Portrait of Eleonora Lampugnani Oil on Canvas XVI Century

The painting represents Clelia crossing the Tiber. Clelia was a Roman heroine, who was given as a hostage, together with other girls, to the Etruscan king Porsenna during the peace negotiations with the city; he managed to escape, however, by swimming across the Tiber. Porsenna asked the Romans to return it, who agreed, but admired by her heroism, he decided to free her by allowing her to take other prisoners with her, whom Clelia chose from among the youngest. The moment of the representation is precisely that of the crossing of the river, of which there is the personification in the foreground on the right, with an elderly gray-haired man, accompanied by a young woman with a cornucopia. The scene is very dynamic, with Clelia and the other girls who create a large and lively group, together with the horse ridden by the protagonist, as some versions of the story recall; behind them the tents of the Etruscan king's camp with some soldiers. On the other side of the river there is another group of women, the crossing already completed, while in the background you can see the expanse with the Capitoline city with a classic face. The work, as evidenced by a small scroll, is attributed to Domenico Lupini, an artist about whom not much is known but whose scope of activity between Bergamo and Venice can be hypothesized. The only two signed works are a "converted Magdalene" and an "Annunciation", but other works have been attributed to him by the scholar Federica Nurchis and placed in the monastery of Santa Chiara in Bergamo. These paintings present a warm and refined chromatism which, together with the elegance of the characters and the compositional modality, suggest a Venetian stay by Lucini, which seems to recall the atmospheres of Tintoretto, Veronese and Palma il Giovane. Presented in a 17th century gilded frame, restored and relined.

Madonna with Child the Father Angels and Saints

Oil on canvas. Tuscan school of the late 1500s - early 1600s. The canvas is part of a large sacred production, which exalted the glory of Mary and the saints close to the client. In the center, Mary sits on a throne with her little son in her arms, while above, from the open skies, the Eternal Father blesses her, with the terrestrial globe in her hands, a symbol of her power over the world; He is flanked by two angels. On either side of the throne there are two Saints: on the left, San Domenico di Guzman, dressed in the habit of a Dominican and holding a lily and a book in his hands; on the right, in his characteristic habit, Saint Francis of Assisi, holding the cross in the shape of a Tau and a book, and on whose hands the signs of the stigmata can be seen. The whole scene is characterized by the static nature of the figures still typical of the Renaissance period, by bright colors and by composed and delicate features of the faces. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an antique frame.

The model derives from an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi based on a drawing by Raphael, specially made for the graphic work, deriving from a painting placed in the Stanza della Segnatura (1513-1515). This model was taken up and changed by Hans von Aachen in a canvas dated 1588 and today preserved at the Museum of the Charterhouse of Douai, in turn taken up in an engraving of the following year by Raphael Sadeler, in the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the 'Carrara Academy of Bergamo. The canvas in question is derived from this last version, which shows the same changes made with respect to the Raphaelesque original. At the center of the scene, which takes place immersed in a natural landscape, are the three goddesses who competed for the title of the most beautiful: Juno with the peacock, her symbolic animal, Venus accompanied by Cupid and Minerva next to which are the helmet, spear and shield. Paris, from behind, is giving the golden apple that decrees the winner to the goddess of love, under the gaze of Judge Mercury. Two cherubs flit around the protagonists, while in the foreground, always from behind, there is a male figure. A country boarding school is taking place on the back lawn. The work, as evidenced by a small scroll, is attributed to Domenico Lupini, an artist about whom not much is known but for whom it is possible to hypothesize the scope of his activity between Bergamo and Venice. The only two signed works are a "converted Magdalene" and an "Annunciation", but other works have been attributed to him by the scholar Federica Nurchis and placed in the monastery of Santa Chiara in Bergamo. These paintings present a warm and refined chromatism which, together with the elegance of the characters and the compositional modality, suggest a Venetian stay by Lucini, which seems to recall the atmospheres of Tintoretto, Veronese and Palma il Giovane. Presented in a 17th century gilded frame, restored and relined.

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 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.

Classical Landscape with 17th century figures

Oil painting on canvas. In a large green landscape where a river flows, a village emerges in the center; in the foreground on the right, on the path there is a group of women, dressed in colored tunics. the painting takes up the pictorial modalities of Gaspard Dughet, the Roman painter trained at the school of Poussin, who devoted himself mainly to landscape production, with a new freedom and a fresh naturalness aimed at discovering a real and magical at the same time, pagan Nature. free and wild. In Dughet's production the human figures were never dominant, absent in the early production and then introduced only at the request of the clientele, coming to adopt a particular type of figures without major changes throughout his career: elegant figures, with a loose bearing, dressed of a short, vaguely ancient tunic, usually anonymous and belonging to the people. Such traits are found in this work, even if the attribution to Dughet is uncertain, and it is thought rather to place it in his circle. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Lombard School. It is the portrait of a man in armour standing proud, almost in motion, his hand sitting on the hilt of his sword; there is a coat of arms top left, a painted title block bottom right with a long Latin inscription, that identifies the man. He is Bartolomeo III Olevano, who belongs to the powerful noble family of the Olevano, feudal lords of many towns in the Pavia and Lomellina areas (where their castle still exists), who was very involved in the history of Pavia and its countryside until the 18th century. Bartolomeo III, born in 1512, had dedicated himself to the art of war for 40 years, carrying out numerous and highly honoured deeds, and was prefect of Mortara and Novara during the domination of Charles V, leader of soldiers and ambassador of Philip II. His most important achievements are summarised in the title block: a translation of the text is available. The coat of arms of the family has an olive tree on the left, from which the family took its name. The painting comes from an important historical Lombard family collection.

Oil on canvas. Intense and high quality, the painting depicts a monarch of the royal house of Scotland. Around the portrait, in a painted oval frame, there are some writings: the name Rober(t) appears at the top left, the title Rex at the bottom left and the abbreviation Scot, which stands for Scotorum, on the right; the writing at the top right is not identifiable, but it seems to be an acronym. The man portrayed wears a hat and a coat adorned with ermine fur, which is considered the noblest fur, reserved for royalty. He wears a golden pendant around his neck, which depicts two leaves with the fruit of the thistle, which, in heraldry, symbolizes Scotland. The writing and the pendant therefore refer to a Robert of Scotland, probably from the dynasty that reigned in the fourteenth century. The portrait was however executed in the romantic nineteenth-century period, probably using some ancient engravings for inspiration. Restored and relined, it is presented in a frame in style.

Oil on canvas. The whole scene played on the chiaroscuro of black and red with high flames that blazing between towers and peaks of the cyty: in the frontground Enea and his father Anchises' figures with his son Ascanio next to him while running away from the city; on the right, in the background, Trojan horse. Even if the subject is close to the one of Alessio De Marchis (1684-1752), the painting in question is closer to the femish painting. Restored and displayed in an ancient frame.