The Penitent Magdalene and St. John the Baptist

Oil on slate. Two examples of oil painting on stone are proposed here, a pictorial genre that was particularly popular in the Venetian Republic between the 16th and 17th centuries, in its form of oil painting on blackboard or touchstone. The choice of such a dark stone as a background is not only linked to practical reasons (the proximity of the mines of Brescia and Val Brembana), but, as our two works clearly demonstrate, the emergence of the figures from the dark background responds to the light also full to the new needs of the painting of the time, which in the climate of the Counter-Reformation, tended to express not only the idealized existential certainties of the full Renaissance, but also the anxieties and the opening up to new phases, already tending with Tintoretto towards greater attention to reality and luministic contrasts, to then flow overwhelmingly into seventeenth-century research strongly focused on the contrasting combination of light and shadow. The two works presented here, well within the production of the Venetian area of ​​the first decades of the 17th century, propose two figures of saints, both hermits, placed on a dark, barely visible naturalistic background. The figure of Magdalene emerges from the darkness, leaning to follow the curve of the stone support; she is depicted looking questioningly towards the darkness, as if in a listening attitude, her left hand raised and the other resting on the remarkably shortened "memento mori". In front of her a scourge and the jar of ointment. Painted en pendant, Saint John the Baptist is represented as a young man, with a lamb at his feet, in his hand the processional cross with the banner "ecce agnus dei", while with his right hand he draws from the water source, recalling the episode that will see Jesus Christ baptized. In both paintings the figures stand out in a strong and incisive way thanks to the black that characterizes the slate plaque on which they are depicted. The two paintings, in an oval format, are presented in black wooden frames, from the late 19th century.

Europe, Late XIX - Early XX Century

Centerpiece in embossed and chiselled silver with a wavy edge, decorated with festoons and leaf scrolls, supported by three curled feet. Silver mark engraved under the base. 874 grams.

Italy, XX Century

Centerpiece in embossed and podulated silver. Silver marks engraved on the outer edge. 440 grams.

Italy, XX Century

Oval silver tray. Marks of the silver and the silversmith engraved in the cable. 784 grams.

England, Late XIX-Early XX Century

Engraved silver bucket with Greek decoration and festoons. Silver marks engraved on the podded handle. 294 grams.

Italy, XX Century

Sugar bowl in chiselled silver and engraved with Greek motifs on the edges. Flower grip and podded handles with four-leaf clovers. Silver marks under the lid and on a handle, difficult to read, Milanese silversmith. 436 grams. Crystal bowl.

Italy, 1970s

Christofle Milan silver centrepiece, elongated shape with rounded bottom. Marks of the silver and the silversmith engraved. 425 grams.

Italy, Mid XIX Century

White marble sculpture depicting the bust of a girl. Three-quarter face with downward gaze. Dark patina wooden base.

Italy, Second Half XIX Century

Large majolica plate decorated with great heat in monochrome blue with a mythological subject. Cambering of the cable and brim worked like a pod. Shaped edge. Manufacture mark under the base, lantern in underglaze blue.

Europe, Late XIX - Early XX Century

Oval-shaped tray in embossed and engraved silver, decorated with leaf and Greek scrolls. Silver mark engraved on the reverse. 2680 grams.

Italy, Mid XX Century ca.

Circular silver legume bowl, ring-shaped. Silver and silversmith's marks engraved on the edges. 1120 grams.

Italy, Early XIX Century

Silver salt shaker with an elongated shape supported by four zoomorphic feet. 136 grams.

London 1832

Sterling silver oval tray. In the centre engraving depicting shoots with flowers and leaves, finely chiseled snake-like edge and handles. Marks of the silversmith, the silversmith and the dealer Joseph Mayer engraved on the reverse. 2516 grams.

Floor lamp that incorporates a model widely used by Stilnovo in the 60s in particular in the ceiling models. Lamp with base and stem in metal and enamelled aluminium, brass, white opal glass diffuser.

Italy, 1930s

Virgin Mary and Child in ceramic cast by Lino Berzoini for Ars Pulchra. Author's signature engraved at the bottom and manufacturer's mark on the reverse.

Italy, Early XVII Century

Circular marble bowl shaped like a pod. On the front, a finely sculpted face.

Italy, 1970s

Centerpiece in molded and glazed ceramic. Manufacture mark in relief under the base.

Iconic dining table with oval top model "Samo" designed by Carlo Scarpa in 1970 and produced by Simon; in white saccharoid marble.

Paris, Early XIX Century

Group of four Empire candlesticks in gilded bronze and burnished bronze, Paris, early 19th century. Vase-shaped holder with pods in the lower section, faceted quiver shaft ending with a trio of claw feet, circular support base. The gilded bronze parts are finely chiseled, decorated with various types of frets including foliaceous frets. The group of candlesticks described here is a close variant of a model created by André Antoine Ravrio (1759-1814) around 1808 and supplied in several examples for the imperial furnishings of the Château de Fontainebleau. Ravrio was one of the most talented French bronze workers of the early 19th century, together with Claude Galle and Thomire, being supplier to Emperor Napoleon. His adopted son, Louis-Stanislas Lenoir-Ravrio (1783-1846), who like his father was one of the main bronzesmiths of his time, also worked in André's workshop. The two worked together from 1811, the year in which Louis officially became a collaborator, until 1814, the year of his father's death, continuing the activity until 1840.

Particular cabinet consisting of a pair of hinged door wardrobes with central dressing table with double column of drawers and lockable mirror with wooden doors. Rosewood veneered wood, ebonized wood bands, retro-treated glass top.