Still Life with Flowers Oil on Canvas Italy XVII Century

Antique Painting Religious Subject Oil on Canvas XVII Century

David Playing the Harp

Oil on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th century. The scene depicts the biblical episode taken from the First Book of Samuel which thus tells: "Now when the evil spirit permitted by God came upon Saul, David took the harp and began to play; Saul felt relieved, he felt better, and the evil spirit departed from him." In the painting the figures are powerful and vigorous, both King Saul and the guards who hold him, depicted in a tangle of figures that occupies the entire left part of the scene; on the right instead is David, who although young and simple shepherd, stands calmly before the furious king, playing his instrument with dignity and firmness. In the background on the right, in a corridor of the palace, the priests and the king's advisors watch the dinner in dismay. On the frame of the painting is a plaque attributing it to Bernardo Strozzi. The painting was restored and relined in the mid-1900s, and is placed in a gilded frame in style.

Antique Painting Male Portrait Oil on Canvas XVII Century

Oil on canvas. The man portrayed is identified as Giovan Battista Stampa di Gravedona, a jurist, as cited by the writing at the top left, which declares his position, and by the heading of the letter he is holding. The Stampa family, originally from Gravedona on Lake Como, belonged to the local notable class and, by virtue of this, they also played a certain public role. In the painting the man is depicted sitting at his desk, among the papers of his work, stern in the face as his position required. Restored (obvious signs of restoration due to old breaks in the canvas, marked crack) and relined, the painting is presented in an adapted antique frame.

Antique Painting Historical Subject Oil on Canvas XVII-XVIII Century

Oil on canvas. The woman depicted in the scene can be traced back to Porzia, the Roman noblewoman and wife of Brutus, who lived in the 1st century BC: according to legend, she committed suicide by swallowing a burning coal, and it is in this fatal moment that she is depicted here. The painting is very close to the pictorial methods of the painting of the same name from the Cignani school, attributed to his pupil Marcantonio Franceschini and preserved at Palazzo Tozzoni in Imola. The figure of Porzia, placed in an interior with classical elements, occupies the entire field of the scene, and is depicted sitting in front of the burning brazier, in the act of putting the coal in her mouth; her expression reveals the suffering of the gesture she is making, but also her determination, her gaze looking into the distance already places her far from the life she is leaving. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in an antique 18th century frame.

Antique Painting Historical Subject Oil on Canvas XVII Century

Oil on canvas. Roman school of the second half of the 17th century. The scene tells an episode of the love story between the queen of Egypt and the Roman triumvir Anthony: Cleopatra, to demonstrate her wealth and seduce the handsome general, organizes a sumptuous banquet, during which she chooses a pearl of inestimable value and dissolves it in vinegar, then offering the drink, considered a powerful aphrodisiac, to Anthony. In the painting the queen is preparing to put the pearl in the cup: the ribbon to which the pearl is tied is particular, reminiscent of the one in the painting of the same name by Carlo Maratta (1625 -1713). Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a wooden frame from the late 19th century.

Antique Painting Religious Subject Oil on Canvas XVII-XVIII Century

Oil on canvas. The sacred representation follows the traditional representative canons of this subject: the long transversely arranged table is presided over in the center by Christ, who is announcing to the apostles the imminent betrayal by one of them; while all the other apostles are turned toward the Master in the gesture of asking if the accusation concerns them ("Sono forse io?"), Judas, in the foreground on the left, turns his back to Jesus with a gesture of desperation, while he clutches in his hand the bag of thirty pieces of silver, the price of the betrayal. At the bottom center, in front of the table, a small dog looks at the traitor: the animal symbol of fidelity perhaps wants to be the last attempt to stop Judas, before definitively committing the betrayal. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame. L

Antique Painting Religious Subject Oil on Canvas XVII-XVIII Century

Oil on canvas. Christ, seated in prison, wearing a red cloak and a cane in his hands, also receives the crown of thorns, to complete the symbols of mockery of his declared royalty, the reason for his death sentence. The scene presents lively and well-defined figures; the central Christ, suffering and resigned in the expression of his face, is illuminated by the light that enters from the opening in the rock face, while the two soldiers surround him. The painting on the first canvas is inscribed in three twisted wooden elements, carved with leafy and gilded motifs.

Mythological Subject Oil on Canvas Italy XVII Century

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.

Antique Painting Nordic Landscape Oil on Canvas XVII-XVIII Century

Oil on canvas. In a Nordic landscape, with mountain ranges in the background and green hills, a small herd of cows is placed in the foreground, watched by a shepherdess who, sitting to rest on the edge of the road, indicates to the dog at her side the small castle, the probable destination of their journey. The painting, relined, presents small but widespread losses of color and scratches. It is presented in an early 1900s frame.

Antique Painting Religious Subject Oil on Canvas XVI-XVII Century

Oil on canvas. The subject depicted tells a biblical episode from the Old Testament: Susanna, the beautiful and chaste wife of Joachim, a rich Jew, is threatened by two elderly judges of the people while she is bathing in her garden. This episode has been widely reproduced in art, as an opportunity to exalt female beauty and condemn sinful voluptuousness. In the scene, the female figure of Susanna, half-dressed, sits in the foreground on the left, on the balustrade of a gushing fountain in the garden, intent on immersing herself, but pointing with her hand to the two old men on the right, who are spying on her, hidden behind a bush. Unusual in the scene is the figure of the other woman, probably a maidservant of Susanna, also half-dressed, probably introduced to further exalt female nudity. In the background appears the garden of the villa, characterized by symmetrical and regular flower beds. Also peculiar is the presence, in the distance behind Susanna's head, of three stylized figures, who seem to run towards her, perhaps to warn her of danger. The work, in the first canvas, has a slight break in the upper left, and small spots of paint. It is presented in an early 1900's frame.

Antique Painting Religious Subject Oil on Hardboard XVII Century

Flemish School of the 17th century. Oil on panel. The penitent saint is recognizable by her attributes, the ointment jar, the book and the skull. Signed "VD Werff" on the bottom left. Sealing wax export stamp from the 19th century on the back. There are longitudinal cracks in the panel. Presented in a late 19th century gilded frame

Antique Painting Religious Subject Oil on Canvas Italy XVII Century

Oil on canvas. Lombard school of the 17th century. On the first canvas and mounted on the original frame. Set in a prison, the scene shows Saint Ambrose the bishop directing the person on his right, a soldier with a cross around his neck, towards the sky. He can be identified as Saint Victor, a Roman soldier originally from Mauritania, who served in Milan at the time of Maximian and was martyred for his Christian faith. It was the bishop of Milan who recounted the life and martyrdom of the saint in one of his writings and who spread his cult. On the left, another probable martyr of the faith, who witnesses the proclamation of the beatitude of his cellmate; around, numerous other figures of condemned men. The octagonal painting probably belongs to a series dedicated to the cult of the Holy Bishop of Milan. The canvas requires restoration and cleaning, presenting several stains and cuts (a tear in the centre, other smaller ones on the sides).