Portrait of a young commoner

Oil on canvas applied to the table. Signed lower right. Antonio Vallone, a Neapolitan painter close to Morelli's school, specialized in genre portraits, above all of smiling young men and women, street urchins or peasant women typical of his homeland. The work is presented in a period frame.

Male face

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. The Milanese artist Carlo Jacono was an illustrator and painter: his unmistakable style, the mastery in the execution, the prolificacy and artistic ability in over 50 years of career, the knowing how to lend himself to different genres and the great success at readers and publishers made him one of the masters of Italian illustration and one of the most appreciated and well-known names on the national and international illustration scene. He was also known as the "Man of the circle", a pseudonym due to the layout of many of his covers in pink, police, science fiction, Italian, English, Swedish, Norwegian, American (we recall, among many, the covers of the series "Il giallo Mondadori "), or more simply with the surname only, Jacono, with which he signed himself. Starting from 1970 Jacono also embarked on a career as a painter, exhibiting in personal exhibitions both in Italy and abroad, preferring a figurative vein with a romantic connotation that finds its masterpiece in the series of "The warriors". They said of this production: "they are apparitions of warriors of other times, which the imagination comes to realize even in the minute features of the face, and to imagine in the most reckless actions". Probably the painting presented here is also part of this series: it is the face of a Nordic warrior, as can be deduced from the fur headdress that frames the proud and concentrated face in which the cold blue eyes stand out, and from the burnished metal collar engraved with signs graphics that refer to the Nordic runes; half-length, the shoulder straps of the armor can be seen. The painting is presented in a frame.

Signed J.M de Medeiros

Oil painting on canvas. Along the right margin there is a dedication in Portuguese "Ill'.. Offerece Agradecide (with gratitude)", with the signature JM De Medeiros and the date 1875. The work can be traced back to the Brazilian painter De Medeiros, of whom he only knows that he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro in 1885. The painting presents the portrait of an elderly man, with a flowing beard, a serious and concentrated gaze on something distant, and dressed in a tunic and pallium, therefore evocative the figure of a thinker or philosopher of antiquity. The work has patches on the back. It is presented in a contemporary frame,

Mixed technique on paper. Signed lower right. 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 is portraiture, which nevertheless expresses his ability to use color as a delicate transparency, which brings out the effects of light and shadow generated by human expressions even in the faces. The work is presented in a frame.

The Organ-Grinder

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower right. Trace of a date, not readable. The Cuneo artist Ottavio Steffanini had a life in constant movement, divided between Italy, Europe, America (in particular Venezuela). A restless and unpredictable artist, he concentrated his painting above all on female figures, portrayed with placid sensuality and an opulence influenced by the Spanish masters with whom he studied. But in his production there is no shortage of other subjects, united by an incessant exaltation of life, of nature. Here, however, a male figure is proposed, a half-length portrait of an accordion player, dignified and proud in his pose and gaze. The work is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The portrait of the young man, elegantly dressed, is inscribed in an oval outline. There are slight drops of color and signs of sagging of the canvas. It therefore needs restoration. It is presented in a coeval frame, with various signs of wear, to be restored.

Oil painting on canvas. At the top right are the name of the man portrayed and his age, 78 years old. The man's habit and the attitude of prayer, in front of the Crucifix, with the meditation book in his hand, identify him as a prelate. The surname Albertoni is widely spread in Italy, in various families that started from Lombardy to extend to Parma and then to Rome. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. French school of the eighteenth century. On the base of the column to the right, there is an inscription with the woman's name, age 86 in the year of the portrait ("Marguerite Paree agèe 86 ans en 1762"). The canvas, with signs of restoration and relining, has a rather marked crack.

Portrait of a Street Boy

Oil on canvas applied to the table. Signed lower right. Antonio Vallone, a Neapolitan painter close to Morelli's school, specialized in genre portraits, above all of smiling young men and women, street urchins or peasant women typical of his homeland. The work is presented in a period frame.

Mixed media (pencil and watercolor) on paper. Signed at the bottom. On one of them there is also the date (1946 and 1947). It is a small collection of sketches on paper, six faces of children and women and four landscapes, still with pencil strokes and incomplete watercolor paints, in the typical ranges of Mantovani, those clear and transparent colors that are considered one of its characteristic features. Lugi Mantovani, Milanese by birth and training, established himself in the artistic panorama and became an active part in the Milanese cultural cenacles of the city, to which he dedicated his production, consisting mainly of landscapes and city views. The paintings, of different sizes, are presented in style frames, with small lacks (one missing the glass).

Male Portrait in Profile

Oil on cardboard. signed lower right, with a dedication "to friend G. Rutelli". Of humble origins, Angelo Dall'Oca Bianca, even once he became an established and appreciated artist, frequenting the Italian and international artistic-cultural environment, always maintained the bond with his city, a continuous source of inspiration for his artistic production, and for its poor; in 1939 he built the Dall'Oca Village in Verona, for the benefit of the poor of the city, and in 1941 he made a will, leaving all his money and his paintings to the city of Verona for charitable works. His painting was always of a purely realist mold, influenced above all by his contact with Giacomo Favretto who allowed him to enrich his painting technique with bright colors and a large and vaporous style, and by the use of photography as a memory for the representation of truth. . The work, a portrait of a male figure seen in profile, is lively in the colors. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Portraits of Children, 1930

Photographs retouched with pastels. Signed bottom right. On the back of three of them is the date 11 November 1930. A photographic sequence of the portrait of three children is shown, who slightly change their pose or expression. They are the work of the British photographer Eva Barrett who, after an initial experience as a painter, decided to dedicate herself to photography, thinking that "it was better to be a first-rate photographer than a second-rate [painter]. Having moved to Rome in 1913, she established her laboratory here. Pictorialist, with a small camera, Eva Barrett created her own photographic method that was reminiscent of drawing sketches: she applied a few very light pencil strokes, managing to create subdued images but with particularly dense blacks, thus maintaining the characteristics of photography and portraits. In this way he was very successful and his career took off. Eva Barrett photographed the Italian royal family, the wives and children of foreign ambassadors, as well as received numerous commissions from European royalty in Belgium, Sweden, Greece. The four portraits are presented in style frames.

Female portrait 1950

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated (1-5-1950) in the lower left corner. Born in Bologna but artistically trained at the Brera Academy in Milan, in the early 1900s he studied in Paris, where he can admire the painting of the great masters of the past and follow with great interest the new pictorial trends that advance in the climate of general renewal brought by the new century. In fact, influences of themes such as symbolism and divisionism can be found in his paintings of the first decades of the twentieth century, but Mascarini chooses not to let himself go by the new currents that acclaim the deconstruction of form, remaining in the enclosure of his studio to paint the affections and gazes. of everyday life closest to him. His figurative language draws on the Lombard naturalism of the late nineteenth century, his painting is framed in a sober and balanced drawing. Landscape and portrait painter, he proposes delicate and placid scenarios, such as the glaciers he paints as he climbs in the silence of the high mountains that he loves very much, and portraits with faces harmoniously framed by soft brushstrokes, which express intimate feelings. The portrait of a lady presented here proposes a figure who, although elegant in her evening outfit, expresses serenity, calmness, intimacy rather than worldliness in her face and pose. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Crayons on cardboard. Signed Rossi lower left. Melancholic and ethereal portrait of a young woman, with a serious expression and lost in her thoughts, despite her elegant and graceful party dress. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Pencil on paper. Bottom right, on both, the writing "Pietro Mulazzi sketched", with the date 1883. By an unknown artist but skilled in the use of pencils, these are the portraits of a bourgeois couple, whose gray faces emerge clearly from the paper background red. They are presented in contemporary gilded frames, with several shortcomings (to be restored).

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the 18th century. portrait of a noblewoman in rich evening dress, with an ermine cloak draped over her shoulders, indicating her high lineage. Relined, the painting is presented in an antique gilded frame.

Pencil on paper. Good use of the hatching and chiaroscuro are shown in this portrait of a young woman. The portrait comes with a 19th century wooden frame that had beeen embellished with leafy and floral leather inserts; the frame has some color drops and some missing parts.