Landscape Painting Attributed to Thomas Heeremans Oil on Canvas - Winter Landscape with Figures on Ice

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.

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.

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. The rich lady portrayed is accompanied by the identifying inscription at the top right which reads "Eleonora Lampuniana Nupta N.V. Bartolomei De Cornu 1478": it is therefore Eleonora Lampugnani wife of Bartolomeo Del Corno. The Lampugnani family is an ancient patrician family of Milan (the name derives from the Lampugnano neighbourhood), with residences in Legnano and Busto Arsizio, and to which Filippo Maria Visconti (Duke of Milan) assigned the fief of Trecate in the fifteenth century; the noblewoman's husband belonged to the noble Piedmontese Corno family (originally called Del Corno). The noblewoman is portrayed standing, in a splendid richly embroidered dress, embellished with lace; she lays her hand on a precious box inlaid with ivory, probably a coin cabinet, a symbol of wealth and power, surmounted by a vase with flowers, a symbol of vanity. The painting has an ancient restoration on the hands, which are of lower quality than the face, the clothes, the glass jar. The painting comes from an antique Lombard collection. The date 1478, reported in the inscription, is not very consistent with the sixteenth-century clothing: according to the story of the family of origin of the painting, the date that appeared before the last restoration was 1578, and therefore it would be a modification mistakenly made by the restorer.

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 painting on canvas. Lombard school of the seventeenth century. The large scene presents in the center the seated Madonna proposing her breast to the Baby Jesus, who instead stretches out to try to pick a fruit from the basket that St. John gives him, standing under them; around, five figures of saints, recognizable by their iconographic attributes. From the left you have: St. Paul, holding the sword, St. Anna, lovingly watching over his daughter and grandson, St. Peter holding the keys to the Kingdom, St. Joseph with his stick and a carpenter's tool at his waist , and finally, last on the right, San Carlo Borromeo, whose presence in the work supports the Lombard client. The painting also comes from the private collection of a Lombard family, of which it has been part since the 19th century. The work is still on the first canvas and with the original frame; on the back it has some small patches and signs of previous patches. It is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Oil on canvas. Emilian school. The large painting comes from the mixture of a piece by Guido Reni (1575-1642), "Virgin Mary at the sewing school", now lost, but known for studio copies and engravings, and another version, left unfinished by Reni himself and then completed by Gianandrea Sirani (1610-1670), and is now presented in the Hermitage Museum in Petersburg. The art historian Massimo Pulini has written about this second version and the finishing work by Sirani, in the article "Gianandrea Sirani painter of recitatives and finisher of unfinished pieces by Reni". The piece presented here refers to the version of Sirani in the composition that takes up the whole scene with female figures participating in the school, to which the little dog is added, however moved from left to right, while the presence of the girl accompanied by her mother on the right refers to the version of Reni. Moreover, an absolutely new element appears in this piece, which makes this canvas an additional version: the presence of a landscape opening in the background in the centre, framed between the two heavy curtains. The piece has been restored and relined. It is presented in an 18th century frame, regilded and adapted.

Oil on canvas. Neapolitan school of the eighteenth century. The scene, located near the sea, is dominated by a large complex of architectural ruins, with statues, arches, hanging gardens, and animated by numerous figurines of commoners intent on various activities. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an antique frame.

Feast day in the Village

Oil on canvas. On the back of the painting there are some labels: one from an English market (probably an auction from the early 1900s) bearing the title; a second from a Milanese gallery in via Montenapoleone (from the 1930s) and finally a label from an important private collection. The scene proposes a moment of celebration in a Nordic village: in the center of the street men and women dance and chat, while others sit at tables drinking and playing, children and animals chase each other around; the atmosphere is lively and cheerful. The pictorial style and the methods of execution are compatible with the production of David Teniers III (son of David Teniers II the Younger), a Flemish painter who in his production includes various scenes of festivity and village life. Restored and relined at the end of the 19th century, with a frame from the same period.