Sant'ambrogio

Original oil painting on cardboard for the preparation of the stained glass window of the church of Viggiù (Varese), for which the master Aligi Sassu made many works. This painting comes with expertise on picture signed by Alessandro Grassi, master glassmaker who collaborated with many Italian and foreign architects and artists and realized the final work in collaboration with the artist. The painting depicts St. Ambrose - patron Saint of Milan - in the act of denying the entry into the church to the emperor Theodosius I, who was guilty of many crimes even though he was a Christian. In frame. 20th century.

Oil on copper. The Magdalene, wrapped in her long hair with which she covers her nakedness, turns her eyes to the sky where angels look out. Around her a barren landscape. The painting is presented in a frame from the 1900s.

Textile Reproduction

Textile reproduction in silk, in two tones Made from a design by T. Strazza, as shown below on the left. The faithful reproduction of Leonardo's painting is part of a flourishing Lombard manufacturing production, which re-proposed the masterpiece in different formats. The work is exposed in a contemporary wooden frame.

Fabric embroidery. The fragment belonges to a bigger scene of John Baptist's birth with his father Zaccaria sitting in the corner while writing his name and her mother Elizabeth supervises from the bad the care given to his son by the servants. The fabric has holes and signe of wear. Revival Frame.

Oil on canvas. Italian School. The scene, full of figures, depicts the Holy Family walking towards Egypt, guided by an Angel and assisted by other angels above. The figures are inserted in a typical Italian landscape, they are depicted in a very earthly dimension: the Child, even with a halo, sleeps peacefully in His Mother's hands; Mary, who is wearing an unusual pilgrim's hat, met her husband's Joseph gaze, who is reassuring her with a sweet gesture - he is putting a hand on her knee-, while he is talking with the Angel who is showing them the way. Relined, the painting has some paint losses that need restoration. It is in an adapted frame, from the late '800 - early '900.

Oil on canvas. Monograme at the bottom. On the back of the frame there is the name of the artist, an amatorial painter, with date, dedication to a friend and inspiration, a Madonna by Luca della Robbia. Fair conditions. It comes in a 19th century gilded frame.

Maria Dolente

Marble bas-relief. Engraved signature along the left margin. Born in Cannobbio (on Lake Maggiore), Giulio Branca was introduced to the art by the Cannobio sculptor Bergonzoli, and later attended G. Strazza's school of nude drawing and sculpture at the Brera Academy. Born in Cannobio on 13 December 1850 to Ludovico, he was introduced to art by the Cannobio sculptor Bergonzoli, and attended the school of the nude and G. Strazza's school of sculpture at the Brera Academy. He made about four hundred sculptures, including memorials, funerary monuments and portrait busts. Branca also took part, following a competition, in the completion of the high wall of the cathedral of Como, which had remained unfinished for centuries, sculpting several figures in white marble for the façade and the altar between 1897 and 1900. The work presented here is a bas-relief showing a half-bust of the grieving Madonna flanked by two pious women. It is presented in a coeval wooden frame from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

Oil on canvas. Italian school of the seventeenth century. The scene of traditional Christian iconography is very lively and lively, very rich in figures, details and colors: in the center the three figures of the Magi, who pay homage to the Baby Jesus, moved to the left with the Holy Family, while at right there is all the rich suite of the three kings, with gifts. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame, with shortcomings.

Oil on canvas. Center-Italian School. The Saitn from Assisi is represented while contemplating the Crucifix as he was traditionally portraited, itinerant in the Umbrian countryside. The painting had already been restored but need to be clean. Displayed in an ancient frame.

Mater Dolorosa

Oil on canvas. Copy of a subject realized by Tiziano, who completed three different autograph copies, each one different from the other for the pose of the Virgin: 1. Mater Dolorosa, with open hands (oil on marble, at the Museo del Prado in Madrid); 2 Mater Dolorosa with folded hands (oil on panel at the Museo Cerralbo in Madrid); 3. Mater Dolorosa with folded hands (oil on panel, auctioned in New York on 06/04/2006). This pieces dates back to mid 16th century, but there are more later variants, attributed to the Venetian artist and his atelier. It is well known that Tiziano would introduce small variations even in his autograph copies to reinforce the autenticity effect. This copy, dating back to the following century, is still of the highest execution quality, There is a monogram on the back (in an affixed space on the canvas) that is probably the artist's signature. The painting, restored and recanvased, is presented in an antique frame.

Oil on canvas. The face of the Virgin reminds of the style of representation of Giovanni Battista Salvi, also known as Sassoferrato (1609-1685), whose style was often revived in 18th and 19th century. There is a cartouche on the back of the painting with the inventory number (N. 193) and the name of the collector Giuseppe Bertarelli (1804-1875), merchant and philanthropist from Milan, known for his important art donations to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. The painting is in its first canvas; needs restorations for small paint losses and two small holes. It is presented in a coeval frame.

Oil on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th-18th century. On the back this label of the Art Gallery with the indication "Venetian School of 1600". The Gospel episode of the deposition of Christ from the Cross is depicted. The body of Jesus, which stands out white for the pallor of death but also as a symbol of his purity, stands out in the center among the other figures, the only one inert among the other characters. His arms still open while he is detached from the Cross, constitute a link between the two figures of Mary and John standing below him, and the sky. Around several figures that chorally create movement, intertwining, shapes and colors. The restored and relined work is presented in a coeval frame, in carved, stuccoed and lacquered wood.

Reduced version from an altarpiece by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli

Oil painting on canvas. Venetian school of the seventeenth century. Entirely in the foreground, this scene of a group of sacred figures, which presents the faces of Mary and the Child Jesus in the centre, surrounded by the young San Giovanni in the lower left, and three angels forming a crown around. All the characters are happy and smiling, despite the reference to passion given by the stick surmounted by the Cross which John offers to Jesus. The movement of the bodies and the bright colors make the scene come alive. The painting is still on the first canvas, with no signs of previous restoration. There are several drops of color, spread above all along the lower margin and the two sides. It is presented in an antique lacquered wooden frame.

Episodes from the Life of John the Baptist

Five drawings mixed technique on paper, depicting scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist, as recounted in the Gospels (The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, the birth, the Baptism of Jesus, beheading, Salome presents the severed head to Herod). The back label specifies that the designs are copied from the cycle of the Chapel of St. John the Baptist in the famous Basilica of San Lorenzo in Genoa. In the frame.

Oil on canvas. Flemish School. Magdalene is represented with her iconographical symbols: in the desert, half-dressed and with her hair down, with the book of Holy Scriptures and in an attitude of ecstasy; next to her there is a skull, symbol of " momento mori", that recalls to the transience of life. Restored and displayed in a frame made with readjusted old woods.

Oil on canvas. Venetian school. The scene, inspired by the Gospel of Luke, describes the visit made by Mary, already pregnant with Jesus, to her cousin Elizabeth, who in turn awaits the birth of her son John, the future Baptist. The meeting between the two women also corresponds to the meeting between the two unborn children and the anticipation of the recognition of Jesus the Savior, with John leaping in his mother\'s womb when he hears Mary speak, who recites the beautiful prayer in thanksgiving. of the Magnificat. The two spouses attend the scene, the old Zacharias, husband of Elizabeth and Joseph, husband of Mary. Of great scenic impact, the scene is set in a building with columns; the figures are in motion, bodies and gazes cross and intertwine; the bright colors help to create brightness and lightness. The restored and relined painting is presented with a thin gilt frame.

Oil on canvas. Northern Italy school. The depiction of the Nativity is seen here as a contemplative moment of the Holy Child, by Mary and Joseph, accompanied by little angels. The pictorial ways resume those of widely replicated models, starting from Correggio, from Barocci, to arrive at the numerous versions of Gherardo delle notte, or the Flemish painter Gerard Von Honthorst, representative of tenebrism, a pictorial current that played on strong contrasts of darkness and light, light and dark. In this work too, the light radiated by the Baby Jesus illuminates the figures around him and makes them emerge from the surrounding darkness. The restored and relined work is presented in a 19th century frame.

Oil on slate. Painted on a thick slab of slate, the scene presents the dramatic moment in which Mary, surrounded by a group of pious women, weeps over the body of her Son taken down from the Cross: she abandons herself dramatically in the arms of the two women behind her, while at the her womb rests the inert body of the Son, on whose hand a third woman weeps; above, a group of angels who look out from the open skies, from which the divine Light springs, participate in the lamentation. Mary is the only figure who wears brightly colored clothes, which contrast with the waxy color of the body of Christ resting on her lap, while the other women wear clothes in dull colors, just as neutral are the bodies of the little angels. The figures are placed on a dark background, in which the opening of the sepulcher can hardly be seen: the chromatic effect is rendered thanks also to the pictorial base used, the slate, a stone also known as the "blackboard", as the most important slate quarries are located near the town of Lavagna in Liguria. The pictorial modality recalls the works of Pietro Mera known as the Flemish, a painter originally from Brussels who lived between the 16th and 17th centuries: active for a long time in Venice, working from 1570 to 1603 in the service of Cardinal d'Este, Mera made extensive use slate as a pictorial support for some of his works. The material with its characteristic dark color allowed the artist to create intense luministic contrasts and to emphasize the figures, depicted with a bright chromatic range and illuminated by brilliant touches of light. In good condition, the painting is presented in an antique frame.

Ethiopian art, c. 1935

The canvas depicts the meeting between the queen of Sheba and king Solomon. The queen is represented seated on a throne, in the center of the scene, and to the left appears the following, which brings rich gifts to the king. Solomon is sitting on his throne, characterised by the image of the lion on the side, behind him entered his court. In the underlying part, the musicians emphasize the character of the feast of the meeting. It is part of a group of seven works, which arrived in Italy at the end of the '30s; were purchased directly on-site , as we have reconstructed from the correspondence and from the family photos, from the lawyer xxx, grandfather of the owners, who was sent as a legal representative of a company of Italian production in 1935 in Ethiopia, and from here it was driven out in 1938 by general Graziani, because it was considered anti-fascist. The paintings remained in the family collection, in the palace of the family, and are now presented in all their expressive force. Ethiopia has a very particular history: it is situated between Africa and Asia, and between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, was a crossroads and meeting point of different cultures, stimulated also by the constant and intense trade flows. Five centuries before Christ, stabilized the dynasty of Aksum; in this kingdom, in the fourth century after Christ, christianity was established as state religion, in his version, the coptic orthodox. The sacred texts of the medieval speak also, however, a direct relationship with one of the ten Hebrew tribes, after fleeing to Ethiopia, from which sprang the royal family through the queen of Sheba. And in fact, in Ethiopia still live today), the line of the Falascià, black jews, whose first historical mention dates back to 600 after Christ. Ethiopia was then a bastion of jewish-christian, with african influences, but to be considered almost the southern edge of the mediterranean culture.