Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the 18th century. The allegorical scene presents a scantily clad woman sitting on a man's lap, near a table set with a jug, a chalice, a snuffbox and a lit cigar. The two characters are in an attitude of playful complicity, both intent on smoking a long pipe. The background offers a leafy landscape. The figures and objects refer to the material and carnal pleasures of life, smoking, drinking, female company; the rosy and plump characters also recall the pleasure of good food. These subjects were recurrent in Flemish or more generally Nordic painting, which proposed them in an ironic and alluring way. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a period frame.

Hunting Scene

Oil on canvas. Northern European school of the 18th century. The large scene, set in a Nordic landscape, with thick vegetation under impervious blue peaks, represents the culminating moment of a hunt for a fawn: the knight, who occupies the upper part of the scene, is spearing the prey, terrified and broken down in agony; all around the pack of dogs participates, running around the rider and the prey. Among all, the dog in the center at the bottom stands out, the only one with light fur: the intense brightness that it emanates and which brings out the accurate design of its fur, the moving muscles, the exalted expression of the animal, makes it they make the protagonist of the scene, drawing the gaze towards themselves, while all the other figures, including the knight, become the outline, accurate and precise but not the protagonist. It is precisely the accuracy in painting the animals that places the work close to the production of Philip Peter Roos, known as Rosa da Tivoli: originally from Frankfurt but then moved to Rome, where he remained until his death, this artist was very active above all as a painter of animals, shot in the foreground against landscape backgrounds and executed with rich color and intense light effects. The great success he had and the consequent very large production (sometimes to the detriment of the quality of the works), justify the frequent attribution to this painter of works with a subject and pictorial technique close to his, such as the one presented here, which however is not documented and validated. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Oil on panel. Northern European school of the late 19th century. In the composition inside a shed, hunted game lies on a level; on the left the muzzle of the hunting dog appears but is turned towards a nest full of chirping birds, located above the shaft of the carriage seen on the right. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the late 19th century. Unidentified signature lower right. The portrait presents a child in a maritime context: he is sitting on a rock on a beach, by the sea, he is dressed like a sailor and is holding a small toy sailing ship in his hand. The child is rather prim and serious. The painting has slight tears in the canvas and color stains. It is presented in an imposing late 19th century frame, with several missing and damaged plaster decorations.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the 18th century. Caratacus was a Celtic king of the Catuvellauni tribe of Britons and leader of the anti-Roman resistance and famous as a freedom fighter. For eight years he resisted the Roman invasion of Britain starting in 43 AD. For eight years he was the most wanted man in the Roman Empire, hunted relentlessly, from fight to fight, from fortress to fortress, in the mountains of Wales, until he was not betrayed and handed over to the Romans in 51 AD by Cartimandua, queen of the Yorkshire Brigands, to whom he had turned for help. Defeated, he was brought in chains to Rome with his entire family: brought before the emperor, the British king spoke with such wisdom and pride (with the speech reported by Tacitus in his Annales) that Claudius, struck by his words, granted the grace to him, his wife and brothers, allowing them to spend the rest of their days in Rome. The painting presents the moment of Caratacus' peroration, at the center of the scene in chains, fervently pleading his case before the emperor: he is sitting on his throne, flanked by his wife and surrounded by senators and soldiers. The painting, restored and relined at the end of the 19th century, has slight damage.

Oil painting on canvas. North European school of the 19th century. The romantic taste pervades this nocturnal landscape, illuminated by the light of the full moon, barely veiled by scattered thin clouds; on the country path, which runs alongside the torrential course of a river, two figures of wayfarers can be glimpsed, a child holding a woman's hand. The painting is presented in a gilded frame from the end of the 19th century.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the 19th century. Family portrait of three girls, whose marked resemblance in facial features, smile and witty and mischievous gaze, is underlined by the almost identical clothes they wear, whose bright colors enliven the scene and on which the laces of the necklines stand out, exquisitely painted; the youngest in the center, still a child, has a slightly less worked dress and a less elaborate hairstyle, in keeping with her age. The painting is presented in a late 19th century frame that has been adapted and regilded.