Nathaniel Dance-Holland Art

Florentine painter, 16th-17th century Saint John the Baptist Oil on canvas 67 x 56 cm - In frame 98 x 83 cm In bringing out the sculptural figure of this young Saint John the...

This beautiful Italian 18th Century old masters oil painting on oval canvas with giltwood frame is attributed to Solimena and features a religious scene. In this splendid oval-shaped painting are depicted Saint Dominic...

Work on canvas Work re-lined Plaster and gilded wood frame 86 x 105 x 7 cm

Jacques Blanchard (Paris, 1600 – Paris, 1638) and workshop Thetis in Hephaestus' forge (Hephaestus gives Thetis the weapons he forged for Achilles) Oil on canvas applied to pan...

Seventeenth-century Tuscan painter Angel of the Annunciation Oil on canvas 52 x 74.5 cm Framed 94 x 71 cm The work on offer, characterised by a refined sacredness, depicts...

Pierre Mignard, known as Le Romain (Troyes 1612 - Paris 1695), attributed Portrait of 'Louise Renée de Penancoët de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny (Brest 1649 - Paris 1734) as MADDALENA Oil on canvas 97 x 88 cm In an important gilded frame 132 x 122 cm. Provenance: Private collection, Naples The young and attractive noblewoman portrayed in this painting is Louis Renée de Penancoet de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny (Brest 1649 - Paris 1734), known to have been King Charles II's favourite mistress for over fifteen years, from whose relationship Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, was born, but above all to have gone down in history as one of Louis XIV's French informants at the English court. The duchess was a very influential figure at court, promoting French interests and often acting as an intermediary between the king, his ministers and French ambassadors. After the death of Charles II this influence quickly came to an end, forcing her to hastily leave London and renounce all her possessions to return to her homeland, between Aubigny-sur-Nère and Paris, where she died in 1734, always remaining in the sovereign's good graces. The peculiarity of the portrait, probably executed after her return to her homeland, is that the noblewoman takes the form of a charming Mary Magdalene, depicted here following her renunciation of earthly possessions, her rich robes and jewellery, in order to aspire to heavenly riches; We see her immortalised with her long hair loose on one breast, her intriguing but serene gaze directed at the observer, as she rests her crossed hands, as if in prayer, on the ampulla of perfumed ointments and the open book, both iconographic symbols. The custom of being portrayed in the guise of Magdalene was in vogue for powerful women of the great European courts as early as the 16th century, as it represented the most appropriate image to justify the union of female power and virtue. It must be said that court culture exalted only the positive characteristics of her personality, glossing over or downplaying all references to her sinful past and dissolute life. The work, whose style fits perfectly into 17th century French portraiture, suggests the pertinent attribution to the Baroque painter Pierre Mignard (Troyes, 1612 - Paris, 1695), whose works were highly praised and earned him a great reputation as a portrait painter for the demanding Parisian aristocracy at the time of Louis XIV, and who portrayed the Duchess de Kérouaille on numerous occasions. His first important artistic training took place in Simon Vouet's studio, and he then moved to Italy for over twenty years before returning to Paris, blending his own with the influence of Roman classicism. The elegant looseness of touch and sensual refinement typical of Mignard, combined with a very accurate chiaroscuro rendering, inherited from his artistic training in Rome (which he looked up to the examples of Ferdinad Voet), and the exceptional sweetness of the drawing, the floridity of the complexion and the almost enamelled surfaces, and finally, the peculiar pose of the figure portrayed (the beauty of the two intertwined hands...

This superb religious figurative oil painting is by noted artist Wilfred de Glehn. Although some experts rank de Glehn alongside Sargent, he is considered as something of a late British Renoir, for his deft use of sunlight and shadow. Indeed he was good friends with John Singer Sargent and collaborated with his on some projects. This painting, painted circa 1910 is of three saints, from left to right they are Saint Jerome, Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian. It is based on a work attributed to 16th century artist Alessandro Oliverio. Saint Jerome was a biblical translator and monastic leader and is depicted in red, holding books. Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian were known as the Plague saints - Plague saints offered hope and healing before, during, and after times of plague. A specific style of painting, the plague votive, was considered a talisman for warding off the plague. It portrayed a particular saint as an intercessor between God and the person or persons who commissioned the painting – usually a town, government, lay confraternity, or religious order to atone for the "collective guilt" of the community. Rather than a society depressed and resigned to repeated epidemics, these votives represent people taking positive steps to regain control over their environment. Paintings of Roch represent the confidence in which renaissance worshipers sought to access supernatural aid in overcoming the ravages of the plague. The thirteenth-century Saint Roch (or Rocco), whose death is still commemorated in Italy, is especially invoked against the plague. He attended plague victims in public hospitals in Italy according to traditional accounts of his life. Images attributed to the Spanish historical painter Nicolás Borrás in the Royal Cornwall Museum, or other works in institutions from The National Gallery to the Wallace Collection, show him baring his thigh to show the mark of the plague, as he is in this painting. Saint Roch is also the patron saint of dogs, after one carried food to him in the prison where he died...

Agostino Carracci (1557-1602) Circle of Andromeda and the Sea Monster Oil on canvas 75 x 59 cm. - In frame 96 x 77 cm. The subject of the painting, derived from Ovid's Metamo...

Early 17th-century Lombard painter Daniele Crespi (Busto Arsizio, 1597-1600 – Milan 1630), Circle of Saint Sebastian oil on canvas Dimensions: 82 x 60 cm. In frame 100 x 7...

Flemish painter of the 17th/18th century Portrait of Augustus, first Roman emperor Oil on canvas 61 x 49 cm Framed 77.5 x 65 cm The portrait depicts Augustus, founder and fi...

Giovanni Segala (Venice 1663 - Murano 1720) Susanna and the Elders oil on canvas (155 x 127 cm - with frame 174 x 146 cm) This delightful, large-scale painting illustrates th...

This lovely 18th century Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to the circle of noted portrait artist Enoch Seeman. Seeman came from Poland to England as a youngster with hi...