Renaissance Cabinet Wood Italy XVII Century - Early 17th century

Oil on canvas. A large architectural structure, imposing in its classicism, with tall twisted columns and elaborate Corinthian-style capitals, dominates a gentle and nuanced lake landscape, which teems with the daily activity of small figures of wayfarers, fishermen, and commoners, well described in their peculiarity. The painting is close to the manners of Viviano Codazzi (1604 -1670) to which it was traditionally attributed. Originally from Bergamo but then active in Rome and Naples, Codazzi was a famous painter of perspectives, considered by many to be the inventor of the view and of the architectural whim. Also close to the Bamboccianti genre, he distinguished himself for the descriptive care of the various protagonists, their gestures, their clothing, care indicating a vision and a study from life of everyday life, read and interpreted without literary filters but with marked naturalism. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a coeval frame.

"L'arc en ciel" XVII Century

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the seventeenth century. The large pastoral scene presents a broad landscape that pushes the gaze to the distant sea coast; on it the sky is gradually opening up, revealing flashes of blue on the left, while on the right, among the darker clouds left over from the storm, a large rainbow is revealed. In the foreground, a group of shepherds and shepherdesses enjoy amorous games, discrete and festive, in the midst of their herds, which rest and drink from the nearby stream. The whole scene is animated by a dimension of joyful relaxation and refreshment, as if the rainbow had restored serenity to the environment, bringing light and with it serenity to the world. The attribution to Jordaens is linked both to the typology of subject, the pastoral one, a recurring theme in the production of the Flemish artist, and to the pictorial modalities: in this work we find his warm and luminous colours, the strong contrasts of light and shadow, the robust figures with red and healthy faces, sometimes with satyristic features, the compositions full of figures that give an air of sensual vitality. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period gilded frame.

Central Italy Late 17th century

Baroque pantry in walnut, central Italy, late 17th century. Front equipped with a pair of paneled doors, uprights decorated with frames, paneled sides, shelf feet. Rack added later.

Oil on canvas. As signed by the label on the back, the painting was presented athe "Venetian Baroque Painting Exhibition" of 1943, with the title "in porto al tramonto" and the attribution to Marco Ricci. This attribution can be motivated by the executive ability, which through rapid and loose brushstrokes. It manages to fully render the natural reality of the stormy sea with sensivity. In this regard, see the similar images published by Rodolfo Pallucchini in the studies "Studi ricceschi: contributo a Marco published in the magazine Arte veneta (vol. IX, 1955). Ricci's landscape and marine productions (which, however, were not his most extensive production) are characterized by powerful and emotional lights, by dry and twisted trees, rocks and towers, cumulus clouds that suddenly break open in vague flashes of blue, foaming waves, a complex repertoire that transfigures nature into a dramatic and restless representation, in which man is also inserted as an integral element. Also in this painting we find these highly dramatic but at the same time scenographic elements, with some human figures, three men on a small boat in the foreground, who are barely distinguishable from the sea and the rocks that surround them, as well as the ship on the left sinking engulfed by the sea. 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.