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.

Oil painting on canvas. The painting offers a half-length portrait of a young man who, in deshabillé, is lighting his pipe by drawing fire with a stick from the candle placed in front of him, on the table where a sword is also placed: perhaps it is a young knight in a moment of rest. It is precisely the candle, the only source of light in the scene, which suggests that the artist looked to the production of Georges De La Tour (1593 -1652), the French painter of the Caravaggio style who established himself for his "nocturnal" scenes, characterized by figures, usually low-ranking people rather than historical models or high-ranking figures, illuminated by the light of a candle, to create a special atmosphere of intimacy. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The biblical episode depicted refers to the story of Daniel, the prophet in the court of King Darius the Mede who, for having prayed to his God, was condemned to be thrown into the lions' den. But God saved Daniel, sending an angel to close the jaws of the beasts, and the king pardoned Daniel by instead condemning those who had denounced him. The subject has been depicted several times in art, for the fascination linked to history but also for its exotic flavor due to the presence of wild beasts; in particular we remember the version by Rubens of 1615, where the prophet is depicted naked in the underground pit, while he prays ardently, surrounded by a crowd of ferocious lions. The work presented here instead proposes a version centered on the dialogue between the prophet and the angel, who face each other, standing out with the vivid colors of their robes against the dark background of a prison; there is only one lion, meekly crouching at the angel's feet, and therefore the spiritual and salvific dimension of the biblical event prevails. According to the famous art historian Maurizio Marini, a specialist in the painting of Caravaggio and Baroque art, who had had the opportunity to view the painting years ago, the work could be attributable to Antonio Maria Vassallo (1620 -1664) for the compositional and chromatic choices. The painting, restored and relined, is presented with a listello frame.

Cherubs playing with cards

Oil on canvas. The depicted scene is set in a closed environment with a wide window which provides a glimpse of landscape. Three cherubs are sitting on benches and they are playing with cards, trying to build a castle. The painting has been restored. 18th century.

Oil painting on canvas. On the back there is a scroll with an old attribution to Hubert Robert (1733 -1808), a French painter who traveled in Italy bringing back various picturesque views and glimpses, populated by architectural ruins. In this work, the glimpse of a hilly countryside is set in a village with farmhouses and a fountain in the centre, in the midst of which however there are also classical architectural ruins: in the center three columns of a temple, further on the left the ruins of an amphitheater. Several popular figurines wander among the structures. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a frame.

Oil painting on canvas. French school of the 18th century. The mythological subject of the goddess Diana bathing was widely spread in 18th century painting and, particularly in the Flemish area, also in the previous century. It was proposed in different variations, with the goddess alone, or accompanied by nymphs, or with Actaeon; in this case the beautiful deity, recognizable by the quiver hanging from the tree branch and the hunting dog that accompanies her. she is about to bathe in a body of water while a mischievous faun spies on her behind her. The scantily clad female body occupies the entire scene, central and of a whiteness that stands out in the midst of the shadows of the leafy forest, with all the other figures and elements that surround it. The small painting was restored and relined at the beginning of the 20th century.

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.

Philosopher

Oil on cardboard. Signed lower right. Coming from a private collection in Pavia. The painting proposes a subject taken up several times by Primo Carena, both with groups of several characters inserted in a landscape, and with a solitary figure as appears in this painting, which belongs to the production of the 1950s. The man on the beach, in the seated pose leaning with his elbow on a marble capital, and in the cloth resting on his legs, recalls the elderly character sitting in a work by De Chirico, the Salute to the Argonauts, and well underlies the reference to painting metaphysics that the painter from Pavia wanted to express in his figure paintings of the 1950s and 1960s. The work is presented in a frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the eighteenth century. In the portrait of this gentleman, the dressing gown made of an elegant floral fabric stands out in particular, in shades of brick red that recall the color of the wig. The severity of the pose and the austere gaze of the character almost contrast with the almost frivolous elegance of his clothing. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a frame from the early 1900s.

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.

Oil on plywood

Charles Moody (1979), oil on plywood. Signed on the back. The work was exhibited at the solo exhibition "Borderland" at the Gallery 8 in Milan Corso Venezia, as evidenced by the paper to the back lable. Charles Moody graduated in 2003 at the Art Institute of Boston and, after three years in Milan, chooses to live in New York. In his art the focus at trial (conceptual art, process art) rather than to the image content and it is in this scrap that painting is at its best. An art that was created by the approval of television images (almost never films) and in particular from popular soap operas. Moody's work goes beyond the mass media image by customizing the selection for special images that, in his view, offer a potential narrative; are images of transition, moments of transition from one scene to the next. The artist uses a manual oil painting to reproduce the low quality of the tv picture extolling the "blurring" of blur. We are facing a loss of spatial dimension, in a temporality confused-diffuse-intangible which is difficult to recognize the boundaries ("Borderland"). In these perceptual distortions, in which time dilates expands, each painting represents a "indiscernibilità" in which the recognition of the object that takes second place. The time of Moody is neither Chronicle nor history but suspension. (From "Charles Moody, Borderland", curated by Gianni Romano, exhibition catalogue, CorsoVeneziaOtto, November-December 2009)

Female Face 2001

Oil painting on canvas. Dated and signed on the back. Born in Seregno, Danilo Martinis was trained with Osvaldo Minotti. Painter and designer, he has furnished prestigious residences all over the world, his works are particularly appreciated in the United Arab Emirates and in Russia. He loves to express his thoughts through graphic-figurative images rendered through geometric effects and chromatic games, using mainly female figures as interpreters. In this work he proposes a close-up of a female face, enhancing its expressiveness through the play of colors in the ranges of yellow.

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 painting on canvas. Southern Italian school of the 17th-18th centuries. The scene, full of characters, sees the figure of a leader standing at the centre, well defined in the details of the armour, the crest, as well as the anatomy: he is benevolently accompanying with the movement of his arms a kneeling man who, together to his companion, he is paying homage to an emperor, however indicating with his outstretched hand the group of six children, held back on the right by soldiers. The emperor has risen from the throne, on the left, and goes to meet the prostrate couple, but he too seems almost in an attitude of reverence towards the central leader. The scene seems to refer to a historical episode of clemency of a leader, who due to his age, features and type of armour, could be Alexander the Great, a character who, however, is difficult to match with the other figure crowned with laurel, who descends from the throne in the sumptuous palace . It is therefore not possible to specifically identify the episode (historical or legendary?) of reference. Furthermore, the compositional richness of the scene is appreciated, with numerous well-detailed figures and bright colors to underline its dynamism. The work, restored and relined, is presented in an antique 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.

Oil painting on canvas. This is a small copy of Titian's work of the same name, created around 1532 and today preserved in the Louvre Museum. Originally it was thought that the work portrayed Alfonso d'Avalos, marquis of Vasto, bidding farewell to his wife before going to fight the Turks. Instead, it is more likely a prototype of a matrimonial allegory that enjoyed widespread success in Venice. The spouses are represented in the guise of Mars (in armour) and Venus, and are accompanied by Cupid, protector deity of love, who holds a bundle of arrows, by Vesta, goddess of the domestic hearth, crowned with myrtle, symbol of marital fidelity , and by Hymenaeus, divinity of weddings who offers a basket of fruit and flowers. The woman holds a crystal ball, as if she wanted to peer into the future. The melancholic expressions of the protagonists have been read as a reference to the possible death or departure of one of the two spouses. The painting is presented in a contemporary 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 painting on canvas. Central Italian school of the late 1600s-early 18th century. The composition proposes a female bust in the centre, portrayed as if it were a sculptural effigy, for the monochrome that evokes marble; it is surrounded by a garland of colorful flowers, which stretch from twisted branches above, while a landscape fades in the background. This type of portrait came from a solution born in the Flemish environment and spread in Italy by Daniel Seghers. Restored and relined, the painting has slight drops of colour. It is presented in an antique frame.

Tempera on paper on etching. French school from about 1750-1770. Refined colouring of a coeval French print. The oriental subject is a young Chinese man who hints at some dance steps on an outdoor trail, under a plant of exotic fruit. The quality of the piece reminds of the French Rococo production, like those of François Boucher (1703-1770) or Jean Pillement (1728-1808), who both contributed to the spreading of the liking for Chinese representations in Europe. Pillement was the author of numerous drawings and etchings of Chinese taste, collected in two volumes (1767-71) and widely spread in Europe as models. The drawing needs cleaning and restoration. It is mounted on cardboard and comes with a frame.