John Thomas Serres More Furniture and Collectibles

Painting of Frederick II., the Great, in oil on carton, in an oval gilt frame.

18th century painting of San Geronimo, oil on canvas laid on wood board. It was later placed in a restored 19th century wood and gesso frame. There is no signature.

We are pleased to present this captivating religious painting of the Italian school, painted in oil on canvas in the 18th century. This wonderful painting depicting the Madonna in pr...

Large oil painting of the holy family on hand woven canvas. Peruvian or Bolivian. Acquired from an estate in the San Francisco Bay Area f...

Oil on panel measuring 21" x 24.5" including the frame. The painting is signed in the lower right corner, but we cannot attribute the signature. The scene is a lively naval battl...

18th century Giacomo Guardi old master painting of Venetian Lagoon. Provenance. Old master painting in oil on canvas by the artist Giacomo Guardi (1764...

An 18th / early 19th century miniature painting An 18th / early 19th century miniature painting painted on glass and framed. The copper framed miniature painting in another copp...

An exquisite 18th-century oil portrait miniature depicting a distinguished naval officer, dressed in period military attire. The artist has meticulously rendered the subject’s unifor...

A breathtaking 18th century Spanish oil on canvas painting of Mary Magdalene - Madeleine - in is original frame. Beautiful detail.

Antonio Calza (Italy, Verona, 1653-18th April 1725) "Battle between Christian and Turkish cavalry with castle" The painting depicts a bloody battle between Christian and Turkish cavalry. Characterized by dynamism, intensity of color and light, the main scene occupies the lower horizontal section of the canvas, optically interrupted by the black fumes of the shots from which emerge, on the left, the towers of a fortress. On the right, in the distance you can see the combat in progress in the countryside, beyond which you can see the pale presence of hills that create a fifth, marking the horizon. To frame the scene contributes to the left, against light and in the foreground, a portion of the wall. The painter, however, introduces a horse on the ground, of which we see only the back, a ruse to involve the observer making him become active and participate in the scene. In the foreground, lifeless bodies, wounded horses and, scattered on the ground, weapons and a drum enhance the drama of the clash. The excitement and expressive force, the intense chromatic range attentive to the conditions of light and the fine brushstrokes, decisive and dramatic, suggests the attribution to Antonio Calza, one of the most important painters of battles of the seventeenth century, excellent student and continuator of the greatest interpreter of the genre, Jacques Courtois called il Borgognone (Saint-Hyppolite 1621 - Rome 1676). Il Borgognone, although not having had a real school or direct students, places itself as a primary reference point by the Italian and foreign "battaglisti". The genre of battle painting found great success in the collections of the Italian and European nobility of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The battles of the Italian Renaissance, in which the scene converged towards a precise protagonist, evolve towards a type of combat "without hero". The bloody realism of the details and the dynamic development of the narrative confuse the figure of the protagonist, when present, to give importance to the swirl of horses and armed fighters, among which, moreover, does not emerge a winner. The certain documents relating to the life and movements of Antonio Calza are scarce; it was equally difficult to reconstruct, from the critics, a catalogue of autograph works. Through paintings in private collections, in museums and paintings passed on the antiques market it has been possible to identify a copious corpus of works that can be traced back to his hand. The work of art historians, together with that of antique dealers, in conferring proper attributions in order to best outline the figure of Calza, continues but studies are still in progress. In this sense, the work of Giancarlo Sestieri should certainly be noted, who investigated the artistic production of the battaglisti and Calza, thus allowing the comparison of the numerous photographic works reported, to identify and recognize the stylistic qualities that distinguish the corpus of paintings assigned to him today. Antonio Calza was born in 1653 in Italy, in Verona and in 1664 he entered the school of Carlo Cignani in Bologna, dedicating himself to painting battles and landscapes. He then perfected in Rome, where he knew the works of the then undisputed head of the sector, Jacques Courtois called the Burgundian. In 1675 he returned to Verona and married an 88-year-old widow who, dying, left him a rich inheritance. Much appreciated by the nobility and the bourgeoisie, he received numerous commissions. Bartolomeo Dal Pozzo (Le Vite de' pittori, de gli scultori et architetti veronesi, 1718) praises "three great paintings of battles...

Important English school painting by the great artist Thomas Hudson (Devonshire 1701 - Twickenham 1779) It depicts the portrait of Harry Gray (1715-1768), 4th Earl of Stamford, a sub...

Impressive modern Golf Portrait, William Laidlaw Purves. Large oil on canvas of Dr. William Laidlaw Purves after the original oil painting by the Hon. John Collier (1850 - 1934), a prominent London artist. The painting is un-framed but is stretched and ready to hang, artist of this particular painting is unknown. The original painting now hangs at Royal St. George's, Sandwich. William Laidlaw Purves, oculist and obsessive golfer, was an Edinburgh born surgeon who worked in London, but remembered by most for his contributions to the golfing world. A very influential man, he was one of the key figures behind the spread of the game of golf in England towards the end of the 19th century. He won many important club trophies, the last being in 1914, aged 71 with a handicap of 3. He died at his home Hardwick Cottage, Wimbledon Common on 30th December 1917, and at the time he was a member of no fewer than 32 golf clubs. As a student Purves had played golf at Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh and by the time of his London appointment he was a member of both the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. Upon his move to London in 1874 he joined the London Scottish and Wimbledon Golf Club. The two clubs shortly separated into two separate clubs, The London Scottish Golf Club and the Wimbledon Golf Club, but both continued to play on Wimbledon Common. In 1882 the Wimbledon became the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club and Purves became an active committee member, later being elected Captain. As the two clubs also shared the Common with the public play was restricted, so together with a fellow Scot and keen amateur golfer (Henry Lamb...