ANCIENT PAINTING
 

Martyrdom of the Franciscans in Nagasaki

Oil painting on canvas. The work is a faithful copy of the homonymous masterpiece by Tanzio da Varallo (1580-82 /1633), created by the painter from Valsesia for the Franciscan convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Varallo, and currently preserved at the Pinacoteca di Brera. The painting depicts the martyrdom which occurred in 1597 in Nagasaki of twenty-three Franciscan friars, who were subsequently beatified in 1627, a date which allows us to place the work in the last years of the artist's activity. Tanzio da Varallo was probably inspired for its creation by the text "Life and exploits of the Martyrs of Japan" by the Spanish Franciscan Marcello di Ribadeneira; of the Brera painting we know a partial preparatory drawing (preserved in the Pinacoteca di Varallo), a sanguine drawing published by Testori (1964) and a canvas (from a private collection in Borgosesia) published by Ferro. The replica proposed here is faithful to the original, even in size, only a few centimeters lower in height, probably lost during the re-lining of the work. Although it is a copy of notable quality, where in particular the richness of highlights stands out which stand out on the warmer and darker tones of the flesh tones, compared to the original one notices a lower fineness of execution, a tendency towards simplification and a pathetic accentuation, which they testify to the hand of a copyist concerned with reproducing the model in every detail, without granting himself any license. Furthermore, this copyist seems to have been very familiar with Tanzio's style, to the point of even perfectly imitating his hooked hands. One can therefore think of a pupil of Tanzio or of his workshop (which was continued by his brother Melchiorre upon Tanzio's death), or of an artist who saw and appreciated his works, such as for example Pietro Francesco Gianoli, who worked above all in churches in Valsesia and in the Novara area and of which other replicas of works by Tanzio da Varallo are known, such as David with the head of Goliath. Furthermore, since the work presented here, before being acquired by a private collector, remained located for centuries in a Franciscan convent in Lombardy, it is plausible that it is a copy of that of Tanzio commissioned by the Order itself, for another monastery, by a painter who was stylistically close to Tanzio and could look to the original. The painting has been relined and restored. It is presented in a late 19th-early 20th century setting.

Landscape with Architecture and Figures

Oil on canvas. The large landscape is dominated by an imposing architectural structure with columns overlooking the sea, which occupies the entire central part of the canvas, while a fortress is outlined on the right. The scene is then animated by numerous figures of commoners intent on daily activities: in the foreground on the left, on the quay, a group of men awaits the load of numerous crates and trunks. The monogram D.G. This abbreviation, together with the baroque stylistic modality, refers to the attribution to Domenico Gargiulo, stage name of the Neapolitan painter Micco Spadaro (1609/1612 - 1675). Active mainly in Naples, especially in the two decades between the mid-seventeenth century, the Gargiulo established itself mainly as a landscape painter and above all for having documented the tumultuous events of Naples in the seventeenth century (eruptions, epidemics, the revolt of Masaniello). The progressive specialization in the representation of landscapes or city scenes, crowded with figurines presented with minute descriptions and with attention to popular social reality, meant that his commission was mainly of a private nature, receiving commissions from numerous Neapolitan notables, regents, knights and finding his works in all the most important Neapolitan collections of the time. Among its major clients there was also the great Flemish collector Gaspare Roomer, to whom the Gargiulo owed its fortune. Gargiulo often inserted his abbreviations in his works, but rarely dated them; it was possible to establish the dating of his production only thanks to the realization of a series of works for the monks of the Certosa di S. Martino, which took place between 1638 and 1646, among the few religious works he made but the only ones in be documented with some accuracy. The large canvas proposed here is presented in a stylish frame.

"L'arc en ciel" XVII Century

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the seventeenth century. The large pastoral scene presents a broad landscape that pushes the gaze to the distant sea coast; on it the sky is gradually opening up, revealing flashes of blue on the left, while on the right, among the darker clouds left over from the storm, a large rainbow is revealed. In the foreground, a group of shepherds and shepherdesses enjoy amorous games, discrete and festive, in the midst of their herds, which rest and drink from the nearby stream. The whole scene is animated by a dimension of joyful relaxation and refreshment, as if the rainbow had restored serenity to the environment, bringing light and with it serenity to the world. The attribution to Jordaens is linked both to the typology of subject, the pastoral one, a recurring theme in the production of the Flemish artist, and to the pictorial modalities: in this work we find his warm and luminous colours, the strong contrasts of light and shadow, the robust figures with red and healthy faces, sometimes with satyristic features, the compositions full of figures that give an air of sensual vitality. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period gilded frame.