Paolo Fiammingo (Venetian Master) - late 16th century figure painting - Devil

c.1580

Giulio Carpioni (Venice 1613 - Vicenza 1678) workshop of - Moses makes water flow from the rocks. 82 x 68 cm without frame, 97 x 83 cm with frame. Oil on canvas, in wooden frame (n...

Venetian painter (18th century) - River landscape with characters. 34 x 26 cm without frame, 43 x 35 cm with frame. Ancient oil painting on canvas, ...

Alessio de Marchis (Naples 1684 - Perugia or Urbino 1752) circle of - Arcadian Landscape with Shepherds and Flock. 60 x 72 cm unframed, 74 x 86 cm with frame. Ancient oil painting ...

Venetian painter (18th century) - Sketch for Venus and Chronos. 59 x 43 cm without frame, 70 x 54 cm with frame. Antique oil painting on canvas, in a carved and gilded wooden frame...

A splendid 17th century Flemish painting. Oil on canvas artwork depicting a mythological subject of great charm, Meleager offers the boar's head to Atalanta. The Fates had predicted ...

Oil on Canvas. North Italian school of the 18th century. The landscape, set on the bank of a wide river, features several figures of peasants in the center intent on picking fruit fr...

Pier Francesco Cittadini (Milan, 1616-Bologna, 1681) "Jacob and his family go to Egypt" Oil on canvas, cm 109 x 190 (canvas only) The valuable painting, made in oil on canvas, depicts Jacob and his family go to Egypt and we believe it can be, given the high quality painting, autograph work of Italian Pier Francesco Cittadini (Italy Milan, 1616 - Bologna, 1681) made after 1647. The work, in excellent condition is accompanied by a coeval frame in wood finely carved and golden. The scene depicted, which was confused with the Flight to Egypt in the past years, is instead identified with the biblical episode of Jacob’s journey. In the foreground, reading the painting from left to right, we see a caravan composed of animals, including donkeys, dromedaries, goats, dogs and horses and people, women, men and slaves, who carry on their journey along the banks of a river, following a path that to the right, would seem to lead to the through of a bridge. In addition to the watercourse is described an environment characterized by large rocks and impervious come far to cover the entire verticality of the canvas. On the left, in the distance, we see the tail of the caravan that runs along the steep path. Large trees enliven and harmonize the environment, as well as white and grey clouds characterize the predominantly clear sky and illuminated on the right by sunlight. The story is told in the Bible, Book of Genesis, 30, 25, passage in which is described the flight of Jacob from Haran after the contrasts with Laban, father of his wife Rachel. Jacob is the third great patriarch of the Bible. From his descendants originate the twelve generations of the people of Israel. He is the son of Isaac and Rebekah, who led him to flee from the wrath of Esau to Haran to seek refuge from his brother, Laban. At his uncle’s house Jacob met his daughter Rachel. As soon as he saw his cousin, Jacob was taken. Jacob will stay seven years in the service of Laban to marry his beloved Rachel. But Laban, with a deception, will give him in marriage first Lia, the least beautiful eldest daughter, and only after another seven years the splendid Rachel. From his first wife he will have several children, while Rachel will give birth to the beloved son, Joseph, who will become viceroy of Egypt. After years of service, Jacob asked to be paid with every dark-coloured garment among the sheep and every spotted and dotted garment among the goats. Laban accepted and sent away from his sons all the leaders of that kind. So Jacob took fresh branches of poplar, almond and plane tree, and flayed them, and put them in the troughs. The optical suggestion induced the goats and the sheep to conceive and give birth to dark, striped and dotted garments. He also ensured that all the strongest and healthiest leaders of the flock of Laban would drink near the barked branches, thus assuring a genetic superiority to his part of the flock. His flocks grew numerous and strong and he became richer than his relative, arousing envy. It was clear that Laban would not respect him much longer. At the suggestion of the Lord, Jacob decided to return to Canaan. Trying to avoid any possible dispute, he left with his family while Laban was absent for shearing sheep. But when, three days later, his uncle returned home, he became angry, feeling offended because Jacob had gone secretly and had not allowed him to greet his daughters and grandchildren. In addition, his teraphim, statuettes, or idols, which depicted the family deities, had disappeared. After 7 days of pursuit, Laban and his men reached Jacob’s group on Mount Gilead, in the mountainous region west of the Euphrates River, where his uncle and grandson had a stormy conversation. The younger man was outraged at being accused of stealing idols and told Labano to rummage through his family’s tents at will. Neither of them could know or even imagine that it was Rachel who took the idols and hid them in the saddle of the camel. During the search, she sat down firmly on the saddle, apologizing for not being able to get up, «because I usually have what happens to women» (Gen 31:35). So the loot wasn’t discovered. The author of this work was inspired by the composition of an engraving by Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664) of circa 1647. The engraving by Stefano della Bella bears the title "Iacob sur ses vieux jours quitte sans fascherie pour voir son filz Ioseph, sa terre et sa patrie" and is signed on the bottom left "Stef. of the Beautiful In. et fe." while on the right it is declared "Cum privil. Regis", that is with license of the king. Stefano Della Bella (Italy - Florence, May 18, 1610-Florence, July 12, 1664) was born in a family of painters, sculptors and goldsmiths and was left early orphan of his father sculptor, he dedicated himself first to the art of goldsmith at the school of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and Gasparo Mola, then turning his attention to drawing and engraving. He soon began drawing figures and copying the etchings of Jacques Callot, which inspired his early works. Under the protection of the Medici, in particular of Don Lorenzo, cadet son of Grand Duke Ferdinand I, Della Bella has the opportunity to make study trips to Rome, where he stayed from 1633-1636; In Rome he met French engravers and publishers of prints such as Israël Henriet and François Langlois, who influenced his decision to move to Paris in 1639, four years after the death of Callot. In Paris he soon reached, thanks to the engravings commissioned by Cardinal Richelieu, the success also worldly; he frequented courtiers, theatre artists and writers, while refusing too oppressive honors. In 1646-1647 he continued his travels in the Netherlands to Amsterdam, Antwerp and Dordrecht. He returned to Florence in 1650 and resumed working under the protection of the Medici court, working for his patrons. In 1656 he became a member of the Academy of Apatists. The painting object of this study is reasonably attributable to Pier Francesco Cittadini, or Pierfrancesco Cittadini, called the Milanese or the Franceschino (Italy - Milan, 1616-Bologna, 1681) as some exemplary stylistic comparisons proposed to follow can prove. Pier Francesco Cittadini was an Italian baroque painter, mainly active in Bologna. His artistic training first took place with the painter Daniele Crespi...

Francesco Albani Circle Italian Mythological Painting This important oil painting on wood depicts a subject that is very rare in the iconography of ancient mythological paintings: the birth of Erittonio. Erichthonius who succeeded Amphictyon becoming the fourth mythological king of Athens and married the naiad Praxithea who made him the father of Pandion. The extremely high quality of this very rare painting suggests that it was painted by an artist who frequented Francesco Albani's studio. The period, the mythological subject, the harmony of the colours and, above all, the sublime quality of the flesh tones all point in this direction. This artwork, never before on the market, comes from an important Italian private collection Every item of our Gallery, upon request, is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Sabrina Egidi official Expert in Italian furniture for the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and for the Rome Civil Courts. ERYTHTONIOS (᾿Ερυχϑόνιος, Erychthonios) Born of Hephaestus' love for Athena, from the breast of Ghe, who was impregnated by the god; welcomed by Athena, who placed him in a basket together with one or two snakes, entrusting him to the care of Cecrops' three daughters. Against the goddess's wishes, they opened the chest, from which emerged, according to different versions of the myth, either the child wrapped in snakes or a snake, which, in some versions, killed the girls, while in others, they threw themselves from the Acropolis in fear. Erittonio, in the form of a snake, is welcomed by Athena into her temple and curls up under the goddess's shield. Alongside this myth, of Ionian origin, are others due to the doubling of the figures of E. and Erechtheus The scene of the birth appears in figurative tradition: in a Melian terracotta relief from the early 5th century, Ghe, half-emerging, holds out the baby Erittonio. to Athena, who welcomes him in the presence of Cecrops; the same scene appears on various painted vases, such as a red-figure kölix by the Painter of Kodros, from Tarquinia, in the Berlin Museums, dating from around 440 BC, where Hephaestus also appears alongside Cecrops. A modest red-figure vase from Camiro, in the British Museum, depicts the moment when the fleeing Cecropids discover the cista, from which the infant Erittonio. emerges between two snakes, greeting Athena. The moment when the chest was opened was depicted by Phidias on the xiii and xiv S metopes of the Parthenon, where Cecrops and Pandrosus appear in the first and Erisichthon and Aglaurus with the chest uncovered in the second. A kölix in the style of the Brygos Painter in Frankfurt, on the other hand, depicts the large snake E. chasing the fleeing Cecropids towards their father's palace. Luciano (De dom., 27) recalls a painting depicting the scene of the birth and the representation of the myth in pantomime on the theatre (De salt., 39). Bibliography: Engelmann, in Roscher, cc. 1303-1308, s. v. Erichthonios; P. Jacobstahl, Die Melischen Reliefs, Berlin 1931, pp. 96-98, plate 75 a; W. Züchner, in Jahrbuch, LXV-LXVI, 1950-51, p. 200 ff., figs. 34-35; J. D. Beazley, Red-fig., p. 720; G. Becatti, Problemi fidiaci, Florence 1951, p. 22. Questo Francesco Albani (Bologna, August 17, 1578 – Bologna, October 4, 1660) was an Italian painter. Albani was born in Bologna, Papal States, in 1578. His father was a silk merchant who intended his son to go into his own trade. By the age of twelve, however, he had become an apprentice to the competent mannerist painter Denis Calvaert, in whose studio he met Guido Reni. He soon followed Reni to the so-called "Academy" run by Annibale, Agostino, and Ludovico Carracci. This studio fostered the careers of many painters of the Bolognese school, including Domenichino, Massari, Viola, Lanfranco, Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi...