Disciple of Peter Paul Rubens

Oil on canvas. The painting derives from the work by Rubens (1577 -1640) conserved in the Prado Museum in Madrid, reproduced as a counterpart in engraving by Paulus Pontius (1603 -1658), as also appears in this version. Occupying the vertical centre of the scene is the figure of Mary, whose face was inspired by that of Isabel Brandt, the Flemish painter's first wife, who died in1626 at the age of just 35. The Madonna holds the Child Jesus in her arms, who looks tenderly but seriously into her eyes, while a small hand rests on his mother's uncovered breast, from which he has just received nourishment; behind, standing, St. Anne wraps the shoulders of her daughter and grandson in a tender and protective embrace, smiling complacently: On the left side, somewhat separated and in the dark, Joseph watches pensively and worriedly: the only human figure who does not fit into the light emanating from the Child's face, radiating on Mary's and, by reflection, also on St. Anne's. Compared to the master's work, the composition of the figures is respected, but several details vary, particularly in the clothing of St. Anne, Mary, and the drapery that encircles the Child's hips, supporting the hypothesis that it is the work of a follower of the Flemish master. The painting, restored and re-tinted, is in good condition, with only a scratch in the colour in the top centre.

Oil painting on canvas. Central Italian school of the 17th century. The unusual and particular representation presents on the left the three figures of the Holy Family, with Jesus already a child, sitting at the table and blessing the simple meal they are about to consume (consisting of fruit and bread); the scene, a subject depicted rather rarely and generally with a more sacred character due to the presence of angels serving food to the family, here instead has the flavor of very normal and simple domestic intimacy. Instead, everything around the Holy Family stands out majestically, the glimpse of a Renaissance city, with tall buildings with loggias and colonnades, presented according to a beautiful perspective effect which leads, at the bottom on the right, to the entrance walls of a richly turreted city, probably Jerusalem. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the late 19th century. Unidentified signature lower right. The portrait presents a child in a maritime context: he is sitting on a rock on a beach, by the sea, he is dressed like a sailor and is holding a small toy sailing ship in his hand. The child is rather prim and serious. The painting has slight tears in the canvas and color stains. It is presented in an imposing late 19th century frame, with several missing and damaged plaster decorations.

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the 17th century. The large composition presents a variety of foods on a kitchen table: on the left a large wicker basket full of vegetables, surmounted by a group of hanging fish; other vegetables are placed on the table top, next to a plate of cherries, one with a loaf of bread, and further back another with prawns; on the right stands a vase full of colorful flowers and, sitting on the shelf of a cupboard, a black cat calmly licking its paw. The sharpness of the colors stands out, enhanced by the reflections of light on some foods, such as cherries or prawns, and on the copper jug ​​in front of the flowers. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a strip frame.

Oil on canvas. 17th century Tuscan school. According to Christian tradition, Saint Veronica was the 'pious woman' who, seeing the passion of Jesus carrying the cross and his face smeared with sweat and blood, wiped it with a linen cloth, on which the imprint of Jesus' face would remain. This veil, also known as the Holy Shroud, thus became the iconographic sign of the saint. Veronica also appears in the centre of the painting, while two angels on the sides hold the linen on which Christ's face is imprinted, crowned with thorns; below it, a chalice symbolically collects the divine blood, while above the saint's theta the Holy Spirit hovers. Restored and re-framed, the painting is presented in a stylish 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)

Oil painting on canvas. At the bottom signed Cornienti and dated 1844; on the reverse writing attributing to Cherubino Cornienti. It is not possible to confirm this attribution to the important nineteenth-century painter, an exponent of Romanticism who produced portraits, historical scenes but also various religious subjects. The work presented here proposes the Gospel episode of the Resurrection of Lazarus, with an oriental setting suited to the subject. The restored and relined work is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The composition features a hanging hare in the centre, flanked by some quails and a pigeon; on the right side, a wicker basket containing chestnuts and pine branches; on the left side a bunch of asparagus and a vase of colorful flowers, whose bright and lively colors create a chromatic contrast with the other elements, all in brown and gray tones. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a repurposed 19th century frame.

Still Life with Fishes

Oil painting on canvas. The rather dark scene is set in a rustic kitchen interior, with copper cauldrons placed on a table together with two fish and some vegetables. The style and subject of the painting refers to Felice Boselli, the Emilian painter known above all for still lifes, of which he created around a hundred works characterized above all by game, fish and farmyard animals. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a repurposed antique frame.

Still Life with Wild Game

Oil painting on canvas. The scene, rather dark and set outdoors, as can be deduced from the silhouettes of trees in the background, sees some birds from the hunt, resting on the ground or hanging by their legs from branches. The style and subject of the painting refers to Felice Boselli, the Emilian painter known above all for his still lifes, of which he created around a hundred works characterized above all by game, fish and farmyard animals. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a repurposed antique frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The scene tells the biblical episode of the book of Exodus in which little Moses, whom his mother had entrusted to the river inside a basket to save him from the massacre of the Israeli male children (ordered by the Pharaoh of Egypt to prevent the Israeli population became too numerous and could rebel against slavery), he was found by a handmaid of Pharaoh's daughter, who decided to adopt him and saved him. The scene, set along the river, is entirely occupied by the female figures of the princely retinue, crowded together and projected towards the bottom right corner where the basket with the newborn is placed. All eyes are also turned towards the child, in the direction indicated by the outstretched arm of the woman in the foreground on the right. The roundness of the female forms stands out, especially of the three figures in the foreground, where plays of light and shadow highlight the complexions that emerge from the clothes. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a frame.

Rovereto, 1920

Oil on the table. Signed lower left. The title and date on the back in pencil. Riccardo Viriglio, a landscape painter from Pavia, portrayed urban views mainly of his city and landscape views especially of Lombardy. Here is a glimpse of the village of Roveleto, a small village in the Piacenza countryside at the foot of the pre-Apennine hills. The work is presented in a frame.

Saint George 1992

Oil on panel. Signed bottom right. On the back, with Cyrillic characters, there is the title, the date and the location, Bergamo. The Lithuanian artist, who currently lives and works between Moscow, Italy and the United Kingdom, is considered one of the most important contemporary Russian artists. In his large production there are landscapes, still lifes, many portraits of famous people and his surreal compositions, an expression of his peculiar "dream vision" of reality. Even in this table, albeit in the style of traditional icons, the depiction of the famous St. George is proposed in a surreal key that reminds of De Chirico, in which the dragon is replaced by a goose, the Saint's head is an egg, in the outlines there are figures of sorceresses... a clearly unorthodox interpretation! The panel has a vertical slit. The piece is presented in a frame.

Oil on canvas. Central European School. The scene is set in the shop of a barber, who is intent on cutting a man's hair under the watchful eye of other customers and, above all, of some women with children, one of whom even observes the result of his work with glasses. Glasses were introduced in art first as a sign of distinction, and later also as a sign of scientific attention, progressively delineating the figure of the scholar, doctor and surgeon: in this painting, they actually underline the irony of the scene, and they are used as a tool for a close female examination of the spouse's haircut! The whole scene is filled with figures, painted in a crude and almost grotesque way, with very marked, almost theatrical expressions and poses, underlined as well by the bright colours. Due to these characteristics, the painting fits well into that production of genre scenes based on popular life captured in its most lively and characteristic moments, which originated in the seventeenth century in Central Europe, especially in the Netherlands, to replace naturalistic and religious painting with lighter subjects, and which in Italy found a particular expression in the "Bamboccianti School", developed in Rome by Flemish and Italian painters. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in an antique frame.

Siege Scene

Oil on canvas. Outside the fortifications of a city, a commander, surrounded by his soldiers, is about to light the fuse of the cannon. The army defends the citadel outside the walls and the soldiers scan the horizon looking downwards: this leads us to place the scene on the fortifications of a city, in particular those of Genoa, that rise on the mountains behind it and from which the Genoese defended the city from attacks from the sea; the Genoa setting is also supported by the banner that flies over the walls, the Saint George Cross (red cross on a white background), flag of the Republic of Genoa. The shape of the armor, weapons and clothing would refer to the siege of Genoa in 1522. It is therefore the nineteenth-century representation of a historical episode, which is then part of that pictorial production widespread in Italy in the nineteenth century, inspired by the new historical novel popular in literature. On the back of the frame there is the name G. Boni, together with a number that refers to participation in an official exhibition. Giovanni Boni was a pupil of the Brera Academy, in particular a follower of Giuseppe Sogni, an artist who was among the first to favour historical painting in its innovative romantic declinations. Not much is known about Boni, neither from a biographical point of view nor from his production. Of his certain attribution we know only the Nude of Man (painted Academy) with which he won the first prize for the Scuola del Nudo in Brera in 1852. The piece expresses the figures and the pathos of the scene with expressive efficiency; the characters in the foreground are very well characterized in their poses, expressions, in the details of the clothes and weapons, while the other figures fade into the background, suggesting the presence of a large army. The painting, still on the first canvas, shows small widespread losses of colour. It is presented in a frame in style.

Under glass painting. The work appears to be composed of an engraving applied to the glass and painted on the back. Saint Peter the Apostle is depicted, intent on prayer and listening to the divine voice that comes from the open heavens above him; according to traditional iconography Peter has with him a bunch of keys, a sign of his investiture as the first head of the church, and a cockerel, which instead recalls the episode of Jesus' denial: Christ had predicted to him that during his Passion, before the rooster had crowed, Peter would have denied him three times, and so it was.

Oil on canvas. It probably depicts a tragic anti-Semitic event. On the right, a wounded soldier in Russian uniform is witnessing the dramatic scene of a slaughtered family while the rabbi is preying for them. The broken window and the upside down drawers make clear that the killers broke into the house. On the left of the mirror, there is a Jewish writing that may suggest the location. The word may be translated as 'Ciro' and may be referring to the areas of Georgia and Azerbaijan near the Kura (river flowing from Turkey to the Caspian Sea, known as 'Ciro' in 1800s). The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a frame of the 1800s.

Oil painting on canvas. Emilian school of the 17th-18th century. This is an ancient copy of the famous panel painting by Correggio, entitled The Madonna of San Girolamo or Il Giorno, dating back to around 1528 and preserved today in the National Gallery of Parma. The subject of the representation is Saint Jerome's presentation to Jesus of the translation of the Bible from Hebrew into popular Latin, a work carried out by the saint at the request of Pope Damasus and which he accomplished by locking himself up in solitude in the Bethlehem cave. In the painting, the centrality of the scene is occupied by Mary sitting with the Baby Jesus in her arms. Various figures are composed around them in a semicircle. On the left is the powerful figure of old Jerome standing, looking at the Child, while clutching the translation scroll in his hand, with the lion, his hermit companion, crouched at his feet. On the same side, an angel holds the Bible while smilingly addressing the Madonna and Child. On the other side, Magdalene lies semi-reclining, affectionately embracing the baby's foot, who in turn caresses her hair, in an intimate gesture that underlines the intense bond between the two figures. Behind Magdalene, a little angel wrinkles his nose sniffing the penitent saint's jar of ointments. The scene is placed under a red curtain, open onto a large landscape. Correggio's painting was widely successful, so much so that numerous copies and ancient replicas exist, including this one presented here. The work, restored and relined, is presented in an ancient contemporary frame.

Plato and Aristotle

Mixed media on canvas. Signature, title, date and dedication on the reverse. Paolo Baratella, a recently deceased artist from Ferrara, developed his art by composing vast pictorial cycles inspired by contemporary subjects; we therefore have series of works by him gathered under significant titles. From the mid-1980s and into the 2000s, his scenographic apparatuses became more enriched with cultural, pictorial and literal iconographic references. In particular, Baratella pays greater attention to the iconography of art, philosophy and history. In this work the artist presents the portraits of the two great Greek philosophers (taken from their traditional classical depictions) and shades them in a frame of pink-blue colours. The two individual canvases are placed side by side inside a worked wooden frame, on whose two horizontal crosspieces the words "Timaeus" a work written by Plato, and "Ethics", a recurring theme of Aristotelian philosophy, are engraved.

Female Figure 1993

Polychrome bronze sculpture on stone base. Signature and date on the base. Guido Lodigiani, a Milanese sculptor who is still active and a passionate teacher at the Brera Academy, said of his art: " believe that the artist is called to show the root of human experience and in this way to excite again". And the root of existence, its womb, is the woman, whom Lodigiani considers the Woman of the Announcement, an expression of the restless and intimate tension towards the mystery of creation. Lodigiani's sculpture extracts form, as if from a mother's womb, starting from an original nucleus of matter in which it excavates voids and tensions. This plastic tension is well expressed in this naked female figure, seated but twisted, as if she had just emerged from indistinct matter and tended upwards, towards life, towards the light.

Oil painting on canvas. The scene tells the biblical episode of the book of Exodus in which little Moses, whom his mother had entrusted to the river inside a basket to save him from the massacre of the Israeli male children (ordered by the Pharaoh of Egypt to prevent if the Israeli people became too numerous and could rebel against slavery), he is found by a handmaiden of Pharaoh's daughter, who decides to adopt him and saves him. The scene is set on the banks of a river but in a non-oriental landscape, with architectural structures on the right: numerous figures, depicting the princess' entourage, placed in the center together with the child in the basket. The restored canvas was applied on a modern stretcher. It is presented in chronicle of the 19th century.

Oil on canvas. Mittel-European School. There is a No.S monogram on the back and numbers probably from an inventory. The painting reminds of pieces from the Austrian area. It represents a battle between knights, it is dominated in the foreground by the confrontation between two of them. The painting comes from a historical collection from Lombardy. The painting is still in its first canvas and original framing; there are patches on the back and signs of antique restorations, it has also undergone an additional pictorial and reperativr restoration, in our lab. Well marked crack. The painting is presented in an original and coeval frame, lacquered.

Girl in armchair

Terracotta sculpture. Signed lower right. Marco Cornini, a Milanese artist trained at the Brera Academy, works mainly with terracotta, with which he creates human figures, both male and female, men and women, or better yet boys and girls of more or less the same generation, in moments of their intimacy, often as a couple but also individually, with sentimental, erotic and passionate values. Here we see a naked woman sitting in an armchair in a room, in an attitude of intimate desperation.

Figures with Autumnal Still Life

Oil painting on canvas. The H.Sanders signature is present on the barrel at the bottom left. The scene, set outdoors in a street of a Flemish city, with the canal in the background on the left, sees in the foreground a vegetable seller behind her stall, which is set up with a varied composition of winter vegetables, a composed still life from cauliflowers, cabbage, carrots, corn on the cob; next to the woman, a passer-by carrying a harpoon on his shoulder is offering her some fish, evidently the fruit of his catch that he wants to sell. The setting brings to mind Amsterdam, the city where the Dutch painter Hercules (or Herkules) Sanders was born and lived, who established himself mainly as a portraitist, but of whom an interior genre scene is known, currently at the Detroit Institute of Arts, dated 1647 and entitled "Woman cleaning fish", whose female figure closely resembles the seller of the work presented here. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.