Composed of woodblocked sheets, sewn together and partly colored, with matching figures and texts. The group consists of 23 booklets, of which two in three copies and one in four copies; another couple has the same cover but different contents. The booklets can be considered as "manga" of the nineteenth century: the word "manga" still today can designate many different productions, such as single cartoons, scattered drawings, more elaborate illustrations, comic strips, comic books, as well as animated drawings. Therefore, starting from the assumption that there is no "manga form" but different ways of conceiving objects and graphic forms all denominated with this word, the term manga can be attested in literary and essayistic use in Japan as early as the eighteenth century to indicate, as mentioned above, drawings and sketches. But it is from the first half of the nineteenth century that Katsushika Hokusai's 15 volumes of illustrations, studies, graphic entertainment and detailed bichromatic prints became established, thanks to the progressive publication, starting from 1814. If, on the other hand, we want to give the word the more specific meaning of “stories drawn in sequence”, then the debut must be placed in the second half of the nineteenth century, similarly to what happened in Europe and the United States for comics. The booklets are in good condition.

Pulcinella Holidays 1981

Oil (mixed) on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. On the back another signature, the title, the technique, and an autographed dedication by the artist to a friend. Mario Cortiello, a Neapolitan painter who was a pupil of Gennaro Villani and later a friend and collaborator of Umberto Lilloni, participated with his own personal style in the renewal of Neapolitan painting, without straying from tradition. Endowed with fertile invention and remarkable representative capacity, he left behind a rich and varied production. Landscape or urban views are recurring in his production, populated by numerous figures, often, in the Neapolitan setting, by Pulcinella, depicted floating on dreamlike backgrounds, so much so that he is defined as the Neapolitan Chagall. In this work Cortiello represents the holidays of the Neapolitan mask as a playful moment in the company of the ever-present naked women. The work is presented in a frame.

Oil on canvas applied to plywood. Signed lower left. Ezio Pastorio, originally from Cremona but transplanted to Valseriana after his studies, is considered "a great Italian master of the 20th century, who knew how to renew the artistic language of the landscape while maintaining a strong link with 19th century painting". His production is post-impressionist in nature, especially in the large landscape production that depicts the Po and Bergamo plains, the Venetian lagoon and some Parisian glimpses, admired during some travels. In his works, Pastorio creates suggestive atmospheres using infinite ranges of colours, which harmonize and sometimes even contrast, but always presented as a transparency which annuls the static nature of the representation and with a delicacy which expresses his devout religiosity towards nature and the created. Less frequent in his production are floral subjects, such as this composition in a vase of wild flowers, among which poppies and cornflowers stand out, with a bulb abandoned on the table top. The work, coming from a private collection, is presented in a frame.

Road to Cervasca 1981

Oil on hardboard. Signed lower right. Further signature, date and title on the back. 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 the proposed painting, Giovanni Balansino presents a glimpse of a country road near a village that he identifies in Cervasca, a small mountain town in the Cuneo area, animated by two barely sketched figurines that blend into the natural environment, due to the overlapping of the applied colors with rapid brush strokes and undefined contours. The work is presented in a frame.

Mountain Landscape

Oil on canvas. Signed at the bottom left. Glimpse of snowy peaks with cabins. The tuscan artist Luigi Bini was a painter, ceramist and sculpture not related to the traditional techniques, he loved to experience. His paintings, which include portraits and figure studies, were mainly done in pastel and tempera to achieve lively and soft colour transitions through broad brush strokes. The work in question is presented in a revival frame.

The Landing of the Sirens 1976

Oil (mixed) on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. Further signature, title, technique and declaration of authenticity on the back. Mario Cortiello, a Neapolitan painter who was a pupil of Gennaro Villani and later a friend and collaborator of Umberto Lilloni, participated with his own personal style in the renewal of Neapolitan painting, without straying from tradition. Endowed with fertile invention and remarkable representative capacity, he left behind a rich and varied production. Landscape or urban views are recurring in his production, populated by numerous figures, often, in the Neapolitan setting, by Pulcinella, depicted floating on dreamlike backgrounds, so much so that he is defined as the Neapolitan Chagall. In this work, the Pulcinellas joyfully welcome a large group of women disembarking from an arriving ship. The work is presented in a frame.

Untitled 1930

Ink on paper. Signature and date below. Accompanied by authentication on photo from Galleria Giò Marconi in Milan and stamp from private archive. It is the drawing of the young artist who soon became one of the most important exponents of world surrealism, who was a poet and painter, but also a filmmaker, art and film critic, photographer and humorous designer. Born in the north of France, in 1927 he settled in Paris, where he came into contact with a group of young poets and philosophers, with whom he founded the '' Grand Jeu '' movement: play is understood as an art of living. Since 1928 he has collaborated with texts, poems and drawings for the movement's magazine and in the meantime he collaborates as an editor and reporter with various Parisian newspapers.In 1932, having exhausted the experience of the `` Grand Jeu '', he passes to the surrealist movement, collaborating on its publications and participating in its exhibitions. His humor turns towards the unusual and cruelty, more and more derisive of the absurdity of everyday life, of the tragic side of common existence, to which the spirit and the unconscious rebel, trying to access the unobservable. Knows Salvador Dalí. In 1939 he also began his activity as a filmmaker. In 1941 his first personal exhibition took place in Paris: the first buyer was Pablo Picasso. Participate in all surrealist exhibitions, including the 1947 international one in Paris. In 1951, for reasons relating to the internal discipline of the group, he abandoned the surrealist movement with others, while continuing to practice its poetics. In 1955 he also became passionate about photography. Since 1968 he has devoted himself almost exclusively to painting, abandoning the activity of humorous draftsman. In the same year he settled permanently in Milan: in Italy he exhibited in various personal exhibitions, those in Milan at the Galleria Marconi. The work presented here, an early drawing, comes from an important Milanese private collection. It is presented in a frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The large landscape foreshortening offers a view of a lake enclosed by mountain peaks, which evoke Lake Como; in the foreground, on the slope from which the view opens, a corner of the garden with buried flowers and potted plants, to create a corner of color in contrast with the dominant ranges of blue and green. The painting has a small patch on the back. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Mixed media on canvas. The large scene, painted in the unique reddish-pink range, features two large figures on the right, while the entire left side is occupied by a desert landscape, with the waves of the dunes fading into the distance. The two figures depict a seated horseman, wearing a turban and Saracen dress, being fed by a maiden in Western dress, who is handing him a tray laden with food, while on the shelf below is a basin of water, ears of corn and various fruits. This could be one of the many representations of the story of Angelica and Medoro, recounted by Ariosto in Orlando Furioso, which tells of the love between the Christian maiden and the Saracen knave wounded in a clash, who then fled together to Catai, thus triggering Orlando's madness. The work is presented in a frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower right and on the back. Ezio Pastorio, originally from Cremona but transplanted to Valseriana after his studies, is considered "a great Italian master of the 20th century, who knew how to renew the artistic language of the landscape while maintaining a strong link with 19th century painting". His production is post-impressionist in nature, especially in the large landscape production that depicts the Po and Bergamo plains, the Venetian lagoon and some Parisian glimpses, admired during some travels. In his works, Pastorio creates suggestive atmospheres using infinite ranges of colours, which harmonize and sometimes even contrast, but always presented as a transparency which annuls the static nature of the representation and with a delicacy which expresses his devout religiosity towards nature and the created. Less frequent in his production are floral subjects, such as this vase full of daisies, which moreover reflects all the artist's expressive capacity, and his skilful use of colour. The work, coming from a private collection, is presented in a frame.

Female Portrait

Oil on canvas. Signed at the bottom right. Portrait of a young woman in a black evening dress, enlivened by the large flowered shawl she wears draped over one shoulder. The work of the Romagna artist Alberto Salietti. Although he spent almost all his artistic career in Milan and Liguria, Alberto Salietti - painter, engraver, mosaicist and fresco painter - remained a point of reference for painters from Romagna, especially between the two wars. After moving with his family to Milan, Salietti attended the Brera Academy of Fine Arts until 1914. After the Venice Biennial in 1924, he joined the Novecento movement and became its secretary in 1925. In 1926 he exhibited at the "First exhibition of the Novecento italiano" and in 1927 was one of the founders of the "Group of seven modern painters" together with Funi, Sironi, Tosi, Carrà, Marussig and Bernasconi. As a portraitist and landscape painter, Salietti - who patiently drew on post-impressionist, secessionist and Novecentista influences - made an original contribution to Italian art between the two wars, distinguishing himself by his joyful and optimistic adherence to reality. The painting comes in a frame.

Oil on hardboard. Signed lower right. Further signature, date and title on the back. 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., which this glimpse includes of a town in the Lombard plain. In 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.

The path of San Rocco (Camogli)

Oil on cardboard. Signed lower left. On the back this title in pencil. An extremely original landscape painter who experimented with oil painting but also with watercolors and engraving, Raul Viviani came very close to pointillist painting, however developing his own personal technique, characterized by very thin filaments of color in the shape of thin commas, which define the structures of his landscapes. With his transfer to Liguria, which made the landscape of that region the protagonist of his works, his technique changed, moving away from the original divisionism to open up to a broad and summary brushstroke, which finally resulted in the last period in a production of nature death with violent and contrasting colors. This landscape can also be placed in the Ligurian period, which offers a glimpse of a well-known Ligurian locality, still rendered in the characteristic style of Viviani, made of brushstrokes in thin filaments, superimposed on spots of lively color, in the chromatic ranges of the colors of nature. In frame.

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.

The Wanderers

Oil on pressed cardboard. Signed lower right. On the back the title. Originally from Mantua but artistically trained at the Brera Academy, as a pupil of Cesare Tallone, Lino Baccarini exhibited at the Milanese Biennale and then throughout Italy, distinguishing himself above all as a portraitist, even with famous personalities. The work proposes a landscape of cultivated plain, with a line of wagons of wanderers that advance slowly on the road in the middle of the fields. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner and on the back (Verschafeldt). Light losses of color. In coeval frame with missing parts. Early 20th century.

Glimpse Of Naples Bay

Oil on board. Signed at the bottom right. On the back there is a stamp of the art studio-workshop in Naples. The view of the Bay of Naples shows a landing place for small fishing boats, along a beach populated by numerous figures. Vesuvius rises in the background, its outline fading into a cloudy grey sky, which takes the sunlight away from the day, illuminated rather by the bustling bustle of people on the promenade. Very little is known about the Neapolitan artist Eduardo Scognamiglio: his work includes numerous views and vistas, mainly of Naples, but also popular genre scenes and portraits of popular figures. His production had a large following abroad, where he was known, appreciated and widely requested, earning him the English name of Edwardo. The painting comes in a revival frame.

The Country Road

Oil on hardboard. Signed lower left. Having moved as a child with his family to Milan in 1898, still very young, Raoul Viviani enrolled at the Brera Academy, where he studied under the guidance of Giuseppe Mentessi (1857-1931). At the same time he attended the nude school of the Artistic Family, with which he exhibited for the first time at the age of 17, immediately enjoying great success with the public and critics, as a landscape painter with a strong personality and modernity and for his highly original style characterized from strong chromatic experiments. In 1912 he participated in the Venice Biennale and subsequently participated in numerous national and international exhibitions. From 1926 he began his career in the field of art criticism, writing for various newspapers, but his opposition to fascism led him to choose voluntary exile: in 1931 he moved to Uruguay, where he founded and directed the Academy of Montevideo Fine Arts. Returning to Milan in 1937, he resumed his activity as a painter and as a critic. In the 1950s he moved to Rapallo for health reasons and remained there until his death. Extremely original landscape painter, who engages in oil painting but also in watercolor and engraving, is very close to pointillist painting, however, developing his own personal technique, characterized by very thin filaments of color in the form of thin commas, which define the structures of the its landscapes. With his transfer to Liguria, the Ligurian landscape becomes the protagonist of his works and also his mute technique, moving away from the original pointillism to open up to a broad and summary brushstroke, which finally leads to a production of still lifes from violent and contrasting colors. In this work in which the technical characteristic of Viviani is well appreciated, along the country path that runs along the canal, a figure of a woman appears, which constitutes an exception in his production, usually lacking in figurative elements. Work in frame.