Guillochè Mirror Swiss Pine Northern Europe 18th Century

Oil on canvas. The composition is not a traditional still life because the fruit (grapes, pears and pomegranates) and the white bird are inserted in a large landscape, as its added elements in the foreground; Behind them a green countryside opens up, near a lake overlooked by a house; the stormy and windy sky heralds a storm. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The composition is not a traditional still life because the fruit (grapes and apples) and the bird are inserted in a large landscape, as its added elements in the foreground; Behind them opens a verdant countryside with a village on the hill. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. French school of the seventeenth-eighteenth century. The external scene is divided into two strongly contrasting parts: on the left, on the dark and gloomy background of a rocky wall, there are some ancient ruins, bases and fragments of columns with fallen damaged statues; on the right instead, against the background of a blue sky and gray from the clouds, the mountainous landscape opens onto a path, from which some figures emerge, a lively woman carrying a laundry basket and holding a child by the hand, a wanderer with his bundle of shoulders. It seems a metaphor between the past, now dead and dark, and the present, alive and lively. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an early 20th century frame.

The group of three compositions, natural

Tempera on paper applied to canvas. The compositions depict different birds and butterflies flying above flowers. Good condition, small spots of moisture. Presented in coeval frames. 18th century.

Oil on canvas. Bloody scene depicting a puma assaulting two watchdogs. The dogs are free from their chains, but they are succumbing to the puma. Restored and relined, it requires cleaning. Revival gilded frame. 18th century.

Tempera on canvas. The painting is part of a series of gouaches depicting the Allegories of seasons. The landscape depicts the remains of a fortress with some figures walking and others on a cart. The swallows are flying over the green trees. Presented in coeval frame. Late 18th century.

Oil on canvas, applied on hardboard. Italian school of the seventeenth-eighteenth century. Little Maria listens and reads a text listened to lovingly by her mother Sant'Anna; the two figures, depicted half-length, are inserted in an external environment, with columns and rooms of an eighteenth-century building. The painting needs restoration due to multiple and widespread color losses, one of which is quite large in correspondence with the figure of St. Anne. The work is presented in a period frame, with shortcomings.

Tempera on wood. The large icon is divided into multiple scenes that trace the life of Jesus, starting at the top left with the depiction of the Trinity in the episode of Shechem (Old Testament), to arrive in the center at the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. The board has some cracks in the wood and small drops in color.

Oil painting on canvas. Venetian school of the eighteenth century. The portrait proposes the figure of a young woman wearing an everyday dress, but embellished with spotted fur edges; curiously, with the raised arm she flaunts a fur muff tucked over one hand, probably a habit to underline a fashion of the time. The painting shows signs of restoration, with conservation of the original canvas, although reassembled on a new frame. It is presented in a coeval oval frame, but surmounted by a wooden frieze added at a later time.

Oil on canvas. North Italian school. The nobleman is depicted in an elegant red jacket with gold embroidery, a lace jabot around the neck. On his left the inscription that identifies him as Gentile Benaglio, a member of the Bergamo family important in Lombard history since the Middle Ages. On the right the noble coat of arms. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The gentleman, in a house suit, is shown preparing for the afternoon tea ritual: with one hand he holds the tray with the cup and the bowl of sugar, with the other he mixes the drink. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a coeval frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The wide view of the Imperial Forums of Rome is part of the vast landscape production of the Grand Tour period, intended for wealthy European aristocrats traveling to Europe - and in particular in Italy, where Rome was considered a must - who wanted a souvenir of the places visited. The Roman Imperial Forums are an architectural complex consisting of a series of monumental buildings and squares, the center of political activity in ancient Rome, built over a period of about 150 years, between 46 BC. and 113 A.D. Despite the enlargements, the fires, the restorations and the reconstructions, during the Antiquity the Imperial Forums kept intact both their architectural conformation and their function. Their almost definitive destruction occurred during the Renaissance at the hands of Pope Julius II (1503-1513), who used the whole area as a quarry for materials to be reused in the building and artistic renovation of the city he initiated. The protests of leading artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo were of little use. In the following centuries various excavation campaigns were undertaken, with greater vigor starting from the nineteenth century, but the area was completely excavated at the beginning of the twentieth century and the ancient architecture was almost completely erased to make room for the construction of via dei Fori Imperiali , which connects Piazza Venezia with the Colosseum. The Forum was rediscovered starting from the sixteenth century also thanks to the Roman view painters who at that time loved to paint the ruins emerging in the pasture area. The view proposed here presents the Imperial Forums before the excavations begun in the nineteenth century, when the road that still crosses them had not yet been built: they are still surrounded by green countryside and the Roman hills stand out in the background. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a re-adapted 19th century frame.