18th Century and Earlier Paintings

Provenance: Robert L. and Bertina Suida Manning, New York, until 1996 Private Collection, USA One of the leading artists in Genoa during the second half of the seventeenth century, Domenico Piola came from a successful family of artists, renowned for their many illusionistic ceiling programs throughout Genoese churches and palaces. A prolific draughtsman and painter, Domenico oversaw an extremely productive studio. In addition to his collaborations with numerous other artists, Domenico also provided many designs for book illustrations and prints that circulated throughout Europe, earning him international exposure and high acclaim in his own day. As Dr. Anna Orlando has indicated (written communication), the present work is an early work by Piola, datable from the late 1640s. At this time the young artist came strongly under the influence of Castiglione and Valerio Castello, while admiring the works of Giulio Cesare Procaccini. Piola’s works from this period are exuberant and fluid, and the artist’s love of portraying children is evident from the angels and putti that populate both his altarpieces and more intimate paintings. The present work depicts three angels...

Circle of Sir Peter Lely Dutch, (1618-1680) Portrait of a Lady, traditionally identified as Princess Henrietta Anne Stuart Oil on canvas Image...

Oil on oak panel Image size: 11 1/2 inches circular diameter (29 cm) Hand carved gilt frame

Jesus Feeding The 5000, 17th Century School Of NICOLAS POUSSIN (1595-1665) Fine huge 17th Italian Old Master of Jesus Feeding The 5000, oil on canvas. Stunning panoramic early and ...

Piedmontese painter of the eighteenth century Pendant of paintings Landscape with wild boar hunting scene Landscape with pastoral scene Oil on canvas, 66 x 132 cm, framed 68 x 134 We show you this pleasant pendant of paintings, characterized by a clear atmosphere and a delicate chromatic harmony, in perfect harmony with the rocaille taste of the Savoy capital of the full of the second half of the 18th century, and can be compared to a Piedmontese painter, presumably active in Turin in that period. The first work, with a pastoral and Arcadian character, shows a small group of shepherds, intent on guarding their animals: the romantic theater that sees a shepherd on horseback singing a song to cheer the rest of the companions to make the scene affected. In the second work, however, the composition is centered on the lively and rich group of figures of hunters who, armed with swords and spears and with the help of hunting dogs, surrounded the wild boars. The style of our two canvases, as well as the type of subject represented, evokes the compositions of Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli (Turin, 1730 - 1800) with the illustrative tradition repeatedly addressed by the author, the main landscape painter of Piedmontese Rococo, as recalled in the canvases made for the Palazzine di Stupinigi and Racconigi. His technical ability and his rigorous craft earned him the esteem of the Savoy court and consequently of the Piedmontese nobles. His workshop expanded considerably due to the numerous commissions, inducing him to avail himself of the help of a considerable number of workers, apprentices and professional painters who deal with the landscape, figures or costumes according to their specialization, so it becomes difficult to establish whether a work is a workshop or an independent painter. Paintings of this format and of these subjects, often made in groups, were commissioned to be placed in palaces or in small Piedmontese and Lombard castles. Shape and size would suggest that the canvases were originally placed as over the door...

What is so wonderful and unusual about this 18th Century portrait is the relatability of the sitter. There is an openness to the world in his gaze, curiosity, a sense of humour, pass...

Oil painting on canvas. It is a vintage copy of the engraving of the same name made by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), which had immediate success and gave rise to a series of printed replicas and painted copies. It presents the moment of the Passion in which Christ is crowned with the crown of thorns, the object of torture, the disparaging symbol of his proclamation as King of Kings. The act is performed by two figures, the Roman soldier and the Jew, representing the two people who they took part in Christ's death sentence. The figures, vigorous and sanguine, those of the two tormentors paler and more inert than the victim, create an intertwined composition of bodies, with that of the central Jesus joining the other two, uniting them in the shared responsibility of what they are doing; placed sideways, Jesus has his head bent forcibly to the left by the soldier who imposes the crown of thorns on him, while the Jew on the right places the bamboo cane in his hand, replacing the scepter. The scene is dominated by gloomy and dark colors, among which only the bright red of Christ's robe stands...

Mythological Scene is a mixed colored painting on board realized by Anonymous artist in the XVIII century. The artwork represents a mythological scene with women and cherubs. Inclu...

Giovanni Stefano Danedi, called Montalto (Treviglio 1612 - Milan 1690) Madonna and Child crowned by angels Oil on panel, 58x36 cm without frame - 83x61 cm with frame 19th century sha...

Giuseppe Zais (Canale d'Agordo, Belluno 1709 - Treviso 1781) Pendant of paintings - The assault of the brigands / After the assault Oil on canvas, 108 x 42 cm. each In the frame 128...

Pair of views of Rotterdam: The Stock Exchange building / View of the canal with the old port Eighteenth-century Vedutist painter oils on canvas 47 x 66 cm. - with frame 56 x 75 cm. This pleasant pair of paintings depict two glimpses of the city of Rotterdam, investigated here as vivid documentaries of the habits and customs from the public life of the wealthy Dutch port city, as well as one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company, is an excellent example of 18th century Vedutism We see, in particular, in the first work the monumental Palazzo della Borsa (defined as Il Beurs), designed by the architect Adriaen van der Werff in Westnieuwland, initially a place destined for legislation on trade, where merchant-bankers met periodically to exchange securities credit and enter into sales; it is located on the bank of the Nordblaak River and shot with the Gaapers Bridge in the foreground. The second work immortalizes the docking of the ancient port of Rotterdam, with the foreground view of the two city gates (the Wester Old Hoofdpoort on the left and the Ooster Oude Hoofdpoort on the right); in the background on the left the St. Laurenskerk (Church of San Lorenzo), also called the Great Church of Rotterdam, is the only medieval structure, while on the right the English Church. Very well executed, characterized by a marked brightness and a chromatic range with bright colors and highlighted by the contrast between lights and shadows, our canvases are a very interesting testimony of eighteenth-century Rotterdam, portraying two of the views that have historically influenced a lot on economic history of the city. We can attribute the authorship to an author of the full eighteenth century, inspired by the pictorial style of the Italian landscape painters and whose iconography was presumably drawn from the numerous prints with perspective views made through the optical cameras. In particular, these views of Rotterdam draw their iconographic origin from a collection of perspective prints of the most influential European cities, made by the engraver Johann Balthasar Probst (1732-1801), characterized by a remarkable refinement in the line, at the service of a sense of perspective of undoubted value, and above all characterized by a strong Nordic taste. Descendant of a large family of Augsburg engravers, Probst contributed to making his workshop an important European publishing center between the 17th and 18th centuries, among the major German print publishers in the first half of the 18th century. Despite his travels, including in Italy, between Venice, Rome and Naples, not all the cities he portrayed were drawn from life but taken from earlier prints and drawings and filtered through northern European clichés. Many of these engravings have been lost and are now difficult to find on the antiques market.

Antonio Mercurio Amorosi (Comunanza 1660 - 1738) Portrait of a little girl with cat Oil on canvas, cm. 42 x 31.5 – with frame cm. 56 x 44 Shaped, carved and gilded wooden cassetta fr...

Orpheus Enchanting the Animals, 16th Century Workshop of Frans Pourbus (1545-1581) Huge 16th Century Flemish Old Master of Orpheus enchanting the anima...

French 18th century old master portrait of a majestic and elegant lady. The aristocratic lady gazes at the viewer with a kind and enigmatic smile and twinkling eyes. In comparison w...

Matthieu Van Plattenberg known as Platte-Montagne (Antwerp 1608 - Paris 1660) Stormy navy with vessels Oil painting on canvas 84 x 140 cm. i...

Artist/ School: circle of Julius Caesar Ibbetson (29 December 1759 – 13 October 1817) Title: Figures by stone bridge against a river highland landscape, beautifully detailed early w...

Roman school of the early 18th century Luigi Garzi (Pistoia 1638– Rome1721) attributed Still life of fruit supported by three angels Oil on oval canvas 116 x 91 cm., Framed 140 x 119 cm. Authentication on a photograph by Prof Giancarlo Sestieri, who attributes the work to the sphere of Luigi Garzi This magnificent canvas, depicting a sumptuous composition of fruit supported by three prosperous winged cherubs, from which comes a parchment bearing the Latin expression "Amor est vitae essentia", is to be placed in the production of a Roman author active between the second half of XVII century and the first of the following century. The iconography that sees represented cherubs with fruit or flowers is frequent in the Baroque period, especially in the Roman area, starting from the 1600s, with that particular depictional tendency aimed at illusionistic and frivolous images, to a type of paintings or frescoes of strong value decorative, intended for the private context and depicting jubilation of cherubs, angels or cherubs, and of which our canvas represents a perfect example. We can recall, among the most illustrious iconographic precedents, the elegant mirrors painted by Mario Nuzzi and Carlo Maratta that adorn the hall of Palazzo Colonna in Rome, and again the canvas preserved in the Rouen museum and the similar ones in Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia, with the collaboration for the figurative parts of Filippo Lauri. The commercial and furnishing success of similar works is also testified by authors such as Guglielmo Cortese known as Borgognone (1628 - 1679), Franz Werner Von Tamm (1658 - 1724), Giovan Battista Gaulli (1639 - 1709), Giovanni Paolo Castelli known as Spadino (Rome 1650 - 1740) and the aforementioned Carlo Maratta (1625 - 1713) The work, studied by Giancarlo Sestieri, was brought closer to the sphere of the eclectic Pistoian painter Luigi Garzi, one of the protagonists of Roman painting in the decades of transition between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In our painting we can find the typical elements of his painting: the soft and delicately chiaroscuro light, the sculptural classicism of the figures as well as the stupendous luministic and chromatic effects. Luigi Garzi's training and artistic activity took place in the Eternal City and he was in effect a Roman artist. He moved to Rome from Pistoia, his hometown at a very young age, and joined the atelier of Andrea Sacchi, who directed his studies towards classicism, comparing himself with the works of Raphael, Domenichino and Nicolas Poussin, but also with the Emilian one. , with particular attention to the school of Guido Reni. But the Emilian examples were undoubtedly preceded, particularly by Giovani Lanfranco, who modeled his taste and style, together with a modulated cortonism, while those pre-eighteenth-century sensibilities are due to the lesson of Carlo Maratta. However, there is no doubt that the painter oriented his personality without ever bowing to imitation, reaching a refined elegance and autonomy of language, as the canvas in question clearly demonstrates in which the different influences find a refined amalgamation in perfect harmony with the baroque evolution between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, indicating a dating to its earliest maturity. These attitudes led the painter to obtain awards and prestigious commissions as soon as possible, such as the frescoes of Palazzo Borghese...

Collections: Robert Gallon (1845-1925); Private Collection, UK. Oil on canvas laid down on panel Framed dimensions: 11.5 x 10 inches This highly engaging, previously unpublished portrait by Johan...

French School, Portrait of a Young Lady, perhaps an actress Oval Louis XIV sculpted and gilded frame French Art, Roccoco Art The oval portrait of a young woman measures 61 by 50,5 cm canvas sight size and its 18th century oak carved and gilded frame...

Scipione Compagno (active in Naples in XVII century) Crucifixion Oil on canvas, cm. 64 x 52,5 - with frame cm. 80 x 67 Antique wooden cassetta frame carved, sculpted and gilded by Mecca technique Expertise: Nicola Spinosa Publications: Bozzetti, modelletti, sketches: dalla collezione di Giorgio Baratti...

Matteo Bonechi (Florence 1669 - Florence 1756) Presentation of Jesus Oil on canvas, cm. 75 x 49 – with frame cm. 89,5 x 65 Shaped, carved and gilded wooden box frame Expertise: Sandro Bellesi Publications: Bozzetti, modelletti, sketches: dalla collezione di Giorgio Baratti (From the Giorgio Baratti Collection) curated by Anna Orlando, Agnese Marengo and Annalisa Scarpa, Genova, 2022, pp. 20, 21. The present painting is a very interesting testimony of the creative process of Matteo Bonechi, one of the leading artists on the Tuscan art scene in the early 18th century. The canvas in question is in fact the last preparatory model made by Bonechi before he executed an altarpiece for the church of San Filippo Neri in Cortona in 1716. The scene presented here is that of the Presentation of Jesus, when, forty days after his birth, the child is ransomed through an offering in the temple and placed in the hands of Simeon, who prophesies his future: the coming of the Messiah...

The Rape Of Europa, 17th Century after Claude Lorrain (1604-1692) Large 17th Century Italian Old Master of The Rape Of Europa, oil on canvas. Large sc...

Alexander van Bredael (Antwerp 1663 - 1720) - Signed lower left: A.V. BREDAEL F (ecit), Italian coastal landscape with market scene Oil painting on canvas (70 x 88 cm., framed 95 x 113 cm.) Provenance: Mercier & Cie, Lille, France, 05.28.2000, lot 223 Dorotheum, Vienna, 4.10.2000, lot 496 (estimate 18,000-22,000) The work, particularly rich in detail, depicts a fantasy coastal landscape, as the scene of a teeming morning market that animates the main square, with a multitude of characters, including fruit, vegetable and livestock merchants, fishermen in the distance and buyers. The signed painting is a typical work of the well-known painter Alexander van Bredael (1663–1720), a native of Antwerp, specializing in highly imaginative market scenes and village festivals, slides of everyday city life. His works are often set in Mediterranean landscapes, where the architectural models of Italian inspiration stand out, such as the classic village perched overlooking the shore, and the particular fountain that stands out in the center of the square, decorated with masks, female figures and a statue of a satyr on top. Even the style with which the characters are outlined and the tasty genre scenes perfectly reproduce the prototypes of the master, characterized by a use of bright colors, and by an extremely refined attention to detail, which combines his ability as a landscape architect to that of naturamortista. Finally, the particular beauty and wealth of detail with which the depictions of animals are rendered, the beautiful and rustic still lifes exhibited by the vegetable and fruit seller, the silhouettes of the characters, minutely described and enjoyable in every detail, deserve mention. Works by the author that appeared on the market, with stylistic and compositional characteristics similar to our painting: - Alexander van Bredael, Great pastoral feast among ancient ruins, Hampel (Munich) 06.26.2009, nr. 248 - Alexander van Bredael, Figures in a stream outside the city, Lempertz (Keulen) 22-11-2008, nr. 1292 - Alexander van Bredael, Landscape of the South...

Figures & Cattle In A River Landscape, 17th Century School of Johann Melchior Roos (1663-1731) Fine large 17th Century German classical landscap...

Italian Renaissance Angels Making Music - 16th Century Renaissance Fresco Fragment - Lombardy Italy A detached Renaissance Fresco dating to the ea...

""Liber Veritatis"", c1777. One of the most accomplished engravers of the 18th century, Richard Earlom was born in London in 1742 and in his early years studied under the Italian painter and engraver Giovanni Battista Cipriani. His skill as a draughtsman was recognised by publisher John Boydell, who in 1765 commissioned him to make a series of mezzotint engravings after the paintings at Houghton Hall, a Palladian country house in Norfolk, England, built for the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole...

The canvas can be inserted in the production of Christian Reder, known in Italy as Monsù Leandro. After a period of apprenticeship in Hamburg, he was f...

River Landscape with Bystanders is an original old master artwork realized by Artist of 18th Century. Mixed colored oil painting on canvas. The painting is approachable to traditio...

PIETER MULIER KNOWN AS TEMPESTA Haarlem, 1637 - Milan, 1701 Landscape Oil on canvas, cm 49x65 - with frame cm 62x78 Gilded and shaped frame Expertise:...

Venetian school of the end of the 16th century Circle of Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma the Younger (Venice 1544 - 1628) Saint Jerome Penitent Oil painting on canvas 85 x 64 cm. - In frame 97 x 76 cm. This splendid painting, which offers us an intense representation of San Girolamo...

Jacob Ochtervelt (Workshop) The Grape Seller There are two known versions of this subject. This is a reduced variant of Ochtervelt's signed and dat...

View Of Southampton From The River Itchen and Southampton Water In The Distance, circa 1800 by John Tobias Young (1755-1824) - rare early view of Southampton Large circa 1800 view...

Cristoforo Serra (Cesena 1600 - Cesena 1689) Portrait of a Shepherd Oil on canvas, cm. 92 x 75 - with frame cm. 106,5 x 94,5 Antique giltwood cassetta frame, carved and sculpted Pu...

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th-18th century. In a large, rather barren hilly landscape, which widens and fades to the right, there is a high rock, shaped...

Erasmus Quellinus II (Antwerp 1607 - 1672) Vanitas (as an Allegory of the Vanity of Life or of Youth) Oil painting on canvas - cm. 121 x 84, in the frame cm. 135 x 98 The work is accompanied by an in-depth study written by prof Emilio Negro, from which we present some extracts. The theme of the painting that we propose is a singular and rare "Vanitas", a subject of strong moral value which, in the pictorial field, refers to a composition with symbolic elements alluding to the theme of the transience of life, and therefore intent on soliciting the viewer to meditation on the transience of human destiny and on the fragility of worldly pleasures. These subjects, which had particular success in the Flemish context, are works of great charm, interesting to study and often difficult to decipher; protagonist of our canvas we see a capricious little love, sitting on a sarcophagus, a sort of pictorial anthropomorphic Carpe Diem (seize the fleeting moment), who invites you to meditate on the transience of life and to enjoy the moments of happiness it grants; this regardless of the alternating fortunes of fate, symbolized by the putto's foot trampling the gold coins, the precious fabric, the scepter, the ermine stole, the skull, the hunting horn and the books. Next to him is a still life of multicolored flowers, collected in a crystal vase, whose presence takes on a clear allegorical meaning, since they constitute the metaphor of the transience of youthful beauty which, like fresh flowers, is destined to wither. . Particularly noteworthy is the stone sepulcher on which the sweetheart sits, on which stands the acronym "DMS", to be dissolved in the Latin phrase "Diis Manibus Sacrum", that is to the sacred gods of hands, corresponding to the invocation carved on the tombstones. of the last paganism, addressed to the spirits of the deified ancestors. Another very interesting detail is the white sheet that emerges from the pages of the voluminous closed psalter, in which the Latin phrase is traced in beautiful seventeenth-century calligraphy: "Defecerunt sicut fumus dies / mei Psal J.97" to translate: "my days almost smoke they have vanished "(Psalter, Psalm 1. 97), equivalent to another exhortation to reflect on the short duration of existence. With regard to the pictorial origin of the composition in question, it should be noted first of all that it is an interesting replica, with some modifications, of a four-handed work by Erasmus Quellinus the Younger (the figure of the putto) and Daniel Seghers (the still life). Of the same composition is also known a version entitled 'Allegory of the passage of Youth', passed by Sotheby's in Amsterdam as Cornelis Schut...

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th-18th century. On the back this label of the Art Gallery with the indication "Venetian School of 1600". The Gospel episode of the deposition of...

Poussin’s subject is the abduction of the Sabine women. Historically, this subject was known as The Rape of the Sabines (rape being derived fro...

Tempera on paper, applied to hardboard. The biblical episode depicted, described in the book of Exodus, tells how young Moses, still at the court of the Pharaoh of Egypt, defends the...

Artist/ School: 17th Century Dutch School Title: Ladies Collecting Flowers Medium: oil painting on panel, framed Oval : 6.75 x 9.25 inches, frame...

This rare mural was painted in China over four centuries ago, and is an exquisite example of Buddhist art. The enlightened Buddha is shown standing at the center of the painting, dre...

This fresh sanguine sheet presents various studies placed next to each other in no apparent order. Two of the feet studies are preparatory to the first major commission received by the young Baldassare Franceschini, shortly after his installation in Florence, the frescoes for the Medici Fastes. This cycle was executed between 1636 and 1646 for the Villa La Petraia, a Medici villa on the outskirts of Florence, which allows us to date this sheet to the artist's youth. 1. The Medici Fastes, the first major commission for a young artist Born in Volterra in 1611, the town from which he took his nickname, Baldassare Franceschini apprenticed with his father, a sculptor of alabaster, one of his home town's specialities, and studied with Cosimo Daddi (1540-1630), a local artist. The Marquis Inghirami, who spotted his talent, sent him to the workshop of Matteo Rosselli (1578 - 1650) in Florence, which was also attended by Francesco Furini (1603 - 1646). In 1636, Lorenzo de' Medici, the youngest son of Ferdinand Ier and Christine of Lorraine, chose the 25-year-old artist, again on the advice of the Marquis Inghirami, to decorate with frescoes the loggias of the inner courtyard of the Villa La Petraia, which he had just inherited on the death of his mother. The project lasted about ten years and included ten scenes placed symmetrically in two loggias on either side of the courtyard: four main scenes and six placed above the doors, each to the glory of a member of the Medici family. This decoration was his major secular project, but Volterrano also executed several religious frescoes and a few easel paintings, often with less success. Among the religious commissions, we can cite the dome of the Colloredo chapel dedicated to Saint Lucy...

Giuseppe Bonito (Castellammare di Stabia, 1707 - Naples 1789) The Painter's Studio or Allegory of Painting Oil on canvas, cm.40,5 x 64 - with frame cm....

James Thornhill (1674-1735) Oil on canvas 12 x 14 inches; 16 ½ x 18 ½ in. Inc. frame The subject matter and inclusion of herms on both sides shows the influence of Louis...

Portrait of the daughter of Francois Boucher, Marie-Emilie Baudouin, holding a basket of flowers. Pastel on Parchment. The work is related to an oval portrait painting...

The Blood Of Christ, The Milk Of The Madonna, 16th Century circle of Adriaen Isenbrandt (1480-1551) Huge 16th Century Flemish old Master depiction of...

Circle of Cornelius Johnson (1593-1661), a 17th century portrait of a lady, bust-length oval, wearing an ivory silk gown with blue silk bows and lace c...

Oil painting on canvas. The composition is not a traditional still life because the fruit (grapes and apples) and the bird are inserted in a la...

Claude-Joseph Vernet (French, 1714 – 1789) Fisherman by a cascade in a gorge Oil on canvas 22.1/4 x 25.1/2 in. (56.5 x 64.7 cm.) Provenance: The estate of the late Betty, Lady Grantchester Du Catalogue Collection #39 Christie's London, 3 Dec 1997, Lot 52 (£41,000) Claude-Joseph Vernet was the leading French landscape painter (with Hubert Robert) of the later 18th century. He achieved great celebrity with his topographical paintings and serene landscapes. He was also one of the century's most accomplished painters of tempests and moonlight scenes...

Hunting played an essential role in the lives of princes and nobles for centuries. It was no different in the 17th century. Paintings depicting hunting scenes were hung, for example, in the hunting lodges of elites. It should be noted that the upper bourgeoisie also began to show interest in painted hunting scenes during the 17th century. In the Southern Netherlands there were a number of skilled animal painters who produced hunting scenes, including Frans Snijders, Paul De Vos, Jan Roos, Pieter Boel and Jan Fyt. Snijders knew how to render the anatomy of the animals masterfully. Also, he managed to make his animals look intelligent. He let them express a variety of feelings. His colleague, Paul De Vos, seems to have been less familiar with animal anatomy. His animals lack a kind of individuality and psychological expression. The panel shows a boar hunt with dogs. It was a prevalent theme, portrayed by Rubens, Snijders, De Vos and others. Buyers were especially interested in the showdown between animal species. The mental and physical strength appealed to their imagination. The painter of this little work has no solid knowledge of dog breeds. Due to a lack of insight into dogs' bone and muscle structure, he makes them look rather stiff. Mainly the heads have something naïve about them. It cannot be ruled out that the artist of this painting is Jan van Kessel...

Francesco Vanni is one of the last representatives of the long Sienese pictorial tradition. In this masterly composition in pen and ink wash, he presents the Virgin of the Rosary, holding the Child Jesus on her lap, surrounded on her right by Saint Dominic and on her left by Saint Catherine of Siena. The presence of these two emblematic saints of the Dominican order is a reminder of the devotion of this order to the Rosary. 1. Francesco Vanni, a Sienese painter of the Counter-Reformation Francesco Vanni was the most important Sienese painter of the late sixteenth century and a key Italian Counter-Reformation painter. He developed a very specific style, inspired not by Florentine models but rather by the Roman, Bolognese and Marche schools, and in particular by the work of his contemporary Federico Barocci (Urbino 1535 - 1612), despite the two artists never meeting. Francesco Vanni was born in Siena around 1563-1564. His father died in 1567 and his mother remarried Arcangelo Salimbeni (1536 - 1579), then one of Siena’s leading painters. His half-brother Ventura Salembini (1568 - 1613) also became a well-known painter. He continued his apprenticeship in Bologna and Rome, where he joined the painter Giovanni de Vecchi’s (1536 - 1614) studio, where he was greatly influenced, like other Tuscan painters of the time, by the art of Federico Barocci. He devoted himself mainly to religious painting, following the canons of the Counter-Reformation. Travelling between Siena, Rome, Bologna and Parma, in 1604, he settled in Siena, where he ended his life. Vanni was also an important member of the Confraternity of the Sacro Chiodo, renowned for its demanding religious practices. His legacy also includes some important engraved work. 2. Description of the artwork The Virgin is depicted enthroned in majesty, slightly taller than the other figures that she dominates from her pedestal. Her wide robe with marked folds evokes Renaissance statuary. She is crowned by two angels in the sky. These two angels are a reminder of the custom of adding angels to crown 13th century icons which was frequent at Vanni’s time. The Child Jesus is standing on the Virgin’s right knee. With her left hand she holds out a rosary to Catherine of Siena, identifiable by a branch of lily in her hand. In a symmetrical gesture, the Child Jesus also holds out a rosary to St Dominic. Two of St Dominic’s attributes are to be found at the foot of the Virgin: a book and a branch of lilies. Vanni gives particularly delicate treatment to St. Dominic's long and slender hands. The two outstretched rosaries form the link between the heavenly register of the Virgin and the Child Jesus and the earthly register of the two Dominicans who are not crowned with a halo. This and the fact they are followed by a large crowd, indicates that they are both represented as part of the multitude of the living called to pray to the Rosary. According to the classical iconographic tradition, it would be plausible to consider that the figure looking at the viewer on the extreme left of the drawing could be a self-portrait of the painter. Francesco Vanni's face is known to us from a self-portrait kept in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena. The squaring of the drawing suggests that it was used for a larger-scale altarpiece, probably for a church dedicated to St Dominic or for a Dominican convent. As of today, we have not identified the painting for which this drawing served as a preparatory modello. The Madonna of the Rosary in the Cathedral of Pitigliano (painted by Francesco Vanni in 1609) differs quite significantly from our drawing by the addition of Pope Pius V, and the inclusion of St. Dominic and St. Catherine in the celestial register. We believe that our drawing predates this painting because of its more symmetrical composition, and less Baroque influence. The presence of Saint Catherine of Siena, particularly venerated in his native town, to which Francesco Vanni returned frequently from 1590 onwards, leads us to propose a date of around 1590 - 1600 for this drawing. 3. The Rosary and the Dominican Order In order to clarify the iconographic meaning of this artwork, it is worth recalling the role of Saint Dominic in the spread of the Rosary prayer. Dominic Nuñez de Guzman was born around 1170 in Caleruega (near Burgos) in Spain and died in 1221 in Bologna, Italy. He was the founder of the order of friar preachers, commonly known as the Dominicans. He was canonised by the Church in 1234 and has since been celebrated under the name of Saint Dominic. After three days of prayer in the forest of Bouconne, near Toulouse, Dominic is said to have received the Rosary as a means of converting the Cathar population. The Dominicans subsequently made a special effort to promote this form of meditative prayer. Pope Pius V, a Dominican, included the feast of the Rosary (on October 7th) in the liturgical calendar in 1571. Rosary prayer has evolved over the centuries and traditionally consists of the recitation of three rosaries (four since St John Paul II). Each rosary consists of five tens of "Hail Mary...

Cesare Gennari (Cento, 1637 - Bologna, 1688) Rinaldo holds back his beloved Armida Oil on canvas - 119 x 164 cm. - In frame 141 x 189 cm. The work is accompanied by a critical study written by prof. Emilio Negro (Bologna) This valuable work can be ascribed to the production of Cesare Gennari (Cento, 1637 - Bologna, 1688), and depicts the episode of the last canto of the heroic poem the 'Gerusalemme Liberata' by Torquato Tasso, which features the two famous lovers...

A very nice painting of a Holy Family, oil on canvas.

Tempera on wood depicting a half-length female figure; she wears a red dress over a light-colored tunic, while a green drape rests on her right shoulder. The red hair is tied up with a central parting and is partly covered by a white headdress; the full face has an absorbed expression: a thoughtful gaze, arched eyebrows and slightly furrowed lips. Presented in a frame made with parts of an ancient larger frame. Historical-critical analysis: Our table in question is one of the numerous derivations from a lost fresco by Andrea del Sarto...

The sitter, seated in a yellow silk gown trimmed with a pink bow playing the cello, is believed to be the artist Balthazar Denner's eldest daughter Catharina (1715-1744), after his marriage to Esther Winter in Hamburg in 1712. She is also recognisable in another portrait of the Denner family in the Hamburg Kunsthalle, painted circa 1740 by the artist's son, Jacob Denner (1722-1765). Oil on canvas in a period giltwood frame. Provenance: Private collection, Northern Germany Professor Helmut Borsch-Supan, Berlin, confirmed the authenticity of the painting after examining it in 2013. The painting will also be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonnée of the artist, by Ute Mannhardt. Balthasar Denner...

Prize Bulls, Farmer & Owner, 18th Century Early French School Oil On Panel Fine 18th century French School prize bull scene with the farmer and owner, oil on panel. Very early prize bull scene with a pair of bulls accompanied by their owner and the farmer. Excellent detail with influences of Paulus Potter...

Study of apples, pears, caterpillar, butterflies and mice, dated 1635 Johannes BOUMAN (1601-1658) 17th century Dutch master study of pear...

Giustino Menescardi (Milan, c. 1720 - Venice, after 1779) Ascent of Calvary Oil on canvas, cm. 47 x 36 - with frame cm. 57x43 Shaped and gilded wooden cassetta frame Publications: Bozzetti, modelletti, sketches: dalla collezione di Giorgio Baratti...

Giovanni Paolo Castelli called Spadino (Rome 1659 - Rome 1730) Still life Oil on canvas, cm. 81x31 - with frame cm. 92x41 Shaped and gilded wo...