Tina Spratt More Art

A fine American School naive folk art portrait of a man in a black tuxedo, oil on panel, monogrammed lower right AS, signed illegibly on verso “Alexande...

Icilio Federico Joni. Italian ( b.1866 - d.1946 ). Painted Gesso, Gilt & Wood Tavolette Book Cover Binding In The Sienese Biccherna Aesthetic. Book Cover size 11 inches x 8.1 inches ( 28cm x 20.5cm ). Frame size 16 inches x 13 inches ( 40.5cm x 33cm ). Available for sale; this painted gesso and gilt “tavolette” wooden book cover in the Biccherna aesthetic is by Icilio Federico Joni. The book cover is mounted and supplied in a contemporary black Tulip Wood frame (which is shown in these photographs) which is glazed with non-reflective Tru Vue UltraVue® UV70 glass. The wooden book cover is curved and float mounted giving a wonderful 3D depth to its presentation. The gesso and painted surfaces have benefitted from professional restoration which was performed on our instruction, supervision and approval. This antique book cover is in very good condition, commensurate with its age. The frame presentation is new and in excellent condition. Combined, it wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display. The story of these panels and of their artist is fascinating, and begins in 13th century Siena: The Biccherna was the person who held the position of Magistrate of Chancellery of Finance from the 13th to the 14th century for the republic and the city of Siena, in the Tuscany region of Italy. The records of that office were very important because Siena was one of the earliest and most significant banking centres in Italy, and indeed in Europe. It became the fashion to keep banking and taxation records of the region in large books with painted leather covers. These were originally made from wood and leather. In the competition to make these ever more prestigious the bindings and panels on the front and rear of the books were painted by the major artists of the day, such as Giovanni di Paolo. Many of these mainly secular covers are displayed in the Archives of the State of Siena located in the Palazzo Piccolmini. The Gothic Revival of the 19th century occurred partly as a reaction against the progress of industrialisation in Europe generally. It was however greatly affected by the unification of Italy in the second half of the 19th century. This led to the closure and downsizing of many religious institutions, which resulted in the dispersal of thousands of works of art dating from the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Many aristocratic and bourgeois families struggled to pay debts or simply to make ends meet and so they sold off their private collections and family heirlooms. There was then an influx of goods into the antiques market which provided a great deal of work for Italy’s restorers and craftsmen, since many of these pieces were in need of cleaning, repair and, in keeping with the interventionist tastes of the times, radical restoration, before they could be sold on, often to foreign buyers. These early Italian works became so fashionable that demand soon outstripped supply. This in turn gave rise to a new type of artist-craftsman capable of turning out from scratch increasingly convincing reproductions, imitations and out-and-out fakes. Siena naturally became the epicentre of this thriving cottage industry because of the extraordinary continuity there in traditional craft skills. This technical expertise had been handed down from generation to generation, and it was perhaps inevitable that a number of artists with real talent, the flair of commerce and a genuine love and understanding of antique Sienese art should adapt their skills to these new market conditions. Among these artists were Igino Gottardi, Alceo Dossena, Fulvio Corsini, Umberto Giunti...

A fine post-impressionist coastal sunset oil painting by American artist Hayley Lever Australian American artist Hayley Lever (1876-1958). Lever was born in Adelaide, Australia and s...

In 1607, the Delft city council decided to commission a portrait of Stadholder Maurits of Nassau for the town hall, with Michiel van Mierevelt as the chosen artist due to the passing...

Cipriano Mannucci (1882-1970) Village Landscape Oil Painting c.1927 Original oil on panel by listed artist. The painting shows an outdoor market in a small village. Oil on panel. ...

Lifelong painter Nelson H. White (b. 1932, Connecticut) is widely appreciated for his loyalty to natural landscapes and intimate impressionism. His loose brushstrokes are skillfully ...

A fine impressionist townscape oil painting by American artist Nancy Maybin Ferguson (1872-1967). Ferguson was born in Philadelphia, PA, and studied with academic realists Charles Hawthorne...

encaustic on panel b. 1954, Reno Nevada Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic on large abstract paintings. A practitioner of Abstract Expressionism, David layers bees...

Alchemy II by British artist Charlotte Aiken. Aiken is a Surrey-based artist, who responds to her surroundings through the medium of paint, working on ...

Francesco Albani Circle Italian Mythological Painting This important oil painting on wood depicts a subject that is very rare in the iconography of ancient mythological paintings: the birth of Erittonio. Erichthonius who succeeded Amphictyon becoming the fourth mythological king of Athens and married the naiad Praxithea who made him the father of Pandion. The extremely high quality of this very rare painting suggests that it was painted by an artist who frequented Francesco Albani's studio. The period, the mythological subject, the harmony of the colours and, above all, the sublime quality of the flesh tones all point in this direction. This artwork, never before on the market, comes from an important Italian private collection Every item of our Gallery, upon request, is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Sabrina Egidi official Expert in Italian furniture for the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and for the Rome Civil Courts. ERYTHTONIOS (᾿Ερυχϑόνιος, Erychthonios) Born of Hephaestus' love for Athena, from the breast of Ghe, who was impregnated by the god; welcomed by Athena, who placed him in a basket together with one or two snakes, entrusting him to the care of Cecrops' three daughters. Against the goddess's wishes, they opened the chest, from which emerged, according to different versions of the myth, either the child wrapped in snakes or a snake, which, in some versions, killed the girls, while in others, they threw themselves from the Acropolis in fear. Erittonio, in the form of a snake, is welcomed by Athena into her temple and curls up under the goddess's shield. Alongside this myth, of Ionian origin, are others due to the doubling of the figures of E. and Erechtheus The scene of the birth appears in figurative tradition: in a Melian terracotta relief from the early 5th century, Ghe, half-emerging, holds out the baby Erittonio. to Athena, who welcomes him in the presence of Cecrops; the same scene appears on various painted vases, such as a red-figure kölix by the Painter of Kodros, from Tarquinia, in the Berlin Museums, dating from around 440 BC, where Hephaestus also appears alongside Cecrops. A modest red-figure vase from Camiro, in the British Museum, depicts the moment when the fleeing Cecropids discover the cista, from which the infant Erittonio. emerges between two snakes, greeting Athena. The moment when the chest was opened was depicted by Phidias on the xiii and xiv S metopes of the Parthenon, where Cecrops and Pandrosus appear in the first and Erisichthon and Aglaurus with the chest uncovered in the second. A kölix in the style of the Brygos Painter in Frankfurt, on the other hand, depicts the large snake E. chasing the fleeing Cecropids towards their father's palace. Luciano (De dom., 27) recalls a painting depicting the scene of the birth and the representation of the myth in pantomime on the theatre (De salt., 39). Bibliography: Engelmann, in Roscher, cc. 1303-1308, s. v. Erichthonios; P. Jacobstahl, Die Melischen Reliefs, Berlin 1931, pp. 96-98, plate 75 a; W. Züchner, in Jahrbuch, LXV-LXVI, 1950-51, p. 200 ff., figs. 34-35; J. D. Beazley, Red-fig., p. 720; G. Becatti, Problemi fidiaci, Florence 1951, p. 22. Questo Francesco Albani (Bologna, August 17, 1578 – Bologna, October 4, 1660) was an Italian painter. Albani was born in Bologna, Papal States, in 1578. His father was a silk merchant who intended his son to go into his own trade. By the age of twelve, however, he had become an apprentice to the competent mannerist painter Denis Calvaert, in whose studio he met Guido Reni. He soon followed Reni to the so-called "Academy" run by Annibale, Agostino, and Ludovico Carracci. This studio fostered the careers of many painters of the Bolognese school, including Domenichino, Massari, Viola, Lanfranco, Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi...

Info artist : Van Beers studied at the Academy in Antwerp. In 1873, he undertook a trip to London with Alexandre Struys. In 1878, Van Beers went to Paris where he worked in the stud...

Alchemy IV by British artist Charlotte Aiken. Charlotte's work centres on the notion of infinity, as exemplified by her representations of the sky. Her powerfully large-scale pieces...