Oil on Canvas by G. B. Ceruti Italy XIX Century - View of the Ligurian Riviera

Stable interior

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. The work was previously acquired at the Sotheby's auction in Milan on 10/12/2007. It was exhibited in 1991 in the exhibition "Giovanni Sottocornola. Images from a collection" held in Milan at the Silbernagl Gallery. After an initial pictorial phase dedicated to portraits and still lifes, in the 1880s Giovanni Sottocornola approached social themes, which were becoming the favorite subjects of young Lombard painters attentive to the poorest aspects of society, linked to the adoption of original artistic techniques. Sottocornola embraced the practice of pointillist painting, of which he wrote in 1895 "For now it is certain, I am convinced that there is no other painting more capable of conveying certain sensations than this one". However, this type of painting remained entirely focused on light, on its uncertain tonal vibrations, as happens in the Interior of a stable, created towards the end of the 1980s, where the plays of light and shadow play and create the effects visual in the brushstrokes of color played on a few chromatic ranges, those of browns, expressed in a wide variety of shades. The work is presented in a period frame.

Landscape with Figures and Bread Oven

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. The landscape view shows in the foreground a mountain path that leads to a bread oven, where a woman prepares the bundles of wood for the fire, while a traveler approaches on the back of a donkey; in the valley the viaduct over the river that leads to the village, surmounted by other barren peaks. Micheroux, belonging to the Posillipo school, or the nineteenth-century school of Neapolitan artists dedicated to landscape painting, created several glimpses of the Campania hinterland, but little is left of his production and little is known about his life. The painting has some small drops of color. It is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Oil on canvas. Anonymous author, probably English (on the back of the canvas there is a stamp of the London origin of the canvas itself), the large painting portrays two figures, a man and a girl, who are walking away from the city in the background, with its minarets and domes; the girl holds a long palm branch on a shoulder, while she supports the man with her other shoulder and her hand, guiding him along their way. The colours stand out in the painting, the darker colours of the clothes and the skin of the figures contrast the light ones of the city and the clear and bright sky. The painting is presented in a coeval frame decorated with gilded shells.

Male Portrait in Profile

Oil on cardboard. signed lower right, with a dedication "to friend G. Rutelli". Of humble origins, Angelo Dall'Oca Bianca, even once he became an established and appreciated artist, frequenting the Italian and international artistic-cultural environment, always maintained the bond with his city, a continuous source of inspiration for his artistic production, and for its poor; in 1939 he built the Dall'Oca Village in Verona, for the benefit of the poor of the city, and in 1941 he made a will, leaving all his money and his paintings to the city of Verona for charitable works. His painting was always of a purely realist mold, influenced above all by his contact with Giacomo Favretto who allowed him to enrich his painting technique with bright colors and a large and vaporous style, and by the use of photography as a memory for the representation of truth. . The work, a portrait of a male figure seen in profile, is lively in the colors. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil on canvas. Mittel-European School. There is a No.S monogram on the back and numbers probably from an inventory. The painting reminds of pieces from the Austrian area. It represents a battle between knights, it is dominated in the foreground by the confrontation between two of them. The painting comes from a historical collection from Lombardy. The painting is still in its first canvas and original framing; there are patches on the back and signs of antique restorations, it has also undergone an additional pictorial and reperativr restoration, in our lab. Well marked crack. The painting is presented in an original and coeval frame, lacquered.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the 19th century. Family portrait of three girls, whose marked resemblance in facial features, smile and witty and mischievous gaze, is underlined by the almost identical clothes they wear, whose bright colors enliven the scene and on which the laces of the necklines stand out, exquisitely painted; the youngest in the center, still a child, has a slightly less worked dress and a less elaborate hairstyle, in keeping with her age. The painting is presented in a late 19th century frame that has been adapted and regilded.

Oil on canvas. Lombard school of the seventeenth century. A smiling young girl is portrayed in an elegant black dress, embellished with lace on the neckline and a play of red and green laces and ribbons on the sleeves, which match the red embroidered petticoat; she wears her jewels around her neck, wrists, ears, in the hairstyle of her hair, where the austerity of pearls is lightened by colored ribbons; she holds a bouquet of flowers in her hand, which emphasizes her gracefulness and grace. Restored and relined, on the second canvas there is written, probably a copy of the original on the first canvas, which indicates who the young woman is: \\\"Margh.a D. Gridonia Gonz. Agnella - Soada Maffei - D\\\'etta Anni XVIII\\\", followed by a coat of arms with the initials C FAS This writing, in addition to defining the name and age, highlights the young woman\\\'s belonging to the College of the Virgins of Jesus in Castiglione delle Stiviere, founded in 1608 by the Marquise Guidonia Gonzaga together with the two sisters Cinzia and Olimpia, all nephews of San Luigi Gonzaga. This college had the purpose of imparting an education to young noblemen or young people from good families, who, with the dowry donated to the college, contributed to the sustenance of the same. The portrait has minor flaws. It is presented in an ancient, non-coeval frame, with small shortcomings.

Oil painting on canvas. Portrait ofAustria Maria Theresa of Habsburg (1717 - 1780), who in 1740 became the first (and only) woman of the House of Austria to inherit the government of the vast estates of the Habsburg Monarchy, becoming empress, and was the founder of the House of Habsburg -Lorraine, the dynasty that governed the fate of the Austrian dominions until the First World War. There are numerous portraits of her, in different ages: here already in old age, the empress is in any case depicted in all her imperial splendour, wearing elegant dresses rich in jewels, a golden mantle trimmed with ermine, a tiara on head and with the crown of his imperial house leaning on his side, to remember his role. The work, on the first canvas, is presented in a coeval frame.

Oil on the table. Northern European school of the 16th-17th century. According to traditional iconography, the saint is portrayed as he meditates alone, in an open place, reading the Bible, in front of the Crucifix, with the skull beside him; however, instead of a desert, the scene is placed in a Nordic landscape, rich in vegetation, with an architectural structure in the background on the left. also characteristic of northern Europe. The work is presented in a wooden case frame, with an enlarged base, in style.

Oil painting on canvas. The biblical episode depicted refers to the story of Daniel, the prophet in the court of King Darius the Mede who, for having prayed to his God, was condemned to be thrown into the lions' den. But God saved Daniel, sending an angel to close the jaws of the beasts, and the king pardoned Daniel by instead condemning those who had denounced him. The subject has been depicted several times in art, for the fascination linked to history but also for its exotic flavor due to the presence of wild beasts; in particular we remember the version by Rubens of 1615, where the prophet is depicted naked in the underground pit, while he prays ardently, surrounded by a crowd of ferocious lions. The work presented here instead proposes a version centered on the dialogue between the prophet and the angel, who face each other, standing out with the vivid colors of their robes against the dark background of a prison; there is only one lion, meekly crouching at the angel's feet, and therefore the spiritual and salvific dimension of the biblical event prevails. According to the famous art historian Maurizio Marini, a specialist in the painting of Caravaggio and Baroque art, who had had the opportunity to view the painting years ago, the work could be attributable to Antonio Maria Vassallo (1620 -1664) for the compositional and chromatic choices. The painting, restored and relined, is presented with a listello frame.