18th Century and Earlier Paintings

Finísimo óleo sobre cobre de la Virgen con el Niño, de mediados del siglo XVIII. Seguramente es Escuela Flamenca, gran calidad, va con un marco de madera y estuco dorado del siglo X...

Virgin with Child & St John, late 16th c. Florentine school Late 16th c. Florentine school Virgin with Child and St John the Baptiste Oil on white marble, h. 41,5 cm, w. 32 cm 17th L...

English School, (circa 1600) Portrait of William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke Oil on panel, oval Image size: 29¼ x 23⅞ inches Painted wooden frame Provenance: 176, Collection of Francis Greville, 1st Earl of Warwick. The Trustees of the Lord Brooks’ Settlement, (removed from Warwick Castle). Sotheby’s, London, 22nd March 1968, lot 81. Painted onto wooden panel, this portrait shows a dark haired gentleman in profile sporting an open white shirt. On top of this garments is a richly detailed black cloak, decorated with gold thread and lined with a sumptuous crimson lining. With the red silk inside it’s all very expensive and would fall under sumptuary laws – so this is a nobleman of high degree. It’s melancholic air conforms to the contemporary popularity of this very human condition, evident in fashionable poetry and music of the period. In comparison to our own modern prejudices, melancholy was associated with creativity in this period. This portrait appeared in the earliest described list of pictures of Warwick castle dating to 1762. Compiled by collector and antiquary Sir William Musgrave ‘taken from the information of Lord & Lady Warwick’ (Add. MSS, 5726 fol. 3) is described; ‘8. Earl of Essex – an original by Zuccharo – seen in profile with black hair. Holding a black robe across his breast with his right hand.’ As tempting as it is to imagine that this is a portrait of Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl Essex, we might take this with a pinch of salt. Its identification with this romantic and fatal Elizabethan might well have been an attempt to add romance to Warwick Castle’s walls. It doesn’t correspond all that well with Essex’s portraits around 1600 after his return from Cadiz. Notably, this picture was presumably hung not too far away from the castle’s two portraits of Queen Elizabeth I. The first, and undoubtedly the best, being the exquisite coronation portrait that was sold by Lord Brooke in the late 1970s and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. The second, described as being ‘a copy from the original at Ld Hydes’, has yet to resurface. The portrait eventually ended up being hung in the State Bedroom of Warwick Castle. Archival documents present one other interesting candidate. The Greville family’s earliest inventory of paintings, made in 1630 at their home Brooke House in Holborn, London, describes five portraits of identified figures. All five belonged to the courtier, politician and poet Sir Fulke Greville (1554-1628), 1st Baron Brooke, and were hung in the ‘Gallerie’ of Brooke House behind yellow curtains. One of them was described as being of ‘Lord of Pembrooke’, which is likely to have been William Herbert (1580-1630), 3rd Earl of Pembroke. William was the eldest son of Greville’s best friend’s sister Mary Sidney, and was brought up in the particularly literary and poetically orientated household which his mother had supported. Notably, the 3rd Earl was one of the figures that Shakespeare’s first folio was dedicated to in 1623. The melancholic air to the portrait corresponds to William’s own pretensions as a learned and poetic figure. The richness of the robe in the painting, sporting golden thread and a spotted black fabric, is indicative of wealth beyond that of a simple poet or actor. The portrait’s dating to around the year 1600 might have coincided with William’s father death and his own rise to the Pembroke Earldom. This period of his life too was imbued with personal sadness, as an illicit affair with a Mary Fitton had resulted in a pregnancy and eventual banishment by Elizabeth I to Wilton after a short spell in Fleet Prison. His illegitimate son died shortly after being born. Despite being a close follower of the Earl of Essex, William had side-stepped supporting Devereux in the fatal uprising against the Queen and eventually regained favour at the court of the next monarch James I. His linen shirt is edged with a delicate border of lace and his black cloak is lined on the inside with sumptuous scarlet and richly decorated on the outside with gold braid and a pattern of embroidered black spots. Despite the richness of his clothes, William Herbert has been presented in a dishevelled state of semi-undress, his shirt unlaced far down his chest with the ties lying limply over his hand, indicating that he is in a state of distracted detachment. It has been suggested that the fashion for melancholy was rooted in an increase in self-consciousness and introspective reflection during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In contemporary literature melancholy was said to be caused by a plenitude of the melancholy humor, one of the four vital humors, which were thought to regulate the functions of the body. An abundance of the melancholia humor was associated with a heightened creativity and intellectual ability and hence melancholy was linked to the notion of genius, as reflected in the work of the Oxford scholar Robert Burton, who in his work ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’, described the Malcontent as ‘of all others [the]… most witty, [who] causeth many times divine ravishment, and a kind of enthusiamus… which stirreth them up to be excellent Philosophers, Poets and Prophets.’ (R. Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, London, 1621 in R. Strong, ‘Elizabethan Malady: Melancholy in Elizabethan and Jacobean Portraits’, Apollo, LXXIX, 1964). Melancholy was viewed as a highly fashionable affliction under Elizabeth I, and her successor James I, and a dejected demeanour was adopted by wealthy young men, often presenting themselves as scholars or despondent lovers, as reflected in the portraiture and literature from this period. Although the sitter in this portrait is, as yet, unidentified, it seems probable that he was a nobleman with literary or artistic ambitions, following in the same vain as such famous figures as the aristocratic poet and dramatist, Edward de Vere...

18th-Century Still Life Painting – Classical Fruit Composition Artist: Unidentified Period: 18th Century Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: Framed: 54 x 74 cm Artwork: 35 x 54 cm Sty...

An oil painting by Adolf Friedrich Harper from 1799. A rare antique painting from the romanticism era. Framed in ornate gold wood frame, signed in lower left corner. Artist: Adol...

Portrait Of Maurice Of Nassau, Prince of Orange, 17th Century studio of Michiel Jansz Van Mierevelt (1566-1641) 17th Century Portrait of Maurice ...

Still Life Of Grapes In The Vineyard, 17th Century Pierre Antoine Lemoyne (French 1605-1665) similar to $250,000 Huge 17th Century French Old Master study of grapes in the vineyard, oil on canvas by Pierre Antoine Lemoyne. Excellent quality and condition study of the vines and grapes growing before a rustic building. Exceptional detail and rare early work of art on the subject of wine making...

Anne Hyde, Duchess of York (1637-1671), 17th Century Circle of SIR PETER LELY (1618-1680) Large 17th Century English School court portrait of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, oil on can...

Gabriele Bella (Venice 1730 – Venice 1799) attributed View of Venice with the Guglie bridge (or the Cannaregio bridge, as it was formerly called) circa 1750/60 oil on canvas, ...

Up for sale is a phenomenal Antique “Dutch School” original oil painting on canvas, depicting a genre scene. "By A. Van Ostade" - written on the back of the canvas (Ostade was a Du...

Portrait Of Lady Francklin of Bedfordshire, 17th Century Studio of Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) Fine 17th Century English portrait of Lady Fr...

Pair of antique reverse glass paintings Continental, 18th Century Frame: Height 46cm, width 40cm, depth 3.5cm Glass: Height 38cm, width 32cm T...

Portrait Of Gertrude Durnford, Lady Alston (1731-1807), 18th Century Studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) Large 18th Century English portrait ...

Appointed Portrait Painter to the Prince of Wales in Scotland in 1785, David Martin was the leading Scottish portrait painter of his generation. The artist is best known in the United States for his portrait of Benjamin Franklin, which is in the White House collection, Washington, D.C. The sitters depicted in this double portrait were the sons of the British diplomat Edward Finch-Hatton. George (1747-1823), later of Eastwell Park, Kent, is shown seated, reading an ancient charter or medieval manuscript...

Carvaly Skirmish At Night, 17th Century school of Jacques Courtois (1621-1676) Large 17th Century Italian Old Master night battle with cavalry offic...

François Liberti (17th-18th Century) – "Putti Games in a Park" An enchanting Baroque-era oil painting attributed to François Liberti (17th-18th century), depicting a joyous scene of ...

Antique Italian painting from the second half of the 17th century. Oil on canvas artwork depicting a portrait of an old lady, The widow of the pharmacist from Trento, of good pictori...

Still Life Of A Book Featuring A "Monastic Ode", 18th Century English School - Unique Still Life - Signed W. J. Fine large 18th Century English still life study of an opened book l...

Artist/ School: 17th Century Dutch School Title: An Extensive River Landscape with Figures in the foreground Medium: oil painting on canvas, framed Pai...

Work on canvas Plaster and gilded wood frame 89.5 x 105 x 7 cm

The Coronation Of The Virgin, 17th Century After Guido RENI (1575-1642) Fine Huge 17th Century Italian School Old Master depiction of the co...

The Lion of St. Mark Venetian Old Master, mid 18th century circle of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Venetian, 1696-1770) ink and watercolour drawing on paper mounted on a card frame, unf...

Christ and John the Baptist, the Apostle Peter, and Saint Augustine of Hippo, triptych After Pinturicchio (1454-1513) Large Italian Renaissance triptych...

Splendid Italian painting from the first half of the 18th century. Oil on canvas artwork depicting a scene of hermit life of Franciscan friars in attitudes of deep prayer. The mystic...

Antique Italian painting from the second half of the 17th century. Oil on canvas artwork depicting a splendid bucolic landscape with animals and a shepherd, of great pictorial qualit...

Olio su tela. Scuola italiana del XVII secolo. La grande composizione presenta una varietà di alimenti su un tavolo di cucina: a sinistra un grande canestro di vimini pieno di ortag...

Oil on Canvas. The large-scale scene is set outside a rocky fortress and features a garrison of soldiers preparing for battle: in the left foreground, by a tree, the group of mounted...

Studio of David Teniers the Younger 1610 - 1690 Peasants Playing Bowls Outside an Inn Oil on oak cradled panel, signed Image size: 16 ½ x 22 ½ inches Gilt s...

The Penitent Magdalene, 17th Century circle of CARLO DOLCI (1616-1686) Large 17th century Italian old Master depiction of the Penitent Magdalene, oil on ...

Fascinating mythological story of Diana and Actaeon can be found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Very important provenance from a royal collection. Fabulous finely carved gilt wood coeval frame . Giovanni Battista Viola...

Portrait Of A Wet Nurse & Baby, 17th Century Rare & Unusual English School Portrait Large 17th Century English School portrait of a wet nurse and baby breastfeeding, oil on canva...

Painting oil on canvas depicting a soldier handing the crown to Saint Joseph, measuring 76 x 61 cm without frame and 95 x 80 cm with frame by an Italian School of the second half of ...

ÉCOLE FRANCAISE fin XVIIIè. Dans le goût de NATTIER. « Jeune femme en déshabillé lisant ». Pastel dans un très joli cadre. H.58 L.71.

Olio su tela. La grande composizione propone un paesaggio che vede centrale un grande albero. a sormontare con le sue rade frasche la campagna sottostante, traversata da un corso d'acqua e animata da diverse figure di popolani intenti ad attività o a riposo; in alto a destra si erge una fortezza, che domina la vallata. Già attribuito al marchigiano Peruzzini, il dipinto si può ricondurre senz'altro al suo ambito, per i tratti pittorici veloci e poco aggregati. Antonio Francesco si specializzò nella pittura di paesaggio, subendo l'influenza di Salvator Rosa e di paesaggisti come Pietro Montanini...

Oil on oak panel Image size: 9 x 7 1/4 inches (23 x 18.5 cm) Period style hand made frame This is a self-portrait is most likely by a 17th century English...

Still life painting of fruit in a basket Continental, c. 1800 Frame: Height 81cm, width 91cm, depth 7cm Canvas: Height 57cm, width 69cm, ...

Oil on Canvas. Venetian school of the 17th century. Looking to the models popularized by Jacopo Bassano, the painting presents a scene rich in figures and contour elements typical of...

Pastoral Landscape Dutch painter, 18th century oil on canvas, framed in antique frame framed: 22 x 25 inches canvas: 18.5 x 22 inches Provenance: Private collection, France Condition...

French School, Rococo period original Likely to be a preparatory sketch for a larger piece. oil painting on canvas laid on board, framed framed: 1...

Ascension Day in Venice 17th century Antwerp School Louis de Caullery (1582-1621) Oil on oak panel Dimensions: h. 12.8 in, w. 23.03 in (h. 32,5 cm, w. 58,5 c...

Depiction of a young man with a lute sitting between two quarrelling men. Painting in oil on canvas Image size: 58 x 50 cm. In a baroque gold stucco frame. The reverse with old galle...

A Bearded Man Tortured By A Spiked Sandal, 17th century Italian School - rare unusual depiction possibly of a martyr Fine 17th Century Italian Old Master depiction of a bearded m...

Allegorical Scene is a superb original oil painting on canvas, realized by an anonymous artist during Neoclassicism's years. This old master's artwork offers us un unprecedented ap...

Oil on canvas attributed to Philipp Peter Roos Rosa da Tivoli, realized in the late 17th Century in Italy. Large work with very fine workmanship, in particular in the creation of an...

This exquisite oil painting on wood, created by an unknown Flemish artist in 1594, depicts a young girl seated in a chair. The artwork is in very good condition, though some modest r...

Antique Italian painting from the early 18th century. Artwork oil on canvas depicting a fabulous still life with flowers and a view in the background (right) of excellent pictorial q...

This head and shoulders portrait is an outstanding example of the breadth, force and beauty of this artist's pictorial manner and abilities. This captivating portrait features a musi...

18th-Century Pastoral Scene Dutch School, 18th century oil on canvas, framed Framed: 22 x 25.5 inches Canvas : 18.5 x 22 inches Provenance: private collection, France Condition: very...

Westminster From The South, 18th Century by Joseph FARINGTON (1747-1821) similar to $45,000 Fine large 18th Century London view of Westminster fr...

Bathers On A Mountainous River Landscape, 17th Century attributed to Sisto BADALOCCHIO (1581/85-1647) Fine huge 17th Century Italian Bolognese School Old Master landscape with bathers in a mountainous river landscape, oil on canvas attributed to Sisto Badalocchio. Excellent quality and condition for its age presented in a superb antique gilt frame. Measurements: 120cm x 90cm...

Philipp Peter Roos, known as Rosa da Tivoli (Sankt Goar, August 30, 1657 - Rome, January 17, 1706) Pair of landscapes of the Roman countryside with catkins (2) Oil on canvas, 22 x ...

The Birth of Venus is an early renaissance oil on canvas painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, executed during the mid-1480s. It ...

Saint John the Baptist & Saint Benedict, 18th Century Diptych after lost work by Bartolomeo Montagna (1450-1523) Large 18th Century Italian Old Master depiction of Saint John the B...

Oil on Canvas. Lombard school of the seventeenth century. According to classical iconography, the penitent Magdalene is depicted with tears in her eyes, her hair down, unkempt, hold...

Work on canvas Black wooden frame 51 x 73 x 5 cm

Benedetto Luti (Florence, 1666 - Rome, 1724) Christ and Mary Magdalene at the banquet of the rich Pharisee Simon Oil on canvas (73 x 46 cm. - Framed 93 x 67 cm.) During a ba...

Attributed to Jan Gerritsz. Stockman (1603–1661) "Paesaggio Classico con Figure" (Classical Landscape with Figures) Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions (Framed): 162 x 146 cm Dimensions...

As Florence Ingersoll-Smouse wrote in 1921 in her book devoted to Jean-Baptiste Pater, "a painter of the Fête galante, Pater is interesting both by his intimacy with Watteau, to whom many of his works are still attributed, and by his own value as an artist.” This sanguine, full of life and spontaneity, is typical of the preparatory studies made by the painter to be used later in the composition of his paintings. 1. Jean-Baptiste Pater, pupil and disciple of Antoine Watteau Antoine Pater, Jean-Baptiste's father, belonged to the petty bourgeoisie of Valenciennes where he worked as a merchant-sculptor. His brother Jacques was a local painter who was probably involved in his nephew's training. Born on December 29, 1695, Jean-Baptiste Pater was first trained with Jean-Baptiste Guider, a local painter whose death in 1711 was probably the reason for Jean-Baptiste’s departure alongside Watteau, who was visiting Valenciennes. Watteau's difficult character led to their separation in 1713. Back in Valenciennes, Jean-Baptiste Pater encountered difficulties with the powerful Corporation of Saint-Luke (to which he refused to belong) which forced him to return to Paris in 1718. He reconciled with Watteau shortly before his death (on July 18th 1721), inherited the commissions that Watteau had been unable to fulfil and completed some of his paintings. Pater was accepted by the Académie Royale in 1725 but did not produce his reception painting The soldier’s revels until three years later. Throughout his brief career (he died at the age of forty on July 25th 1736), he mainly had a clientele of amateurs and received only one royal commission, shortly before his death. 2. Description of the drawing and related artworks Pater had adopted his master Watteau's method of composition. His study drawings were carefully glued in a notebook and were used to animate his compositions. His paintings sometimes suffer from a somewhat artificial composition, since the figures seem to be pasted one next to the other. This point has also been made about Watteau’s. The theme of military scenes (which was at the time included in the genre of Fêtes galantes!) was one of Pater’s favourite subjects. Together with the Bathing Women...