ANCIENT PAINTING
 

Landscape with Figures

Oil painting on canvas. The large composition proposes a landscape with a large tree in the centre. to surmount with its sparse branches the countryside below, crossed by a stream and animated by various figures of commoners intent on activity or at rest; at the top right stands a fortress, which dominates the valley. Already attributed to Peruzzini from the Marches, the painting can certainly be traced back to his circle, due to the rapid and poorly aggregated pictorial strokes. Antonio Francesco specialized in landscape painting, undergoing the influence of Salvator Rosa and landscape painters such as Pietro Montanini and Pandolfo Reschi, and further influences also came to him from Nordic painters active in Italy, above all from Pieter Mulier known as il Tempesta. In his first works the originality of his painting can already be distinguished given a rapid drafting and an intense and brilliant chromatic timbre. The long artistic bond between Antonio Francesco Peruzzini and Alessandro Magnasco began in the early 1990s, following their meeting in Milan, where Peruzzini had settled; from this period onwards his painting seems to fall apart, through forms that become more dynamic and light, almost fantastic, to finally arrive at a style marked by an ever greater disintegration of the forms of nature and their movement. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Allegories of Prudence and Justice

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the seventeenth century. The two paintings are probably part of a group depicting the four cardinal virtues, namely Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude. The allegories are represented in female figures, bearing some of the attributive symbols of the virtues they represent. Justice is recognized by the two most common attributes, the balance, symbol of equity and balance, and the sword, sign of distributive power. Prudence also has two symbols with it: a mirror, a symbol of circumspection that allows us to avoid the pitfalls of evil (it allows us to look behind us) or even a symbol of self-knowledge; and a snake, symbol of eternity and time, but also a symbol of prudence (in the Gospel Jesus says :"I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be prudent as snakes and simple as doves"). The two canvases, previously restored and relined, are in good condition. They are presented in an antique carved and lacquered wooden frame, with current small defects and damages.

Oil painting on canvas. The coastal glimpse, near a rocky inlet where torrential waters flow, sees figures at the landing place of the ships, ready to welcome the boats that are approaching; in the distance the profile of the city. Restored and relined, the painting has widespread dirt stains especially in correspondence with the sky. It is presented in a stylish 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.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the eighteenth century. The landscape, set on the banks of a wide river, sees in the center some figures of peasants intent on picking fruit from a tree: a girl holds the ladder while the boy cuts off a bunch, on the left another couple places the fruit collected in a tub. All around a vast green countryside and some farmhouses. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. This is a traditional depiction of the event of Jesus' death on the Cross, with his mother Mary and the beloved disciple at the foot of the Cross, contemplating the dying Christ; in the background the city of Jerusalem. Very essential in its depiction, and static in the positions of the evangelical figures, the scene emphasises the drama with a sombre background, although a light opens up high above Christ to announce divine participation in the event. The painting, which has already been retouched, shows some minor colour fading.

Oil on canvas. Northern Italian School of the 18th century. The broad landscape shows in the centre a herdsman who has just passed with his cattle over the small bridge over the stream, which flows through the wooded countryside; in the background, again in the centre, a farmhouse and several country buildings. Restored and retouched, the painting is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Central European school of the eighteenth century. Under a blue sky, a large, rather barren landscape is depicted, with the edge of a wood opening onto a rocky valley, with a river flowing between the rocks and snow-capped peaks in the background; in the foreground, scattered, some figures of shepherds with their flocks. On the stretcher at the back of the work, a cartouche refers to Poussin, the artist representing seventeenth-century classicism whose pictorial methods inspired the author of the painting. The painting, 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.

The Tale of Apollo and Marsyas

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the seventeenth century. The large canvas derives from an engraving of 1562 by the Venetian Giulio Sanuto, who faithfully reproduced the homonymous work by Bronzino (1503-1572), currently preserved in the Hermitage; compared to the original, the engraving added the group of Muses and modified the landscape background by introducing views of the villages. The work is divided into four scenes, which must be read from right to left. The first scene depicts the musical contest between Apollo and the Silenus Marsyas, who played the flute so well that he was considered superior to the same god; the two contenders are performing, the god with the lyre and the silenus with the flute even upside down (to increase the difficulty of the undertaking), in front of King Midas and the goddess Minerva, recognizable by her attributes, the helmet, the spear and the shield. In the second scene Apollo is intent on skinning Marsyas, to punish him for having won the musical contest; lean on the ground next to him, his cloak and lyre. In the third scene, it is King Midas who is punished by the god for having preferred Marsyas to him: Apollo is putting the donkey's ears on Midas, while Minerva is watching. Finally, the fourth scene, in the foreground on the left, is characterized by a particular figure, identified in the faithful servant and barber of the king: since Midas had ordered him to keep the secret on his donkey ears, not being able to let off steam otherwise, he dug a hole in the ground and yelled into there his secret; in that place, however, legend has it that a bush of reeds grew that with the wind whispered "King midas has donkey ears", thus revealing the dreaded secret. The painting has been previously restored and relined, but currently needs any further color recovery. On the back in pencil there is an old attribution to the Ferrara school ("Ercole da Ferrara"). It is presented in a late 19th century style frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Tuscan school of the seventeenth century. Scion of an ancient Longobard lineage of Aquino (in the province of Frosinone), Thomas (born around 1226) went to Naples to study, in 1243 he entered the order of Dominican preachers against the wishes of his relatives, but during the journey to the northerner was arrested by his brothers and held prisoner for about a year. In the scene, the young saint in the centre, already dressed in the Dominican habit, is surrounded on both sides by four richly dressed figures, precisely his relatives, probably including his mother, who hold him kindly, almost embracing him, while with gestures of the hands and the afflicted and loving looks try to convince him, almost begging him. The figures are also placed in a prison, as indicated by the bars in the window on the right, to underline the coercive action performed. Rich and detailed are the details of the clothes of the characters, with bright colors that contrast with Thomas' dress, plastic movements properly in Baroque taste. Already restored and relined, the painting is in good condition, with evident cracking. It is presented in an antique re-lacquered and re-gilded frame.

Reduced version from an altarpiece by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli

Oil painting on canvas. Venetian school of the seventeenth century. Entirely in the foreground, this scene of a group of sacred figures, which presents the faces of Mary and the Child Jesus in the centre, surrounded by the young San Giovanni in the lower left, and three angels forming a crown around. All the characters are happy and smiling, despite the reference to passion given by the stick surmounted by the Cross which John offers to Jesus. The movement of the bodies and the bright colors make the scene come alive. The painting is still on the first canvas, with no signs of previous restoration. There are several drops of color, spread above all along the lower margin and the two sides. It is presented in an antique lacquered wooden frame.

Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Oil painting on canvas. XVIII -XIX century. The sacred theme in this scene takes on a familiar connotation, full of very earthly tenderness and intimacy: in an almost exotic context, which evokes an oasis in the desert for palm trees and a spring of water in a barren and hilly landscape. bare, Joseph and Mary sit to rest during their flight to Egypt, to escape the persecution of Herod; the mother tenderly holds baby Jesus on her knees, looks at him tenderly and swaddles him, while Joseph observes them pleased and relaxed. The whole scene is characterized by the dominance of brown-ocher colors, from which only Maria's dress differs, in her traditional blue and red colors; in the background, a clear sky in the colors of a dawn that has just dawned, with shades of pink. The canvas was applied on a new frame from the mid-1900s and placed in a frame from the same period, which has some shortcomings.

The Monks Lunch

Oil on canvas. Genoese school of the eighteenth century. Inside a large room with arched windows opening onto the street, a group of friars seated on the ground are sharing a simple meal, placed on a white cloth. The scene refers to the sphere of Alessandro Magnasco known as Lissandrino (1667 -1749), a Genoese artist considered one of the most original painters of the Italian eighteenth century, who distinguished himself in popular genre painting and, in particular, in the production of scenes from the life of Capuchin or Camaldolese friars engaged in the most varied activities, from studying in the library to confession, from the work of sharpeners or carpenters in the convent workshops to the simple recollection around the fire: in these works you can appreciate all the expressive freedom of the artist\'s brush. moves on the canvas with quick touches to describe flames, fireplaces, cats, books, dogs, poor bowls, lenses, books, poor patched clothes, chairs and stools, in short, a whole daily world of gestures and things built with a very special and unmistakable technique, made of a mixture of lively color and almost all played on monochrome, on which a few, skilful strokes of light descend to give shape and consis tence to the bony figures of the monks. The author of the work proposed here was certainly trained in the Magnasco area and was inspired by his style, although it is more sedate, without the flashes and interpretative freedom, often irreverent or ironic, towards the figures of the friars; he was able to take up the play of chiaroscuro, lights and shadows, which flow from a monochrome in the shades of browns, still creating a work of excellent pictorial quality. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a gilded frame from the early 1900s.

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.