Adoration of the Shepherds Oil painting on canvas attributed to Luca Cattapane

Attr. to Karel Breydel, known as the Knight of Antwerp (1678 - 1733) Battle with knights and landscape in the background Oil on canvas, cm 44.5 X 36.7 Frame 52.5 x 45 cm The pain...

Paolo Paoletti (Padua, 1671 - Udine, 1735) Still life with fruits on a shelf Oil on canvas, 53.5 x 81 cm Expert opinion Dr. Gianluca Bocchi The still life under consideration can...

Scope of Pietro Bardellino (1728-1806), circa 1760s Presentation of Mary in the Temple Oil on canvas, 163 x 150 cm With frame, cm 166 x 152 Dealt with in the proto-gospel of James, an apocryphal gospel, Mary's presentation to the temple remains to this day one of the most moving Marian artistic episodes. The moment figured here, in which the little Virgin is encouraged to the high priest by her nobly determined mother Anna, encapsulates a composition harmoniously cradled between Baroque and Classicism. All present turned in amazement to observe the young woman's unexpected entry into the sacred premises, while a direct light detached her figure from the soft incensed air. This strong expressive naturalness, added to the clear formal concreteness used by the artist, intoxicates the painting with the academicism already belonging to Francesco Solimena and Giacomo del Po, on a par with the greatest Neapolitan masters. The thoughtful consistency with which the artist organizes the luminous and tangible colors also formalizes his dependence on Pietro Bardellino, a distinguished exponent of the first Rococo investigations on Neapolitan soil. Committed from his youth to the great hall of the Farmacia degli Incurabili, Bardellino turned to the Oratory of the Confraternity of the Whites of the Holy Spirit, working at the same time for Bitonto Cathedral. Appointed a member of the Academy of Fine Arts, he was recalled there as an active collaborator by Vanvitelli himself, in 1773. A debtor in turn to the style of Francesco de Mura, his master, by the mid-18th century Bardellino was already registered as a fresco painter at the main royal residences of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, reaching the pinnacle of his success there in 1781 with the commission to fresco The Virtues Crowning Ferdinand IV and Maria Carolina on the huge ceiling of the Grand Hall of the Palazzo dei Regi Studi in Naples (later to become the Royal Bourbon Museum used in our days as the National Archaeological Museum of Naples). This evidence allowed him to become a master in the technique of fresco painting, boasted therefore at several noble residences, among the interiors of which it is possible to recall those of Cellamare, Ischitella and Spinelli di Fuscaldo. A coloristic lucidity, similar to that which shines in the present, returns in Bardellino's late works, now exhibited in the old apartment of the Reggia di Caserta (Science and the Arts, Peace and War, Innocence, Simplicity, Truth, Day and Night), albeit colder, due to the artist's adoption of the northern European art trends fashionable at the court of the Bourbon consort Maria Carolina, also influencing Corrado Giaquinto...

Workshop of Gio Benedetto Castiglione called the Grechetto (Genoa, March 23, 1609 - Mantua, May 5, 1664) Jacob's departure for the land of Canaan Oil on canvas, 80 x 115 cm - Fra...

Domenico Olivero (Turin, August 1, 1679 - January 13, 1755) Game of bowls Oil on canvas, 43 x 65 cm With frame, 54.5 x 76 Expert opinion Prof. Alberto Crispo The painting shown here depicts peasants playing bowls near a farmhouse, while one of them offers sweets to a little girl. The canvas, in my opinion, can be traced back to the hand of Pietro Domenico Olivero (Turin, August 1, 1679 - January 13, 1755), as revealed by comparisons with other works by the artist, such as the Peasants' Feast already at the Gilberto Zabert Gallery in Turin, where we find an entirely similar layout, with the figures crowded around the building, placed on the left, and some household goods piled up on the right, including a copper cauldron almost identical to the one sketched in our painting. But see also other similar subjects painted by the Turin-based artist, such as the Game of Bowls already at the Cantore Gallery in Modena or the other version on the Genoese market in 2019, which, although radically different compositionally, confirm the painter's interest in playful themes and manifest the same ways in delineating characters, with synthetic and robust brushstrokes. The artist was born in Turin, in the parish of St. Thomas, on August 1, 1679 to Giovanna and Francesco, a carver by profession. He trained at the workshop of the painter and architect Melchiorre Baldassarre Bianco. He was esteemed by Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, who commissioned paintings for the Venaria Reale (1714), the Royal Palace of Turin (1716), and Rivoli Castle (1724), as well as by his ministers Pietro Mellarède and Carlo Vincenzo Ferrero di Roasio marquis of Ormea whose collections counted many of the painter's works. His success on the Turin art scene earned him election as prior of the Accademia di San Luca in Turin (1726). In 1731 he painted the eleven canvases with Stories of Franciscan Saints in the sacristy of the church of St. Thomas in Turin, while in 1734 he made the Marriage at Cana for the sanctuary of Oropa. The Savoy commissions continued with the ten canvases executed for the castle of Agliè (1737), the decoration of the third room of the New Archives in the Royal Palace of Turin (1739-41), and the thirty or so works for the hunting lodge at Stupinigi (1748-51). The painter also measured himself in designing sets for the Teatro Regio in Turin (1745-46). He made his will on November 15, 1754, and died in his hometown on January 13, 1755. Olivero's genre scenes, such as the one commented on here, reveal a focus on Flemish painting, particularly by David Teniers the Younger, Peter Mauritz Bolckman, Theodor Helmbreker, and Cornelis de Wael, as well as Roman bamboozlers such as Pieter van Laer, Michelangelo Cerquozzi, and Jan Miel...

François-Barthélemy-Marius Abel (Marseille, 1832 - Paris, 1870) Scene with spinner Oil on canvas, 91 x 71 cm Framed, 120 x 100 cm Signed and dated "F. Barthelemy 1876" A young ...

This romantic French 19th century allegoric oil painting on square canvas has a sky blue background, a fluffy cloud fills the central part of the painting where a woman is lying down playing the lyre, while a graceful cherub seems to twirl over her. This oil on canvas painting represents the allegory of music - with a woman dressed in classical clothes and a putto- a very popular theme during all the neoclassical age, with its lively scene inspired by the Rococo period. The composition creates a awesome trompe-l'œil effect thanks to the color palette scheme. Well painted white and gray shadings (chiaro scuro) that stands out from the light blue background in typical grisaille style. This painting originally was an over door frieze...

This beautiful Italian 18th Century old masters oil painting on oval canvas with giltwood frame is attributed to Solimena and features a religious scene. In this splendid oval-shaped painting are depicted Saint Dominic...

This huge Italian 19th century armorial painting features the coat of arms of Montini, a noble Italian family that has among its ancestors the Archbishop of Milan, later known as Pope Paul VI. The large oval canvas has a brown and red background, the latter shaped like a shield, in which six mountains (from the etymology of the surname) and three white fleur de lis are painted. This big scale palatial oil painting...

“BS Trust” is 36” x 36”. Frank Arnold’s paintings exhibit the highest quality materials for a truly archival piece, created to last generations. Much of Frank Arnold’s work is sourc...

Last Dance is an Oil on Canvas painting in soft, light aqua tones with red/brown accents. Frank Arnold is thought by many to be one of the foremost abstract...

“My Other Side” is 48”x 36”. This is an earlier piece by Arnold from the estate of a late collector of his work. This piece is predominantly shades of red from light to almost black....