ANCIENT PAINTING

The Drinker

Oil on canvas. The painting harks back in its pictorial methods and subject to the production of Giacomo Francesco Cipper, known as Todeschini, an artist of Austrian origins who established himself in Milan. He was a specialist in market scenes, open-air concerts, card players, and scenes of humble daily life created with laughing caricatures and a search for comic effect. As in this work, which portrays a commoner, intent on drinking wine: despite the poverty that shines through his clothes, the man appears cheerful and laughing, perhaps due to excessive drinking, to represent not the desolation but the vitality and fun of daily life, however miserable. The painting has been restored and relined and features, on the back of the frame, a small cartouche with details of the restoration carried out. It is presented in a readjusted antique frame.

Oil on panel. Northern Italian school, late 16th century. The Cross, from which Christ's body hangs, stands vertically against a dark background; at his feet, embracing the Cross, stands Mary Magdalene, surrounded by her red cloak, a color that emphasizes her pain; her gaze, raised upwards, seeks that of Christ, already dying. The panel has some slight paint losses. On the back there is an old label attributing it to a Venetian artist.

Oil on canvas. The noblewoman is richly dressed, with an elegant red cape resting on her shoulders, which leaves the lace-trimmed dress uncovered; her hair is embellished with pearls. At the top right of the canvas, the coat of arms of the woman's family also appears: tripartite, it features two rampant and crowned lions facing each other, surmounted by a plausibly floral decoration. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on panel. The scene captures the Holy Family probably during the flight into Egypt, in a moment of rest during the journey; in fact, in addition to the figures of the family, an angel appears at the bottom, recognizable by the hinted wings, who offers a plate with food, from which Joseph has already taken some cherries, as the apocryphal versions of the gospels tell. The panel has some small woodworm holes. It is presented in an early 1900s frame.

Oil on canvas. The painting, restored and relined, has a small hole in the upper left. It is presented in a period frame from the early 1900s.

Oil on canvas. The scene depicts the Holy Family accompanied by St. John the Baptist and another saint kneeling before the Baby Jesus, who is conversing with them while sitting on his mother's lap; Mary, on the other hand, is turned backwards, observing the carpentry work that her husband Joseph is doing, intent on chiseling. The adult saint who stands next to St. John the Baptist, and who occupies the left half of the scene, to underline his importance for the client, has no particular iconographic signs, even if his physiognomy could refer to St. Peter. The scene is set outside a marble palace, in an Italian landscape. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Landscape with Water and Shepherds

Oil on canvas. In a green hilly countryside, where a stream flows, some shepherds sit whistling in the shade of the trees, while they check the flock that is drinking. Thick dark clouds gather in the sky. The style recalls the production of Marco Ricci, a painter from Belluno who became famous for his undoubted talent for naturalistic and architectural representation. His landscapes, still of a distinctly seventeenth-century taste, are already lit up by powerful and emotional lights, by dry and twisted trees, rocks and towers, cumulus clouds that suddenly break into vague flashes of blue, a complex repertoire that transfigures nature into a dramatic and restless representation. He became a point of reference for several other artists contemporary to him, who took up his style, as in this work. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Winter Landscape with Figures

Oil on canvas. In a wintry countryside landscape, sprinkled with snow, on the bare, dark, arid nature, a path winds through completely bare trees that leads to the village, and some wayfarers pass along it, while on the side some woodcutters are at work. A sky full of dark clouds looms over everything, although on the left there is a patch of blue. The style harks back to the production of Marco Ricci, a painter from Belluno who made a name for himself for his undoubted talent for naturalistic and architectural representation. His landscapes, still of a distinctly seventeenth-century taste, are already lit up by powerful and emotional lights, by dry and twisted trees, rocks and towers, cumulus clouds that suddenly break apart into vague flashes of blue, a complex repertoire that transfigures nature into a dramatic and restless representation. He became a point of reference for several other artists contemporary to him, who took up his style, as in this work. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Venetian school of the 18th century. The landscape, rather barren and with snow-capped mountain peaks in the background, frames in the foreground a family of shepherds, sitting to rest on the edge of the road outside the village, while their herd drinks from the nearby stream; in the meantime they converse and ask directions to the commoner who passes by on the path with her basket under her arm. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Venetian school of the 18th century. Large landscape of pre-Alpine hills, crossed by a stream that reaches the mill in the right foreground, while numerous figures of commoners animate the path that leads to the building, busy with various occupations; in particular, in the center foreground, the two fishermen with their nets stand out. Formerly attributed to Giuseppe Zais (1709 -1784), a Venetian painter who became famous for his large landscapes animated by figures, characterized by an airy luminosity and a care in the description of nature. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an early 20th century frame.

Oil on canvas. Lively naturalistic composition of multicolored flowers in blue ceramic vases, which recall the sky color of the upper part of the background, which then fades into an earthy color in the lower part; on the left a parrot stands out for its unusual dark color. The painting has slight color losses, especially in the background. It is presented in a contemporary regilded frame.

Oil on canvas. Northern Italian school, mid-17th century. The man portrayed is dressed in a large black cape, severe yet edged with white lace at the wrists, sitting at a desk while rereading a letter, with the inkwell and pen resting on the surface in front of him, indicating his culture and high position. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a late 19th century frame re-lacquered in black, but with several missing colors.

Oil on canvas, applied to a wooden plate. The Saint is depicted in the foreground, half-length: the naked torso of the body is partially covered by a fur falling from the shoulders, on which her long hair stretches; the Magdalene keeps her eyes turned to the sky, in a contemplative state, in her hands the skull, Memento mori, and next to it a crust of bread, her only nourishment in the life of penance. Behind the figure is a dark background, from which a beam of light emerges to create a halo around her head and accentuate the pathos of her expression. The painting has slight color nuances, especially along the right margin. It is presented in a frame in style,

Oil on canvas. Flemish school of the 17th century. On the back there is a collector's cartouche. In a hilly landscape of rocks and clumps of trees, overlooking a small village on the left, a stream flows to form a foaming waterfall; on the banks some figures of peasants in transit or in conversation; on the right stands out the bird with the long tail, perched on a dry shrub. In the background, the hills fade into the sky full of clouds. The painting is presented in a regilded frame from the late 19th century.

Female Head

Tempera on wood depicting a half-length female figure; she wears a red dress over a light-colored tunic, while a green cloth rests on her right shoulder. The red hair is gathered in a central parting and is partly covered by a white headdress; the full face has an absorbed expression: the pensive gaze, the arched eyebrows and the slightly furrowed lips. Presented in a frame made with parts of an ancient frame of larger size.

Oil on canvas. Italian school of the late 18th - early 19th century. The landscape of romantic taste sees a river flowing between rocky banks topped by leafy trees; on the bank, in the foreground on the left, two fishermen cast their lines into a pool of still water created by a small inlet. The painting bears a label on the frame attributing it to Domenico Pecchio (1693 -1760). Restored, it is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Venetian school of the late 17th-early 18th century. Within a large classical landscape, rich in vegetation and with pink atmospheres, there is a small group of soldiers: some, resting on a rock overlooking a stream, are watching one of them who is getting wet, after having placed his armor in the water. The painting was presented at the Lempertz auction in 2017 with an attribution to Andrea Locatelli (1695 -1741) and an estimate of €7/9 thousand; the pictorial methods of the work also seem closer to those of Marco Ricci (1676 -1730), widely taken up by other authors of the Venetian area. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th century gilded frame.

Oil on canvas. Set in a classic landscape, rich in vegetation, the scene represents the biblical episode from the book of Genesis which tells how the people of Israel, who are crossing the Sinai desert to reach the Promised Land, find themselves without water: Moses invokes God's help and performs the miracle of making water spring from a rock. In the scene, the people of Israel rejoice and celebrate the miracle, rushing to bathe and quench their thirst in the pool of water evoked by Moses, who can be glimpsed standing to the left of the dry trunk in the foreground, a symbol of the aridity of the land. The branches of the trees moved by a strong wind and the sky full of dark clouds that are beginning to tear, evoke the presence of God. The multiple figures, rendered with accurate details, create movement and action. This painting has already been presented at the Lempertz auction with an attribution to Giovanni Ghisolfi (1623 -1683), an artist who developed a perfect combination between past and modernity, thanks to a deep interest in classicism, rendered however with effective perspective precision in the landscape and great precision of details in the figures. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th century gilded frame.

Oil on canvas. French school of the seventeenth century. The scene, set at night in the garden of a villa, of which you can glimpse the ornate facade on the right and in which the fountain gushing with cherubs stands out, under a dark sky and further obscured by heavy clouds, proposes two figures who entertain each other in conversation : an elderly modestly dressed is sternly admonishing a seated young man, richly dressed, who seems instead to make the gesture of mea culpa with his hand. The physiognomy and the gestures of the two characters, together with the style of the clothes, would refer to the philosopher Aristotle who was called to the court of Macedon to be the tutor of the young Alexander, the future king then known as Alexander the Great: according to what Plutarch recounts in his “Parallel Lives”, the young Alexander was a brilliant pupil, so much so that he was also initiated into the most profound and esoteric Aristotelian doctrines, from which derives the aura of mystery and profound interiority that shines through in the work presented here. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in a stylish frame. The painting, restored

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th-18th century. The work of a devotional nature, sees the Virgin Mary seated on the clouds and assisted by two angels who support her garments, is venerated by two saints, kneeling at her feet: on the right the young woman in princely clothes, at whose feet is resting a royal crown, it refers to Elizabeth of Hungary; on the left, the saint holding the Infant Jesus in his arms can be identified as San Caetano da Thiene. Particular is the play of glances between the various characters, which intertwine together with the positions and gestures, to create an almost circular movement. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in an ancient frame restored at the beginning of the 20th century, with various current shortcomings (to be restored).