Antique Bronze Donkey Anonymous Italy XIX Century - Italy, XIX Century

Mixed media on paper. Delicate oval portrait of a young man, whose face and hair fade into the pastel colors of the background, which seems to be one with his figure. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Interior of Stable, 1889

Oil on hardboard. Signed and dated 11-30-1889 lower left. Delleani, who initially painted mainly historical subjects, progressively approached landscape painting "en plein air", especially of the places of his origins, the Piedmontese valleys, characterizing his views with chromatic vibrations and warm brightness. In the last decades of his life, however, he also allowed himself to be involved in the orientalist trend, but then returned to his landscape views, creating above all panels rich in warm colors and suggestive atmospheres. Rarer but equally evocative is his production of interiors, such as this one of a stable, where the animated figures, the sheep, appear as almost indistinct spots of color within an environment played entirely on the luminous effects of a single chromatic range. Restored and protected, the painting is presented in a gilded frame from the early 1900s.

Ballerina 1896

Mixed media on cardboard. Signed dated lower right. Adolfo Magrini was a multifaceted artist: painter, illustrator, engraver, set designer, after an initial production influenced by the romantic painting of Palizzi and Morelli, he was contaminated by Central European influences, becoming more angular. This youthful work is still influenced by the Neapolitan artists with whom he trained. The painting is presented in a frame from the first half of the 20th century. Has some color damage.

Oil on hardboard. Unidentifiable acronym at the bottom left. In English style, the painting presents a country landscape with a hunting dog sniffing out the scent, followed at a distance by the hunter. The painting is presented in a contemporary frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Bottom right signed Borella and dated 1894. It is probably Rafael Borella (1874 -1953), a painter born and trained in Milan but then moved to Uruguay. His first Italian production includes Venetian and Val d'Aosta landscapes. This painting, which offers a mountain view, with meadows crossed by a stream near which a fisherman sits. The scene could therefore be a youthful production by Borella, suited to him in terms of subject and style. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The large painting recalls the pictorial methods of the 17th century but is from a later period, and was created on a canvas applied to an older one. The scene tells the biblical episode (taken from the Book of Kings) widely narrated pictorially, depicting the bath of Bathsheba, the wife of General Uriah, in the service of King David. According to the biblical story, David is on the terrace of his palace when he notices the woman bathing in the garden of her home, surrounded by her handmaids. Davide falls in love with her and seduces her, making her pregnant. To hide the crime, he recalls General Uriah from the front, to make him lie down with his wife, but Uriah does not want to leave his soldiers; then David sends him to fight on the front line hoping that he will be killed: this happens and David can marry Bathsheba, but he will be punished by God for the adultery and impiety committed. The painting shows the moment in which Bathsheba, having just come out of the bathroom, while she is reflected in the mirror held by a slave girl, and surrounded by other servants, reads the note that King David sent her; the latter appears at the top right, overlooking the terrace. The scene is dominated by female figures intertwined with each other, in a tangle of clothes and fabrics, and surrounded by flowers from the garden; in the center stands the mirror in a rich golden frame. The painting has a patch at the bottom right. It is presented in an antique gilded frame.

The Last Judgment

Oil painting on canvas. The work is probably the preparatory and presentation painting to the client of the fresco created by Moretti Larese for the vault of the church of Volpago del Montello (Treviso), dedicated to Santa Maria Maddalena. The Last Judgment describes Heaven on the clouds above, gathered around Christ sitting on the judge's throne. In the background the Trinitarian image is composed, with God the Father in flight and the dove of the Holy Spirit, among the choirs of angels and the elders of the Apocalypse. Christ the judge is flanked by his mother Mary, in the role of intercessor, and by the four evangelists who have in their hands the Gospels of which they are authors and alongside the traditional symbols. The saints of the Old Testament are lined up on the sides (David with the harp, Moses with the tablets of the law, John the Baptist with the processional cross) and the apostles Peter (with the keys) and Paul (with the sword of martyrdom). The terrace below is occupied by the other apostles (Andrew with the cross) and saints. The three Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, with their symbols, show the resurrected people the cross of Jesus' sacrifice. The angel with the top hat awakens the dead and shows them the judge. The archangel Michael, with his flaming sword and double-pan scales, decides the individual fate of the resurrected. Below, the elect (including mothers with their children) ascend to Heaven with the help of the angels. The damned instead end up in the flames of Hell. The painting presents evident traces of the underlying pencil drawing and, compared to the definitive fresco, some small differences in the postures of some figures and above all in the non-definitive colors. Moretti Largese was appreciated above all as a decorator of public and private buildings, but he also created some religious frescoes. The painting is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Landscape with Figures

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. Achille Vertunni was born and trained artistically in Naples, but then moved to Rome where, in his mature age, his studio in Via Margutta was a point of reference for many Italian and foreign critics and artists (D'Annunzio, De Sanctis , Franz Listz, to name a few) and was frequented by the nobility and politicians of the time, figures of the Risorgimento and visitors of the "Grand Tour". His first themes were inspired by historical events, but he then dedicated himself to landscape which, from the seventies, became the almost exclusive subject of his paintings. Its sunsets in the Roman countryside and in the Pontine Marshes are characteristic, sometimes animated by butteri and herds of buffalo. This painting shows two figures in traditional Lazio clothing, a couple of farmers resting near a small votive chapel along the road; on the right the coastal landscape opens up along the Tiber, at the bottom of which the profile of Rome stands out, with the Dome of St. Peter and Castel Sant'Angelo. Above all, the typically romantic atmosphere of a sunset, with its play of soft, pink lights. The painting, relined, is presented in a period frame.

The Nine Muses

Tapestry. The word Euterp appears at the bottom right. The enormous grass juice depicts the nine Muses, female Greek divinities, all sisters, as daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and having the god Apollo as their guide. They represented the supreme ideal of Art, understood as the truth of the "Everything" or the "eternal magnificence of the divine". Initially considered in a generic way as divinities of song and joyous dances, responsible for putting into music and verse stories such as the origin of the world, the birth of gods and men, the exploits of Zeus, and often depicted accompanied by various musical instruments, starting from the Hellenistic era, all singing and musical expressions were associated with them, including sad and funeral ones, and other arts such as theatre, and each of them was associated with a specific genre of art, so that they could be invoked individually to exercise their inspiration and protection. The word "Euterp"refers to the name of one of them, Euterpe, muse of lyric poetry and music, traditionally depicted with a flute; but the name Euterpe etymologically means "She who cheers" who brings joy, and one can therefore think that the choice of this name to title the tapestry refers to the most ancient function of the Muses, those of bringers of joy through art. In this presentation, the muses appear dancing, dressed in veils and flowering branches; in their hands or placed next to them, instruments or other objects symbolizing the art that they inspire appear (both tragic and comic theatrical masks, the pictorial palette, various musical instruments...). The large painting has signs of wear and humidity stains.

Oil painting on canvas. French school. At the bottom left are the signature and date written backwards; the signature is readable as H. Faillade. At the bottom right there is the Latin writing " Quando ex exilio redibit!!!"; (When he returns from exile!). This writing underlines the bond of the man portrayed with the young general depicted in the small picture that he holds in his hand, probably his relative and linked to the monarchy of Charles, the last sovereign of the Bourbon-France dynasty, absolutist and anti-liberal monarch, overthrown from the throne and fled in exile in 1830 during the July Revolution, known as the Second French Revolution. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Landscape with River and Figures 1878

Watercolor and pencil on paper. Signed and dated lower left. We know of several landscape views of the English countryside by the English painter Henry Clifford Warren, mostly painted in watercolour. Here is a view of a wooded countryside crossed by a wide river, with a shepherd leading his cows to graze on the hill in the foreground. Presented in a frame.

The Announcement of Defeat at Waterloo

Oil painting on canvas. French school of the 19th century. The scene, set in the poor bedroom of an elderly war veteran, who is crying in his bed, sees his family telling him the sad news of the defeat at Waterloo, as can be deduced from the sheet of newspaper in the woman's hands, on which the name of the historic location where Napoleon Bonaparte was definitively defeated. The canvas shows signs of previous restorations, in particular the patch corresponding to the female figure is clearly visible. It is presented in an early 20th century setting.