Old Masters Art

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...

‘Crossing the Ford’ by William Mulready (1786-1863) Oil Sketch. Size: 28cm x 23cm framed. Image size: 17cm x 13cm William Mulready was born in Ennis, County Clare...

Born in Antwerp, Artus Wolffordt received his training in Dordrecht where he became a master in 1603 at the age of twenty-two. He returned to his native city in 1615 and initially worked as an assistant to Otto van Veen...

A very fine painting by the renowned seascape painter Arthur Joseph Meadows,Off Calais; fishing fleet returning at low tide. Housed in an antique style gilt frame the size overall is...

Chiaroscuro woodcut on cream laid paper, printed from three blocks in black, olive-green, and yellow ochre, 8 3/16 x 6 1/4 inches (207 x 157 mm), thread margins. Some scattered light discoloration throughout, lightly backed with laid paper, however the sheet retains translucence when viewed through raking light. Trimmed at or near the margin. Archivally sound small repaired corner tear, upper right, with a very minor (1/4 inch) vertical edge split in the center top margin, above the figure's head. All condition issues are consistent with age, and present an exceptionally good example of this truly remarkable work. With the collector's stamp of Friedrich August II, King of Saxony, last King of Poland (1797-1854), Dresden, on the right corner, recto (Lugt 971). This work likely appeared in a well-known posthumous sale of Friedrich August II's private collection, which was handled by C.G. Boerner, and took place in Leipzig, on May 7-9, 1928, presumably this print was presented as lot 1551. [Stechow 16] Ludolph Busïnck was born at Hann, Germany around 1590. By about 1620 he was actively working as a printmaker in Paris, collaborating with publisher and celebrated cartographer Melchoir Tavernier. Busïnck may have studied printmaking in the Netherlands, evidenced by the influence of Dutch printmaker Hendrick Goltzius we see in the bold woodcuts he produced in France. Busïnck was the first printmaker to create chiaroscuro woodcuts in France, a technique originated by German artist Hans Burgkmair...

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...

Antique Italian Grand Tour Oil on Canvas painting, "Mary Magdalene," by Achille Leonardi (Italian, 1800-1870), circa 1840. The painting depicting Mary Magdalene looking skyward and in the manner of...

Naples - Vincenzo Montella Italia 2007 - Oil on canvas cm. 60x100 Gold leaf gilded wooden frame cm. 85x125 The painting by V. Montella is a landscape representation of Naples, with t...

Venice - Giancarlo Gorini Italia 2002 - Oil on canvas cm.50x100 Gold leaf gilded wooden frameavailable on request Giancarlo Gorini's canvas is an extraordinary work of Italian lan...

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...

Studio of Sir Peter Lely Dutch, (1618-1680) Portrait of a Lady Oil on canvas Image size: 29.25 inches x 24.25 inches Size including frame: 37...

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...

Country scene - Oil on canvas cm.80x120, Giovanni Santaniello, Italy 2002 Gold gilded wooden frame available on request The painting by Giovanni Santaniello depicts a scene of return...

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...

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

Collections: Sir Thomas Lawrence, who acquired the contents of Fuseli’s studio; Susan, Countess of Guilford, née Coutts (1771-1837), acquired from the Lawrence estate; Susan, Baroness North (1797-1884), daughter of the above; Mrs A. M. Jaffé, acquired in France, c. 1950 to 2016. Black chalks, on buff-coloured paper Stamped verso: ‘Baroness Norths Collection / of Drawings by H Fuseli Esq.’ Framed dimensions: 26.38 x 20.63 inches This boldly drawn sheet depicting a seated figure was made by Fuseli at an important and highly productive moment in his career. The monumental drawing is closely related to another sheet by Fuseli in the British Museum which Schiff published as subject unknown. Both drawings were made when Fuseli was designing his most important sequence of historical works, including scenes from Shakespeare and Milton, The Nightmare and The Death of Dido which was exhibited at the Royal Academy to great critical acclaim in 1781. The present drawing does not relate directly to any of Fuseli’s finished historical paintings of the period, but evidently the image of a slightly menacing, seated and covered old woman was precisely the sort of motif he was playing with. It is notable that the same figure reappears later in Fuseli’s work as the witch from Ben Jonson’s Witch’s Song which Fuseli produced as both a painting and engraving in 1812. Fuseli returned to London in 1779 from a highly creative and productive period in Rome and established himself as one of the leading history painters of the period. Fuseli re-established contact with his old mentor Sir Joshua Reynolds, becoming a regular guest at his dinner table and visitor to his studio. The earliest and most striking manifestation of this strategy was Fuseli's Death of Dido, exhibited in 1781 at the Royal Academy. Executed on the same scale as Reynolds's version (Royal Collection), Fuseli's vertically oriented picture was hung directly opposite Reynolds's with its horizontal orientation, inevitably inviting comparison between the two works and garnering Fuseli much publicity and favourable reviews in the newspapers. The present, previously unpublished sheet, relates closely to a drawing now in the British Museum. That sheet shows the same seated old woman, drawn on a smaller scale and more schematic in design, seated next to an anatomical drawing of a man. The pose of this figure is related to the pose of Dido in his Death of Dido; the foreshortened torso, arrangement of head, oblique view of Dido’s features and arms all suggest that the study can be viewed as an initial thought for the composition. Fuseli may have initially thought of including the figure of the hunched and covered old woman. Drawn on identical paper to the British Museum sheet, our study is an enlarged depiction of the same figure, more elaborately delineated and developed. The presence of a chain to the right of the figure, suggests that the iconography was related in some way to a scene of imprisonment. Fuseli had first explored the motif of the hooded old woman in an early Roman drawing, 'The Venus Seller'. The idea of a grotesque old woman, hooded and with angular nose and projecting chin seen in profile was most spectacularly used by Fuseli in his sequence of paintings depicting The Three Witches from Macbeth. Fuseli seems to have kept the present sheet and may have returned to it when preparing a painting of The Witch and the Mandrake from Ben Jonson’s Witch’s Song from his Masque of Queens in 1812. Here the same seated figure looks out from under her hood and picks a mandrake by moonlight. Jonson’s drama had been performed at the court of James I in 1609, inspired the subject. To throw the nobility of the queens into relief, the poet added a coven of witches, one of whom declares: ‘I last night lay all alone, On the ground, to hear the mandrake groan; And plucked him up, though he grew full low, And, as I had done, the cock did crow.’ The figure was reversed in the associated etching which was published in 1812. It seems likely that the present drawing remained as part of Fuseli’s working archive of figure studies. The present drawing was presumably purchased with the bulk of Fuseli’s drawings after the artist’s death by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Lawrence’s large group of Fuseli drawings were then acquired by Susan, Countess of Guildford (1771-1837). Lady Guildford was the eldest daughter of the banker Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), who himself had supported Fuseli’s journey to Rome in the 1770s and had remained one of the artist’s key...

This large framed 18th century etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi entitled "Veduta dell'interno dell'Anfiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo" (View of the interior of the Flavian Amph...

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...

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

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...

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...

This large framed 18th century etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi entitled "Veduta del Mausoleo d'Elio Adriana ora chiamato Castello S. Angelo nella parte opposta alla Facciata de...

Tiziano Vecellio (Pieve di Cadore 1490 - Venice 1576) follower of Portrait of the emperor Julius Caesar (Rome 100 BC - 44 BC), inscribed above C. IVLIVS. CAESAR Portrait of the Emperor Octavian Augustus (Rome 63 BC - 14 BC), inscribed on top OCTAVIANUS II ROM IMP 17th century oil painting on canvas Measurements (cm.): 65 x 50, with frame 81 x 68 cm. The Latin writer Suetonius with his work 'De vita Caesarum' (and in particular with his tradition in the vernacular of 1543, edited by the Florentine scholar Paolo del Rosso) inspired Tiziano Vecellio who, in 1537, painted for Duke Frederick II of Gonzaga portraits of the eleven emperors, adorning the walls for a small room in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, later known as the Cabinet of the Caesars. These effigies were intended to establish the link between the new era and classicism with its splendor, as well as to celebrate the value and wisdom of the rulers, who perceived themselves, in their lordships, as valiant new emperors. Titian's paintings soon became enormously popular and many patrons and lords of the time, including Ferdinando d'Avalos, Marquis of Pescara and Governor of Milan or Vespasiano Gonzaga, turned to the workshop of the Cremonese Bernardino Campi...

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

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...

19th century oil Devon coastal scene William Shayer Snr (Circle of) A very attractive oil on canvas of cockle gatherers on the Devon coast The painting depicts a busy scene with people gathering their cockles with horses/donkeys laden with baskets ready to take to market. The painting Bears signature, also inscribed and dated 1833 (lower right) The size overall is 95 x 130cm whilst the image is 64 x 104cm (25 x 40¾ in.) Housed in the original heavy gilt frame Provenance: The property of a lady and gentleman , removed from a Cheshire country house William Shayer (1787–1879) was an English landscape painter and figure painter who became prominent during the Victorian era. A self-taught artist, who began by painting decorations on rush-bottom chairs. He moved on to painting carriages in the town of Guildford, after which he started doing heraldic painting...

A fine pair of oil paintings, oil on board depicting views of the Thames one showing houses of parliament the other barges in busy shipping lane. Framed and Glazed the size being 26 ...

Palazzo Borghese is original black and white etching realized by Giuseppe Vasi . Beautiful etching representing Palazzo Borghese in Rome. Signed and...

Louis-Félix de La Rue (1730-1777)  A biblical or mythological episode Signed and dated lower right (under the mount, see photos of the drawing out of frame) ...

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...

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...

19th Century Continental School A study of a saint Medium ; oil on panel Size: 26" x 12" inches

Wonderful Early 19th-century Still life of different fruits on an earth bank. Very much painted in the same way as George William Sartorius painted his still lives this piece has al...

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

This is a large framed very rare hand-colored copperplate mezzotint engraved portrait of William Pitt, the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham by Edward Fisher, published in London in 1779 after a painting by Richard Brompton. Pitt is depicted attired in a flowing regal appearing cape, standing in an ornate room with his left hand outstretched over a serious of manuscripts and scrolls that are laying on a table or desk to his left. The table is covered by a beautiful oriental carpet. The manuscripts include the Magna Carta, a map of the colonies, including Long Island and Staten Island, and papers entitled "A Plan for the Reconciliation between Great Britain and the Colonies", "A Motion Made in 1775 for the Recall of Troops from Boston", "A Provisional Act for Settling the Troubles in America Offered to the House of Lords in 1775", and "It is doing Nothing to repeal a few Scraps of Paper or Pieces of Parchment called Acts of Parliament. But our Business is to repeal the Ill-Will and the Animosity unfortunately now subsisting between Great Britain and North America". This engraving is held by the British Museum and the British Royal Collection Trust. This large framed mezzotint engraving is presented in a brown wood frame with gold-colored beaded inner and outer trim, and a cream-colored French mat. The frame measures 31.63" high by 26.63" wide by 0.75" deep. There are three short tears along the right edge and mild creasing in the left upper, left lower and right lower corners. It is otherwise in very good condition. William Pitt (1708-1778) was a member of the British parliament from 1735 to 1761 and prime minister from 1766 to 1768. Pitt was an advocate for the American colonies leading up to the War of Independence. He called for an amiable relationship between Great Britain and the colonies and opposed the Stamp Act and military action in America. He advocated for a withdrawal of English troops from Boston in 1775 and the settling of troubles in America, as two of his manuscripts on the table outline. Pitt's colleague, Lord Shelburne (later the Marquess of Lansdowne) shared his sympathies and after Pitt's death, signed a peace treaty with the United States in 1782. The American city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is named for William Pitt, the Elder. The name originated when the conflict between the British and French over territorial claims in the Northeast were settled in 1758. General John Forbes and his British army, supported by the American colonial troops, expelled the French from Fort Duquesne (which had been constructed by the French in 1754). Forbes re-named the site for William Pitt the Elder, who at the time was a British statesman. The earliest known reference to the new name, Pittsburgh, is in a letter sent from General John Forbes to Pitt, dated November 27, 1758. Pitt's son, William Pitt, the Younger, like his father, also served as British Prime Minister. Edward Fisher (1730-1785) was born in Ireland in 1730. He was originally a hatter, but learned engraving in London. He became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1766, and exhibited there fourteen times between 1761 and 1776. He engraved more than sixty portraits. In addition to this portrait of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, after Richard Brompton he engraved several portraits after Brompton, including George, Earl of Albemarle, as well as engraved portraits after paintings by Joshua Reynolds, including the Shakespearean actor David Garrick, Hugh, Earl of Northumberland, and Elizabeth, Countess of Northumberland and Laurence Sterne, and Hope Nursing Love, as well as Robert Brown, after Mason Chamberlin, Colley Cibber, after Jean-Baptiste van Loo, Christian VII of Denmark, after Nathaniel Dance, Simon, Earl Harcourt, after Hunter, Roger Long, after Benjamin Wilson...

Italian School, 16th Century Provenance: Private Collection, New York This intriguing drawing is a study by an anonymous 16th-century Italian artist after a vignette in Michelangelo’s fresco of The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. The altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was already richly decorated when Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint his Last Judgment...

Antonio Stom (Venice c. 1688 - 1734) Architectural Capriccio oil on canvas, cm. 88 x 113 - with frame cm. 106 x 132 Carved, sculpted and gilded wooden frame Expertise: Giancarlo S...

A very fine oil on canvas of Sir John Pettus ,circle of Mary Beale 17th century Wearing a red cloak and a black tunic with white collar. His coat of arms to the right. Housed in a gilt frame, the size overall being 85 x 74 cm whilst the painting is 76 x 63.5cm In overall excellent condition. There is a wealth of history about the sitter online , below is a brief resume John Pettus Sir John Pettus (1613–1690) was an English royalist, politician and natural philosopher. Pettus was an expert on metallurgy and became a deputy governor of the royal mines in England and Wales under Charles I and II. He is known for the first English translation of the work of the German metallurgist Lazarus Ercker. Pettus’s grandfather was a wealthy Norwich merchant ,he purchased the manor of Rackheath in 1590 and represented the city in 1601 and 1604-10. Although a younger son, Pettus inherited the manors of Chediston and Wenhaston, He married well; but even before the Civil War most of his estate was mortgaged, and his wife’s expectations were never realized, owing to her father’s misfortunes as leader of the City Royalists. Pettus became a servant to Charles I, and took part in the farcical royalist attempt on Lowestoft in March 1643, but was exchanged after nearly a year in prison. It is unlikely that he resumed command of his regiment, such as it was, since he ‘continued inoffensive till the taking of Bristol’ by the New Model Army...

Sleeping Boy is an original modern artwork realized in the 16th century by Giovanni Fontana. Ivory colored sheet attached on an ivory colored cardboard (...

Palazzo Odescalchi is original black and white etching realized by Giuseppe Vasi in 1754 Beautiful etching representing Palazzo Odescalchi in Rome. Signed and titled on plate lower...

Giacomo used to paint with his brother Giulio, identifying their works with the monogram «I I». The strong influence of his father, Francesco, is undeniable in all his works, althoug...

Giovan Battista Beinaschi (Fossano, 1636 - Naples 1688) Saint Bartholomew Oil on canvas, cm. 96 x 71,5 – with frame cm. 108 x 86 Shaped and gilded ...

Wonderful 18th century English gouache on paper of a 18th century English scene of a man on his horse with his dog in a landscape One of a set of five all framed in Hogarth frames. ...

19th century portrait, child at play ,Attributed to Henry Tanworth Wells A beautiful oval portrait of a young child at play, attributed to the portrait painter Henry Tanworth Wells. finely executed, this oil on canvas is in excellent condition. Housed in a period frame. The size overall is 79 cm x 62 cm whilst the painting is 56 cm x 46 cm Henry Tanworth Wells [1828-1903] Henry Tanworth Wells RA was an English miniature and portrait painter. He was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle though he painted in the academic style. His most popular painting...

Battle Scene is an original old masters' artwork realized in the 18th century. Mixed colored oil painting on canvas. The artwork includes frame: 58 x 90 cm.

Peintre actif à Rome au XVIe siècle - entourage de Scipione Pulzone (Gaeta 1550 - Rome 1598) La Pietà (Christ mort soutenu par la Madone) huile sur t...

Rome is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1742. In good condition except for some pencil marks and traces of sealing wax on the back and diffused foxings. Hand...

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. 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