PAINTINGS OF THE '900
 

The Organ-Grinder

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower right. Trace of a date, not readable. The Cuneo artist Ottavio Steffanini had a life in constant movement, divided between Italy, Europe, America (in particular Venezuela). A restless and unpredictable artist, he concentrated his painting above all on female figures, portrayed with placid sensuality and an opulence influenced by the Spanish masters with whom he studied. But in his production there is no shortage of other subjects, united by an incessant exaltation of life, of nature. Here, however, a male figure is proposed, a half-length portrait of an accordion player, dignified and proud in his pose and gaze. The work is presented in a period frame.

Thistle Flowers 1958

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. On the back there is a label from the Galleria Annunciata in Milan, with the title and date of the work. Fiorenzo Tomea created, especially in the 1950s, a vast production of flowers, in pots or alone: ​​in the same years this subject was a traditional theme of the painting of De Pisis and Mafai, and he wanted to propose a reflection on vanitas, that is, on fleeting nature of life. The dried, gaunt flowers, isolated from each other, suspended in a livid, almost surreal atmosphere, convey a sense of defeat and estrangement. The work is presented in a period frame.

Winter scene

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the early 1900s. The large scene is set in a desolate landscape completely covered in snow: on the left in the foreground, behind a group of carts and mobile homes (probably a gypsy camp) a woman cries while peeking out from behind a cloth; observe the figures moving away from the center of the scene, only silhouettes but clearly definable: two gendarmes flank a man in plain clothes, evidently under arrest. A street lamp and some dry and bare trees occupy the space on the right. The whole scene, painted with broad brushstrokes and without contours, is dominated by the greyish-white shades of the snow, the gray sky, the indistinct peaks in the background, or rather all the naturalistic elements, including one of the two horses tied to rest, while the other elements, the figures, the house, the street lamps, the other horse, and also the footprints on the snow that trace the path of the three figures in the distance, are characterized by brown and ocher colours, rather dull: the whole underlines the drama of the scene, perhaps also the desperation and sense of loneliness and abandonment of the woman. Restored and relined, the painting is not signed on the front (possible signature on the back covered by the relining?). The painting is presented in a period frame.

Glimpse of the Cloister of the Dome of Monreale

Mixed technique, with canvas, wooden panels, metal threads, small beads, etc. At the bottom center is the artist's name, unidentified. It is a three-dimensional and perspective reconstruction of the cloister of the Monreale Cathedral, with the fountain in the foreground. The work is presented in a display case with a gilded frame from the early 1900s.

Landscape with River

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower right. Specializing in landscape painting, the painter Romeo Borgognoni mainly depicted glimpses of the Pavia countryside, in a style which, although with realist rigor, draws on impressionism for its bright and vibrant brushstrokes. In this large painting there appears a flat and green countryside crossed by a slow river, perhaps a glimpse of Ticino. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Mountain Landscape

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. Riccardo Viriglio, a landscape painter from Pavia, portrayed urban views mainly of his city and landscape views especially of Lombardy. A mountain landscape is presented here, a glimpse of a wide valley with a hut and pastoral figures, under peaks that lead back to the Alps. The work is presented in corniccoeva, from the mid-20th century.

Composition on 4 Panels, 1978

Mixed media on canvas applied to wooden panels, showing a sequence. On the lower right the artist's initials GB and the numbering of the panels; on the verso of each panel is the signature in full, with the date and the following sequential titles: 'By Bosch', 'Declination of an Owl', 'Transcription' and 'Disappearance for Coquetry'. Gabriella Benedini has defined her as an artist as 'a nomad in search of the profound meaning of things'. Although attracted and interested first by abstract-informal painting, then by Existential Realism and then by the New Figuration, Gabriella Benedini proceeds on a strictly personal quest that cannot be assimilated into any specific current. The entire 1970s were mainly marked by pictorial works that reflected literary cues filtered through her need for growth and confrontation. Then, through her passion for Alchemy, Benedini began to transform anything that came her way into works of art; shells, pages of old books, bottles, everything is combined into a harmonious whole that recalls spaces. Her works therefore become mainly three-dimensional, either to hang on the wall, or they are sculptures, even large ones. The four panels are presented here in a single frame.

City Glimpse

Oil on wood. Signed on the back. Riccardo Viriglio, a landscape painter from Pavia, portrayed urban views mainly of his city and landscape views especially of Lombardy. Here too there is a view of a city square with a portico. In a stylish frame.

Rovereto, 1920

Oil on the table. Signed lower left. The title and date on the back in pencil. Riccardo Viriglio, a landscape painter from Pavia, portrayed urban views mainly of his city and landscape views especially of Lombardy. Here is a glimpse of the village of Roveleto, a small village in the Piacenza countryside at the foot of the pre-Apennine hills. The work is presented in a frame.

The Portrait of the Queen

Oil painting on canvas. At the bottom right there is an unidentified signature. The large canvas presents an interior scene, set in an eighteenth-century court: in the richly furnished room with velvet curtains, sculptures and large paintings on the walls, a queen (identified by her ermine-edged cloak) poses for the painter who is her portrait, surrounded by the court, smiling ladies and gentlemen, and a prelate, who instead seems rather dissatisfied. The work looks at the production of the painter Arturo Ricci (1854 -1919), who specialized in genre scenes set in eighteenth-century courts. The painting is presented in a frame assembled with elements from the early 1900s.

Roman Landscape

Oil painting on canvas. signed lower left. Further signature and title on the back. Born and lived in Rome, Sdruscia was an interpreter of the so-called Roman School, mainly creating glimpses of his city, in a pictorial style that looks to the great masters of the period, such as Guidi and De Pisis. The work is presented in a frame.

Woman at the Spinning Wheel

Tempera on paper. Signed lower left. Probably a sketch, due to the rapid drafting and unfinished contours, this work presents a young woman sitting spinning at a spinning wheel. The artist Gino Simonetti, painter but also writer, born in the Piacenza area, lived and worked mainly in Turin. the work is presented in a period frame.

Landscape with River Glimpse 1906

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. The Roman-born artist Cesare Maggi established himself as a pointillist landscape painter, portraying alpine landscapes in the Engadine and Aosta Valley, often enlivened by the inclusion of figures and animals. Becoming a friend of the painter Giacomo Grosso in Turin in 1901, he then successfully oriented himself towards the portrait genre, setting aside the pointillist technique. While still favoring high mountain views, he broadened his subjects by also engaging in seascapes and still lifes. In this work, still from the first period, Maggi portrays a glimpse of the countryside crossed by a calm river, bordered by rows of bare trees and small grassy hills, behind which the farmhouses overlook: already no longer linked to the techniques divisionist, the work is rather characterized by dense and opaque mixtures of color, in which the earth, the water and the farmhouses are superimposed in a continuum broken only by the band of sky above. The work is presented in a period frame.

The path of San Rocco (Camogli)

Oil on cardboard. Signed lower left. On the back this title in pencil. An extremely original landscape painter who experimented with oil painting but also with watercolors and engraving, Raul Viviani came very close to pointillist painting, however developing his own personal technique, characterized by very thin filaments of color in the shape of thin commas, which define the structures of his landscapes. With his transfer to Liguria, which made the landscape of that region the protagonist of his works, his technique changed, moving away from the original divisionism to open up to a broad and summary brushstroke, which finally resulted in the last period in a production of nature death with violent and contrasting colors. This landscape can also be placed in the Ligurian period, which offers a glimpse of a well-known Ligurian locality, still rendered in the characteristic style of Viviani, made of brushstrokes in thin filaments, superimposed on spots of lively color, in the chromatic ranges of the colors of nature. In frame.

Still life

Oil on the table. Signed upper right. An extremely original landscape painter who experimented with oil painting but also with watercolors and engraving, Raul Viviani came very close to pointillist painting, however developing his own personal technique, characterized by very thin filaments of color in the shape of thin commas, which define the structures of his landscapes. With his transfer to Liguria, which made the landscape of that region the protagonist of his works, his technique changed, moving away from the original divisionism to open up to a broad and summary brushstroke, which finally resulted in the last period in a production of nature death with violent and contrasting colors. This still life, a composition of vegetables and a vividly colored bottle, can be placed in this period. The work is presented in a frame.

Portrait of a young commoner

Oil on canvas applied to the table. Signed lower right. Antonio Vallone, a Neapolitan painter close to Morelli's school, specialized in genre portraits, above all of smiling young men and women, street urchins or peasant women typical of his homeland. The work is presented in a period frame.

Portrait of a Street Boy

Oil on canvas applied to the table. Signed lower right. Antonio Vallone, a Neapolitan painter close to Morelli's school, specialized in genre portraits, above all of smiling young men and women, street urchins or peasant women typical of his homeland. The work is presented in a period frame.

Interior scene

Oil painting on canvas. Not signed, but on the back there is a dedication "Alla signora Clelia Mazzioli, con stima Gaetano Bellei 23 gennaio 1909". The big scene, set in a popular kitchen, sees a woman reading cards to two girls, who ask for explanations by pointing to the figures that appear and seem to compare them with a text leaning on the chair. The work recalls the painting of Gaetano Bellei, due to the strong realism with which the painter painted above all scenes of daily peasant life; he is considered a master of the depiction of human affections and of human reactions and sensations. The painting has slight drops of color. It is proposed in a stylish frame.

Figure in Rest 1969

Pen on paper. Signed lower right. Accompanied by photo authentication from the Mario Tozzi Archive. In Maestro Tozzi's extensive production there are many drawings, such as this one presented here, made with different techniques (ink, pastel, pencil, sanguine), dedicated to the human figure: in his dry and stylized style, Mario Tozzi outlines stylized, refined figurines in their silent and discreet geometry, favored by the absence of color, which brings out the forms on the white paper. Even in his pictorial production, Mario Tozzi's favorite subjects are, classically, figures and still lifes, but both figures and death are a set of solid geometric elements, the sphere, the cylinder, the cone, etc. The bodies are elementary, essential in the lines and details, powerful, statuesque, composed of just modeled solids, while the still lifes are a celebration of Euclidean geometry such as the jugs, bowls, flasks which are paradigms of volume and geometric rigor . Mario Tozzi's compositions are influenced by Cubism for certain cuts, by Metaphysics for certain architectural insertions and by Abstractism for the insertion of geometric figures. The work is presented in a frame.