Maximilian Ciccone Art

Pocket Dark Blue Sloes is an original still-life painting by artist Dani Humberstone. This painting is a small scale renaissance inspired still life in a photorealistic style and sol...

Pocket Snowdrop 4 is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a nod to baroque still lif...

A beautiful late 17th century Italian Old Master oil on canvas depicting The Virgin in Adoration, circle of Carlo Maratta. Excellent quality early Italian work, presented in an ant...

After SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723 -1792) Portrait of Mrs Boone and her Daughter Oil on Canvas Canvas Size : 55.25 x 43.25 inches (140 x 110 cms) Framed size : 62 x 50 inches (157.5 x 127 cms) Provenance : Private Collection, France This present picture is a good quality copy of a Reynolds original. Copies are notoriously difficult to date, but judging by the style and the materials used it is most probable that we are dealing with a picture painted between 1890 and 1920. The professional standard of the work makes this painting a fine and substantial piece of decoration in the 18th century English manner. But in this case there is more… The Reynolds original was painted around 1774-6 and depicts Harriet Boone, wife of Charles Boone with their daughter, also Harriet – later the wife of Sir William Drummond K.C. This picture was by 1865 in the collection of one T Colleton Garth (a relative of the younger Harriet Boone), who lent it to an exhibition of Old Master pictures at the British Institution in 1865. It was engraved in 1866 by G.H. Emery – presumably after attracting some attention at that exhibition. The painting was then bought from Garth by the dealers Agnew in 1903 and sold the following year in 1904 to the famous Anglo-German diamond magnate Alfred Beit. Two years later in 1906, Beit - who would fill his later years with numerous philanthropic donations in Germany, England and South Africa - gave the Reynolds original of Mrs Boone to the Berlin Gallery...

Pocket Blackbird's Egg 3 (c) is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a nod to baroqu...

Spring Collection: Pocket Bluebells is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a nod to...

Pocket Pale Blue Sloes is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a nod to baroque stil...

Portrait of Colonel William Helyar (1621-1698) and Rachel Helyar (c.1633-1678) c.1656 Circle of Robert Walker (act. 1637-1656) These fascinating portraits, presented by Titan Fine Art, depict Colonel William Helyar, High Sheriff of Somersetshire, and his wife Rachel Helyar nee Wyndham, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Hugh Wyndham, 1st Baronet (died 1663) of Pilsden Court, Dorset. They are exquisite examples of portraiture during the Interregnum when England was under various forms of republican government. The history of the seventeenth century is in part the story of the Stewarts and their approach to government and the church; their ebbing and flowing popularity and the disastrous decisions that led to Civil War. But another fascinating dynasty also ruled Britain: the Cromwell’s. Between 1653 and 1659, following the Civil Wars and experimental Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell governed as Lord Protector followed by his son Richard. Cromwell’s Protectorate is usually imagined as a grey, joyless, military regime. But the reality was rather different. Cromwell presided over a colourful and fashionable court where music and the arts flourished, masques were revived and the first English operas performed. Too often the London of the 1650s is painted as puritanical and repressive in contrast to the vivid, fun-loving capital of the Restoration. Yet, under Cromwell, this was the city where the first coffee houses were opening, where a young Samuel Pepys was embarking on his career as a civil servant with the patronage of one of Cromwell’s councillors and where Christopher Wren was enjoying his new Chair of astronomy at Gresham College, appointed after the personal intervention of Cromwell. When Cromwell was invested as Lord Protector for the second time in 1657, the lavish ceremony in Westminster Hall and procession through London matched any previous coronation for pageantry with thousands lining the streets, bells ringing, bonfires blazing and free French wine flowing through the city. The gentleman in our portrait is Colonel William Helyar (1621-1698), Sheriff of Somerset and as a Royalist during the English Civil War. As one of the most prominent old families of the South-West, the Helyar’s family roots in Somerset can be traced back to 1616 when the Reverend William Helyar (1559-1645), chaplain to Elizabeth I, who was also a cousin by marriage, purchased the family residence Coker Court in East Coker, Somerset. He married a Devonshire heiress and several estates were bestowed on him as a result. He was a warm supporter of Charles I in the Civil War and was in residence at Exeter in 1643 when the Parliamentarians pillaged the cathedral. Elderly as he was, he boldly resisted them, but was beaten, pelted with mud, and locked up in a ship in the port and only let out on payment of £800. He retired to Coker where he died in 1645. His eldest son Henry died in 1634 and he was succeeded by his grandson, Colonel William Helyar, the sitter in our portrait. Colonel Helyar raised a troop of horse for King Charles I and was a colonel in the king's army. He was at Exeter when it was captured by the Parliamentary forces in 1646 and thus deemed ‘Traitor to the Parliament’. His estates were sequestered, but they were returned and he was discharged and pardoned on payment of £1,522. During the Restoration he was a Sheriff and he also helped James II repel the Monmouth Rebellion. The companion portrait represents the Colonel’s wife, Rachel Helyar (baptised 24th June 1633 at St Mary Aldermanbury, London – died 1678). She was the youngest daughter and co-heir of Sir Hugh Wyndham, 1st Baronet of Pilsdon Court and Mary Wyndham nee Alanson (Sir Hugh should not be confused with his first cousin once removed from Somerset, also Sir Hugh Wyndham (bef. 1604 - 1684). Rachel is a thirteenth generation descendant of King Henry III. The couple resided at the family seat of Coker Court (interestingly, within the churchyard, lie the remains of the poet T.S. Eliot who once wrote a poem about East Coker). A marriage settlement in extant shows that the couple were married in 1656; the portraits were most likely painted to mark this important event in the sitter’s lives. Rachel holds roses, the flower of love, and the putto pouring water is representative of her purity, and possibly, the plighting of troth. Colonel Helyar wears a gold wedding band. The couple had four sons: George, William (MP) (1662-1742), John, and Richard. Colonel Helyar died in December 1697 and was buried at Whitechurch, Dorset 2 Jan 1698. This period in which this portrait was painted was known as the Protectorate (1653-1659). This period offered relative peace, as the English Civil War ended in 1651. It was an interesting time for portraiture in England and Scotland – in between the great artistic geniuses and dominance of Van Dyke and Peter Lely. Much of the foreign-born artistic talent had fled England and Scotland during the Civil War and the artists that had remained were in great demand, in part due to the newly exposed strata of society wishing to be painted. Sitters on both sides were depicted in portraits in very similar ways. They are not, on the whole, shown as the Roundheads and Cavaliers of popular history. In fact, it is usually impossible to guess their political allegiances from the style of their portrait and their Parliamentarian and royalist iconographies, as portraits on both sides followed the same conventions and looked identical. Colonel Helyar has been depicted in armour and holding a Marshal’s baton of command, confirming his status. There is a great sense of realism and a particular delicacy, note the finely rendered hand resting on the rapier. Rachel is wearing a satin dress with expansive sleeves and a crimson drapery over her shoulder and held up by her left hand. She wears large pearl...

This charming picture, which has been signed and dated: H. Pickering pinxt 1752 is a type favoured by the highly successful artist Henry Pickering. Pickering’s painting life, from 1...

Pocket Speckled Greeen Pear is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale oil realistic oil paintings with a nod to baroque still life. The paintings are set in a black wood layered frame. Additional information: Oil, Oil Paint on Canvas 15 H x 15 W x 3 D cm (5.91 x 5.91 x 1.18 in) Sold framed Pocket Ripe-ish Banana is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale oil realistic oil paintings with a nod to baroque still life. The paintings are set in a black wood layered frame. Additional information: Oil, Oil Paint on Canvas 15 H x 17 W x 3 D cm (5.91 x 6.69 x 1.18 in) Sold framed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look Pocket Bright Clementine...

Portrait of a Noble Lady circa 1700 circle of John Closterman (German 1660-1711) oil on canvas, unframed canvas : 50 x 40 inches provenance: private collection, Somerset, England con...

The portrait genre was valued particularly highly in English society. Neither landscapes nor allegorical pictures were ever priced so highly at exhibitions and in the trade as depictions of people, from the highest aristocracy to scholars, writers, poets and statesmen. This charming portrait, presented by Titan Fine Art, of a fashionable young gentleman and his faithful pet is an excellent example of 17th century child portraiture in England. There is a remarkable beauty and sensitivity to the portrait. The face, particularly well rendered, has captured the character of this young man – both charming and at the same time mischievous. Only the playful attention of a small dog suggests anything less than patrician dignity. Symbolism was important in portraiture and it provided a pointed and aspirational narrative that would not have been lost on contemporary viewers. For example, the presence of the dog, which was likely the boy’s pet, is at once a charming pictorial device and also a clear allusion to fidelity, trust and loyalty. The hairstyle and the attire, notably the type of cravat with the blue ribbon, help to date this portrait to between 1670 to 1685. Until the late eighteenth century children were dressed as adults - boys were dressed like men in breeches, vests, and coats between four and seven years of age. The expensive lace is an indication to his family’s wealth. Held in a good quality and condition antique gilded frame. Born in Suffolk, Mary Beale, nee Cradock (1633-1699) was employed by many of the most distinguished persons of her time including nobility, landed gentry, and clergymen. Technically accomplished, her paintings are noteworthy for their honest and sympathetic portrayal. In 1651 she married Charles Beale...