even apothecary jars, cups, medals, pendulums, candelabra. It began in the Emilian land, the homeland of the poem created by Ariosto for Cardinal Ludovico D'Este, to arrive at the Medici courts, in Lombardy, where subsequently Ariosto's pictorial cycles were carried out in numerous palaces and stately homes. The canvases are presented in gilded style frames.

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.

Faun-Demon. Female figure with goat legs. Animal skin on her shoulders. Demonic face. She is holding a turtle.

"L'arc en ciel" XVII Century

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the seventeenth century. The large pastoral scene presents a broad landscape that pushes the gaze to the distant sea coast; on it the sky is gradually opening up, revealing flashes of blue on the left, while on the right, among the darker clouds left over from the storm, a large rainbow is revealed. In the foreground, a group of shepherds and shepherdesses enjoy amorous games, discrete and festive, in the midst of their herds, which rest and drink from the nearby stream. The whole scene is animated by a dimension of joyful relaxation and refreshment, as if the rainbow had restored serenity to the environment, bringing light and with it serenity to the world. The attribution to Jordaens is linked both to the typology of subject, the pastoral one, a recurring theme in the production of the Flemish artist, and to the pictorial modalities: in this work we find his warm and luminous colours, the strong contrasts of light and shadow, the robust figures with red and healthy faces, sometimes with satyristic features, the compositions full of figures that give an air of sensual vitality. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period gilded frame.

Oil on canvas. Flemish school of the seventeenth century. Already attributed to Jan Peeters (1624 -1677), the painting falls fully within the style and genre of the author who, working in his father's workshop and then in his brother Bonaventura's, specialized in marines, above all in the "Fortune di mare" i.e. the accidents due to the sea, and to any other event caused at sea by fortuitous events or insurmountable obstacles, which therefore in painting become representations of storms with ships and crews at the mercy of events. This is exactly what the painting proposed here is about: some ships, full of men, are at the mercy of the high waves of a night storm, near the coast which, with its protruding rocks, has already caused the shipwreck of some small boats. One perceives the struggle of men, small and defenseless, against the forces of nature, dominant, violent, gloomy and hostile, which dominates and attacks the boats both from the sea and from the sky, dark and black. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Tuscan school of the seventeenth century. Scion of an ancient Longobard lineage of Aquino (in the province of Frosinone), Thomas (born around 1226) went to Naples to study, in 1243 he entered the order of Dominican preachers against the wishes of his relatives, but during the journey to the northerner was arrested by his brothers and held prisoner for about a year. In the scene, the young saint in the centre, already dressed in the Dominican habit, is surrounded on both sides by four richly dressed figures, precisely his relatives, probably including his mother, who hold him kindly, almost embracing him, while with gestures of the hands and the afflicted and loving looks try to convince him, almost begging him. The figures are also placed in a prison, as indicated by the bars in the window on the right, to underline the coercive action performed. Rich and detailed are the details of the clothes of the characters, with bright colors that contrast with Thomas' dress, plastic movements properly in Baroque taste. Already restored and relined, the painting is in good condition, with evident cracking. It is presented in an antique re-lacquered and re-gilded frame.

Love and Psyche

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th century. The scene refers, with some variations but very close in size, to a part of the large fresco entitled "Banchetto degli dei" in the Chamber of Cupid (or Chamber of Cupid and Psyche) of Palazzo Té in Mantua, a large representation of over nine meters made by Giulio Romano with his workshop in the 16th century. The proposed scene (which in Mantua is located to the right of the great banquet) sees Cupid and Psyche lying on a triclinium, while a small winged figure crowns them with laurel and two nymphs wash Cupid's hand; in the background on the right a group of satyrs is sacrificing a goat to the altar of a deity, while in the centre, in the distance, a city is burning. The banquet of the gods is the final moment of the myth of the two lovers who, after many trials and vicissitudes, obtain Venus'permission to get married. The work, restored and relined, is presented in an antique frame.

Still life with holes, fruit, a parrot and quail

Oil painting on canvas. Neapolitan school of the seventeenth-eighteenth century. The large composition is rich in numerous different elements: in the center stands a large floral composition, of multiple varieties in bright colors; on the left of the flowers, resting on a Doric capital, there is a budgie with bright colors contrasting with the dull ones of the dead quail lying on the floor below, together with some pumpkins and a pewter vase. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a period frame. It comes from an important collection (Commendatore Arturo Stucchi, an entrepreneur from Como, is mentioned on the back).

The Monks Lunch

Oil on canvas. Genoese school of the eighteenth century. Inside a large room with arched windows opening onto the street, a group of friars seated on the ground are sharing a simple meal, placed on a white cloth. The scene refers to the sphere of Alessandro Magnasco known as Lissandrino (1667 -1749), a Genoese artist considered one of the most original painters of the Italian eighteenth century, who distinguished himself in popular genre painting and, in particular, in the production of scenes from the life of Capuchin or Camaldolese friars engaged in the most varied activities, from studying in the library to confession, from the work of sharpeners or carpenters in the convent workshops to the simple recollection around the fire: in these works you can appreciate all the expressive freedom of the artist\'s brush. moves on the canvas with quick touches to describe flames, fireplaces, cats, books, dogs, poor bowls, lenses, books, poor patched clothes, chairs and stools, in short, a whole daily world of gestures and things built with a very special and unmistakable technique, made of a mixture of lively color and almost all played on monochrome, on which a few, skilful strokes of light descend to give shape and consis tence to the bony figures of the monks. The author of the work proposed here was certainly trained in the Magnasco area and was inspired by his style, although it is more sedate, without the flashes and interpretative freedom, often irreverent or ironic, towards the figures of the friars; he was able to take up the play of chiaroscuro, lights and shadows, which flow from a monochrome in the shades of browns, still creating a work of excellent pictorial quality. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a gilded frame from the early 1900s.

Oil painting on canvas. It is a vintage copy of the engraving of the same name made by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), which had immediate success and gave rise to a series of printed replicas and painted copies. It presents the moment of the Passion in which Christ is crowned with the crown of thorns, the object of torture, the disparaging symbol of his proclamation as King of Kings. The act is performed by two figures, the Roman soldier and the Jew, representing the two people who they took part in Christ's death sentence. The figures, vigorous and sanguine, those of the two tormentors paler and more inert than the victim, create an intertwined composition of bodies, with that of the central Jesus joining the other two, uniting them in the shared responsibility of what they are doing; placed sideways, Jesus has his head bent forcibly to the left by the soldier who imposes the crown of thorns on him, while the Jew on the right places the bamboo cane in his hand, replacing the scepter. The scene is dominated by gloomy and dark colors, among which only the bright red of Christ's robe stands out, a symbol of his suffering humanity. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in a beautiful coeval frame, with shortcomings.

Oil on slate. Painted on a thick slab of slate, the scene presents the dramatic moment in which Mary, surrounded by a group of pious women, weeps over the body of her Son taken down from the Cross: she abandons herself dramatically in the arms of the two women behind her, while at the her womb rests the inert body of the Son, on whose hand a third woman weeps; above, a group of angels who look out from the open skies, from which the divine Light springs, participate in the lamentation. Mary is the only figure who wears brightly colored clothes, which contrast with the waxy color of the body of Christ resting on her lap, while the other women wear clothes in dull colors, just as neutral are the bodies of the little angels. The figures are placed on a dark background, in which the opening of the sepulcher can hardly be seen: the chromatic effect is rendered thanks also to the pictorial base used, the slate, a stone also known as the "blackboard", as the most important slate quarries are located near the town of Lavagna in Liguria. The pictorial modality recalls the works of Pietro Mera known as the Flemish, a painter originally from Brussels who lived between the 16th and 17th centuries: active for a long time in Venice, working from 1570 to 1603 in the service of Cardinal d'Este, Mera made extensive use slate as a pictorial support for some of his works. The material with its characteristic dark color allowed the artist to create intense luministic contrasts and to emphasize the figures, depicted with a bright chromatic range and illuminated by brilliant touches of light. In good condition, the painting is presented in an antique frame.

Oil on canvas. Lombard school of the late 17th-early 18th century. The rich composition offers a large bouquet of colorful flowers in an embossed vase, next to two large pumpkins and mixed fruit (grapes and peaches): with different intensities of color, the various naturalistic elements emerge from the completely dark background, creating effects of lights and shadows. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an early 20th century frame.