The rat

Oil on canvas. This is a copy of the famous painting by Giacomo Favretto, which was presented at the Brera Exhibition in 1878 and is now in the Pinacoteca of the same Milanese Academy. The Venetian Giacomo Favretto established himself as the best narrator of popular everyday life in the lagoon, and Il sorcio is probably his best known work and a typical example of his art. He loved to depict scenes of everyday life in a working-class neighbourhood of Venice, a working-class neighbourhood that Giacomo Favretto knew very well since he too came from a lower-class family. In this painting, a child is chasing a mouse while three girls, probably his sisters, have literally climbed onto chairs and are following, at a safe distance, the hunt, giving directions to their younger brother: a subtle taste for irony is mixed with the painter's vivid descriptive and narrative skills, describing the scene with great realism and a typically lagoon-like luminosity that drew on the great Venetian tradition. The copy presented here faithfully reproduces, even in size, the amusing scene, albeit without Favretto's pictorial and luministic quality. The work is presented in a stylish frame.

Chioggia

Oil on the table. Signed lower left. Milanese by birth and training, Leonardo Bazzaro is considered a lively exponent of Lombard impressionism, dedicated to chromatic and luministic research. His very fruitful production of works was dedicated in the early years to Milanese interiors, but then attracted by open-air painting, he moved to landscape views and in particular he was attracted by the color of the Venetian lagoon, which led him to stay for a certain period in Chioggia. As in all of his production, also in this glimpse of the landscape of Chioggia we find a rapid, broad brushstroke, with a strongly material use of colour; the impressionist imprint is evident in the play of light and color. The work is presented in a partial frame.

Drawings on rice paper. They represent four scenes of popular life without backgroun but just human figures with few elements that define the scene. One of the drawers has small missings. The drawings come in a Empire frame.

Little Girl

Oil on the table. On the back there are traces of the signature and two labels from Art galleries, the Bottega d'arte of Livorno and the Galleria Manzoni of Milan, bearing the name of the author, the title and the technical data of the work. Livornese by birth, Ludovico Tommasi was trained near the Macchiaioli current, developing a strong sensitivity for color, which led him to create realist works pervaded by harmonious chromatisms. The work is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil on the table. The picturesque landscape has a wide path in the foreground on the right which winds between fronds and green meadows, where flocks graze; a small family of peasants passes along the path, all engaged in the transport of goods: even the girl carries a large bundle on her head, while the mother carries the basket with her newborn son in the same way! In the background, the plain extends wide to fade towards the distant hills and into the clear and rarefied sky, which gives off an almost pink light. The fir table of the painting has undergone restoration and parqueting. The work is presented in a mid-1900s 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.

Oil on canvas, applied on hardboard in the second half of the 1900s. The painting takes up the pictorial ways of the eighteenth century, with a decorative cut. In a peaceful landscape, with an architectural structure on the right and the green valley with the river opening on the left, two figures walk along the path, a woman with her bundle of clothes and the wayfarer with a saddlebag and a stick. The work is presented in a chronicle style.

Oil on paper applied to canvas. The four works propose pastoral subjects, animated by shepherds with their herds and their faithful dogs, sometimes at rest on the side of the road, in two scenes also flanked by fruit sellers. The works are inspired (as well as by the citation on the back of one of them) by the production of Francesco Londonio, the Milanese artist of the 18th century who made a name for himself for his rural and pastoral scenes, in a repertoire of tasty snapshots of peasant life. The four paintings are presented in contemporary gilded frames, with small defects.

Oil painting on canvas. The landscape reproduces a countryside near the sea coast; on the left the houses, in the center some human figurines, on the right two grazing goats: the romantic atmosphere, supported by the broad sky with pinkish-white clouds, is typical of a "postcard" from the Grand Tour. The work is presented in coeval frame.

Pencil, charcoal and white lead on paper. Signed (Amalia Bianchi?) and dated at the bottom right. Very effective is the use of different pigments that creates a play of chiaroscuri that underlines the figure. The portrait come in a 19th century wooden frame with leather leafy and floral inserts; it has missing parts and color drops.

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 painting on canvas. Portrait of a bourgeois lady, in sober and severe clothing. There are several drops of color. It is presented in a re-gilded coeval frame, with defects.

Oil painting on canvas. In a Mediterranean-type coastal landscape, due to the vegetation characterized by the palm tree and the agave plant in the foreground on the right, an architectural stone structure is found on the right in which the Castle of Terracina can be recognized, while on the left the lake opens up of the Circeo and far away barren peaks rise; in the foreground on the left is a male figure intent on quenching his thirst from the leather skin; with the other hand he leans on the long rifle, while a characteristic headdress is placed on the ground, which evokes the one worn by nineteenth-century brigands. The scene is set at sunset, as the absolutely orange sky evokes, which gives it a romantic and suggestive atmosphere. The work, restored and relined, is presented in a frame from the early 1900s.

Coastal Glimpse

Watercolor on paper. Signed lower right. Salomon Corrodi established himself as a landscape painter, creating a large production of views especially of the Roman countryside, but also of the Amalfi coast, Naples, the Ligurian Riviera, which was widely successful throughout Europe. He preferred the watercolor technique. The work is presented in a period frame.

Male Portrait 1877

Pencil on paper. Signed and dated lower right, in the oval. It is an early work by the well-known sculptor Luigi De Paoli, corresponding to the years of study at the Venice Academy. He also devoted himself to painting only in the last years of his life. The work is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Paintings under glass, on a convex glass surface. The two oval paintings offer landscapes enlivened by figurines of people intent on various activities: in one the setting is in the mountains, with small chalets below by the stream and below rocky peaks; in the other instead at night, a placid river flows near wooded banks, illuminated by the full moon. The paintings are presented in contemporary gilded frames, to be restored due to deficiencies.

Oil painting on canvas. Neapolitan school of the nineteenth century. Typical example of Grand Tour painting, the painting offers a glimpse of the Gulf of Naples animated by numerous boats, of which in the foreground one of fishermen landing on the beach, where their wives and children await. In the background stands the smoking Vesuvius. The scene is lively for the vitality it expresses and for the colors, although the pink shades of the sky and Vesuvius recall the romantic note of the painting of the time. The canvas has small color drops. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Park

Watercolor on paper. Signed lower right. On the back there is a label from the Manzoni Art Gallery in Milan, with the data of the work. A leading exponent of 19th-century Lombard painting which was always linked to the love for the real, Pompeo Mariani was also called "the Italian impressionist", due to the influence in his works of French impressionism and those experiences, not only cultural, which constituted the era of the Belle Époque, which the artist lived between Milan, Bordighera, Nice and Montecarlo. In this small watercolor Mariani offers a glimpse of a city park, adorned with statues along the gate. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Bruges 1979

Oil on hardboard. Signature and location lower right. On the back there is another signature, with the title and date of the work. Giovanni Balansino, Piedmontese by origin but Lombard by adoption, chose to depict his love for both lands with his painting made of broad and nervous brushstrokes, dedicating a large part of his production to them. In this case, instead, it offers a glimpse of Bruges, a well-known Flemish town. The work is presented in a frame.