The Nine Muses

Tapestry. The word Euterp appears at the bottom right. The enormous grass juice depicts the nine Muses, female Greek divinities, all sisters, as daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and having the god Apollo as their guide. They represented the supreme ideal of Art, understood as the truth of the "Everything" or the "eternal magnificence of the divine". Initially considered in a generic way as divinities of song and joyous dances, responsible for putting into music and verse stories such as the origin of the world, the birth of gods and men, the exploits of Zeus, and often depicted accompanied by various musical instruments, starting from the Hellenistic era, all singing and musical expressions were associated with them, including sad and funeral ones, and other arts such as theatre, and each of them was associated with a specific genre of art, so that they could be invoked individually to exercise their inspiration and protection. The word "Euterp"refers to the name of one of them, Euterpe, muse of lyric poetry and music, traditionally depicted with a flute; but the name Euterpe etymologically means "She who cheers" who brings joy, and one can therefore think that the choice of this name to title the tapestry refers to the most ancient function of the Muses, those of bringers of joy through art. In this presentation, the muses appear dancing, dressed in veils and flowering branches; in their hands or placed next to them, instruments or other objects symbolizing the art that they inspire appear (both tragic and comic theatrical masks, the pictorial palette, various musical instruments...). The large painting has signs of wear and humidity stains.

Landscape with River and Figures 1878

Watercolor and pencil on paper. Signed and dated lower left. We know of several landscape views of the English countryside by the English painter Henry Clifford Warren, mostly painted in watercolour. Here is a view of a wooded countryside crossed by a wide river, with a shepherd leading his cows to graze on the hill in the foreground. Presented in a frame.

The Announcement of Defeat at Waterloo

Oil painting on canvas. French school of the 19th century. The scene, set in the poor bedroom of an elderly war veteran, who is crying in his bed, sees his family telling him the sad news of the defeat at Waterloo, as can be deduced from the sheet of newspaper in the woman's hands, on which the name of the historic location where Napoleon Bonaparte was definitively defeated. The canvas shows signs of previous restorations, in particular the patch corresponding to the female figure is clearly visible. It is presented in an early 20th century setting.

Oil painting on canvas. At the bottom left there is a signature traced very lightly and not decipherable. There is a plaque on the frame attributing the work to Jean-Baptiste François Pater (1695-1736), which is considered inconsistent. The landscape develops near the mouth of a river into the sea; on the left there is the landing directly to a group of houses; on the right a rowboat is leaving the tree-lined shore, with two scantily clad figures. Relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The great scene with a realist subject is set in a thick forest where, near a spring, a small family has stopped for a rest break: leaving the cart with their belongings (without a horse, therefore pulled by hand!), a man , a woman and a large group of children, are resting, eating, cooling off at the source or playing. From the top left a ray of sunlight filters through the trees, which illuminates the group of figures located at the bottom centre, protagonists of the scene. The painting is presented in a gilded frame from the late 19th - early 20th century.

Oil on canvas. Mid 19th century. The large scene tells an unidentified historical episode, set in the Renaissance period, in which an archbishop listens to the plea of a young man in arms, accompanied by his mother, who supports his plea. The setting is inside the reception hall of the high prelate, presumably in the bishop's palace, which from the loggia in the background overlooks the Cathedral, whose dome can be glimpsed; the bishop is surrounded by his subordinates and guards, while different people of the people attend. Particular is the presence of the man sitting in the foreground on the left, who looks towards the viewer and points to the scene, as if he were telling it. The atmosphere is played on the contrasts between lights and shadows, between the bright colors of the dominant characters compared to the dull and suffused tones of the surrounding figures, who literally tend to disappear into the shadows at the limits of the scene. The work is part of that large nineteenth-century production that drew on the historical or literary subject, re-proposing it in a romantic key. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in an important frame from the second half of the 19th century, with some shortcomings.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the early 19th century. The painting, according to nineteenth-century taste, aims to propose more of a genre scene than a landscape: in the foreground, in a barren countryside landscape with traces of snow, the figures of a small family descending from a sort of sleigh stand out. made of wood, filled with straw and pulled by a horse. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a gilded wooden frame in style, with several defects.

Oil on panel. Northern European school of the late 19th century. In the composition inside a shed, hunted game lies on a level; on the left the muzzle of the hunting dog appears but is turned towards a nest full of chirping birds, located above the shaft of the carriage seen on the right. The painting is presented in a period 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.

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. Signed lower left. Inside a rural kitchen, a peasant family allows themselves a moment of celebration: the father plays the mandolin, listened to by the little girl who seems to want to dance, assisted by her mother, and by the other women of the house, smiling as they carry out their domestic tasks. The production of the Neapolitan painter Giuseppe Giardiello always looked to the folklore of Neapolitan rural and peasant life, painting, with intimate and delicate tones, both scenes of domestic life and landscape views animated by figures. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Stable interior

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. The work was previously acquired at the Sotheby's auction in Milan on 10/12/2007. It was exhibited in 1991 in the exhibition "Giovanni Sottocornola. Images from a collection" held in Milan at the Silbernagl Gallery. After an initial pictorial phase dedicated to portraits and still lifes, in the 1880s Giovanni Sottocornola approached social themes, which were becoming the favorite subjects of young Lombard painters attentive to the poorest aspects of society, linked to the adoption of original artistic techniques. Sottocornola embraced the practice of pointillist painting, of which he wrote in 1895 "For now it is certain, I am convinced that there is no other painting more capable of conveying certain sensations than this one". However, this type of painting remained entirely focused on light, on its uncertain tonal vibrations, as happens in the Interior of a stable, created towards the end of the 1980s, where the plays of light and shadow play and create the effects visual in the brushstrokes of color played on a few chromatic ranges, those of browns, expressed in a wide variety of shades. The work is presented in a period frame.

Oil on wooden board. The painting pictorially reproduces the famous sculpture by Michelangelo, the Pietà of San Pietro or Pietà Vaticana. The composition of the figures is quite faithful to the reference work, but, as well as being painted in colour, it is placed in an open-air setting that refers to Renaissance painting, with the hill of Calvary emerging in shadow on the left. A coat of arms is painted at the bottom left, evoking a noble patronage. The work is presented in a period frame. It has several spots and small drops of color.

Oil on the table. The picturesque landscape has a wide path in the foreground on the right which winds between fronds and green meadows, where flocks graze; a small family of peasants passes along the path, all engaged in the transport of goods: even the girl carries a large bundle on her head, while the mother carries the basket with her newborn son in the same way! In the background, the plain extends wide to fade towards the distant hills and into the clear and rarefied sky, which gives off an almost pink light. The fir table of the painting has undergone restoration and parqueting. The work is presented in a mid-1900s frame.

Pencil, charcoal and white lead on paper. Signed (Amalia Bianchi?) and dated at the bottom right. Very effective is the use of different pigments that creates a play of chiaroscuri that underlines the figure. The portrait come in a 19th century wooden frame with leather leafy and floral inserts; it has missing parts and color drops.

Landscape with Figures and Bread Oven

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. The landscape view shows in the foreground a mountain path that leads to a bread oven, where a woman prepares the bundles of wood for the fire, while a traveler approaches on the back of a donkey; in the valley the viaduct over the river that leads to the village, surmounted by other barren peaks. Micheroux, belonging to the Posillipo school, or the nineteenth-century school of Neapolitan artists dedicated to landscape painting, created several glimpses of the Campania hinterland, but little is left of his production and little is known about his life. The painting has some small drops of color. It is presented in a late 19th century frame.

Oil on canvas. French school of the late 19th century. Trace of unidentified signature at the top right. In the foreground, the faces of two popular characters who seem caricatured, perhaps characters in a theatrical performance: it seems the scene of a satirical courtship, with the man who looks lasciviously at the woman, certainly not young and attractive, who is holding a bunch of flowers with an expression between resigned and confused. The painting is presented in a frame from the early 1900s.