16th Century Paintings

This remarkable late 16th-century fragment depicts Saint Magí, the patron saint of Tarragona, and Saint Mauro, a Benedictine monk. Produced in around 1580, on the cusp of the Anglo-S...

Great Flemish painting from the second half of the 16th century. Oil on panel artwork depicting a fascinating evangelical episode, the Calling of Saint Matthew. A painting of extraor...

This remarkable late 16th-century fragment depicts Saint Madrona, the Patron Saint of Barcelona, Spain, holding a 15th-century carrack and the martyr’s palm frond. She stands before ...

This striking devotional image, painted by a follower of Jan Gossaert, represents one of the most influential compositions of the Northern Renaissance: Christ on the Cold Stone, or C...

Scipione Pulzone, called Il Gaetano (Gaeta 1544 - Rome 1598) Holy Family with the Young St John The Baptist and St Elizabeth Oil on canvas A Royal Coat of Arms lower left Canvas size...

The Finding of Baby Moses Fontainebleau School, circa 1580's period oil painting on thick wood (walnut wood) panel, framed framed: 32.5 x 27 inches wood: 25 x 30 inches provenance: p...

Zeno Veronese (or Zeno from Verona) (Verona, 1484 - Salò (Bs) after 1542-before 1554) San Sebastiano and San Cristoforo Oils on canvases, 173 x 55 cm This pendant of works h...

Portrait Of Lorenzo Suarez, 5th Count Of Corona, 16th Century School of Antonis Mor (1517-1577) Large Spanish School Old Master portrait of Lorenzo Suarez, Count of Corona, oil on ...

The Judgement of Paris Fontainebleau School, circa 1580 *see notes below oil painting on canvas, framed framed: 30 x 40 inches canvas: 27 x 37 inches Provenance: private collection, ...

Portrait of an Elizabethan Gentleman in a Black Doublet c.1595 Manner of Hieronimo Custodis (died c.1593) Oil on copper Unsigned This exquisite oil on copper portrait, painted aroun...

This remarkable late 16th-century fragment depicts Saint Magí, the patron saint of Tarragona, and Saint Mauro, a Benedictine monk. Produced in around 1580, on the cusp of the Anglo-S...

This remarkable late 16th-century fragment depicts Saint Madrona, the Patron Saint of Barcelona, Spain, holding a 15th-century carrack and the martyr’s palm frond. She stands before ...

Bartholomäus Spranger (Antwerp, 1546 - Prague, 1611) Workshop/circle of Adoration of the Shepherds Oil on canvas 114 x 90 cm. Framed 126 x 101 cm. The proposed painting, illustrati...

Antique painting depicting the Face of Christ as Salvator Mundi Flemish painter, 16th-17th century Oil on copper 22 x 18 cm./ framed 42 x ...

Ippolito Scarsella, known as Lo Scarsellino (Ferrara, around 1550 - 1620) workshop Altarpiece depicting the Madonna and Child, St. James the Greater and the donor in armour Technique: oil on panel Measurements: 93 x 72 cm./with frame 109 x 86 cm. Provenance: Prato, Farsetti, auction of 28.10.2016, lot 261 (link) A majestic Madonna in Glory occupies the upper register of the canvas, seated on a blanket of iridescent clouds surrounded by angels, flanked by a cherub who scatters flowers contained in a cornucopia towards the infant Christ as a sign of abundance, naked and supported with both hands from the mother. In the lower part of the composition stands the figure of San Giacomo Maggiore, one of the twelve apostles, standing on the right side of the altarpiece, represented dressed in a humble tunic; one arm holds the open Gospel book, while the other holds a cross pilgrimage staff. A particular aspect of the table is the presence in the central part, to indicate its importance, of the figure of the donor, kneeling on a cushion, with his hands joined in prayer and his face observing the Virgin in an attitude of devotion, while on the opposite lectern is placed a prayer book; depicted with the features of a young leader in armor, with a sword and a rich iridescent red cloak, elements which, combined with his authoritarian composure, enhance his ennoblement. Unlike the medieval altarpieces, the knight is here included in the space of the painting and has proportionate dimensions to those of the other characters, returning to all intents and purposes in the sacred scene, with a pose that cannot but evoke the detail of the 'Montefeltro altarpiece' made by Piero della Francesca for Federico da Montefeltro, kneeling in front of the sacred group in the guise of a leader. On the right, the view recedes into depth highlighting the background of an urban landscape set on a hill behind which a mountain range stands out, with the peculiarity of the arched aqueduct that runs along the entire landscape. Presumably among these expanses were the donor's own possessions and his hometown. It is a quality table, imbued with the late Mannerist style still resistant in the second half of the 16th century, characterized by a 'sweet and affable religiosity, rendered through a manner of studied simplicity and grace', which highlights the unmistakable stylistic and chromatic connotations of the produced...

Attributed to Pietro Montanini (1626–1689, Perugia) "Landscape with the Baptism of Christ" Oil on canvas Framed: 86 x 44 cm Canvas: 48 x 33 cm This exquisite Baroque landscape, attr...

Panel depicting the Holy Family with San Giovannino. At the center of the scene is the Virgin, with a red tunic and a blue cloak edged with gold embroidery,...

Oil on Board. Flemish school of the 16th century. The work bears a plaque at the base attributing it to Lambert Van Noort (1520 -1571), justified by the proximity to his painterly ma...

Agnolo di Cosimo, known as 'il Bronzino' (Monticelli of Florence, 1503 – Florence, 1572) The Holy Family with San Giovannino Oil on table (120 x 90cm. - I...

Resurrection of Christ Attributed to the Master of the Prodigal Son / Jan Mandyn (1500-1560) Oil on panel, 73 x 56 cm (without frame), 81 x 63 cm (with frame) The work was exa...

Saint Michael the Archangel victorious over the Devil Tuscany - 16th century Oil on canvas 68 x 52 cm. - In frame 97 x 78 cm. Of great character is this interesting St. Michael the...

Italian school circa 1560, circle of Bernardino Campi Portrait of a woman with a book Oil on panel H. 78 cm ; L. 57cm

School of Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio (Correggio c. 1489 - 1534) Attributable to Pomponio Allegri (Correggio, 1522 - Parma, 1593) Madonna and Child, Two Angels and John the B...

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...

Great Flemish painting from the second half of the 16th century. Oil on panel artwork depicting a fascinating evangelical episode, the Calling of Saint Matthew. A painting of extraor...

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...

Umbrian-Roman Master (16th-17th century) - Praying Madonna. 84 x 58.5 cm without frame, 96 x 70.5 cm with frame. Antique oil painting on canvas, in wooden frame. Condition report:...

Frans Pourbus (Bruges, 1545 - Antwerp, 1581) circle Portrait of a gentleman in Renaissance dress with a black doublet and ruff Late 16th century Oil on canvas 46 x 32 cm. - 65 x 53...

The Crucifixion, 17th Century Flemish School - circle of Frans Francken the Younger (1581-1642) 16th Century Flemish Old Master depiction of the Crucifixion, oil on panel. Excellen...

This striking devotional image, painted by a follower of Jan Gossaert, represents one of the most influential compositions of the Northern Renaissance: Christ on the Cold Stone, or C...

Lady Dormer, Mary Browne c. 1592 oil on panel 35 x 29 inches, unframed; 41 x 34.75 inches, inc. frame Inscribed 'Lady Dormore' Mary married Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton who gave birth to Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton - one of the great figures in Shakespears"s circle and founder of the Virginia company, developers of Virginia USA. Henry Wriothesley, born 6 October 1573 at Cowdray House, Sussex, was the only son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, by Mary Browne, the only daughter of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montague, and his first wife, Jane Radcliffe.[5] He had two sisters, Jane, who died before 1573, and Mary (c. 1567 – 1607), who in June 1585 married Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour.[6] After his father's death, Southampton's mother married firstly, on 2 May 1595, as his second wife, Sir Thomas Heneage (d. 17 October 1595), Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, and secondly, between 5 November 1598 and 31 January 1599, Sir William Hervey. She died in November 1607.[7] Early life When his father died on 4 October 1581 Southampton inherited the earldom and landed income valued at £1097 6s per annum. His wardship and marriage were sold by the Queen to her kinsman, Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham, for £1000. According to Akrigg, Howard then "entered into some further agreement, of which no documentation can now be found, which transferred to Lord Burghley personally the custody and marriage of the young Earl, but left Howard holding his lands", and late in 1581 or early in 1582 Southampton, then eight years of age, came to live at Cecil House in the Strand.[8] In October 1585, at age twelve, Southampton entered St John's College, Cambridge,[9] graduating M.A. on 6 June 1589.[10] His name was entered at the Gray's Inn legal society before he left the university, and he was admitted on 29 February 1588.[11] On Southampton's 16th birthday, 6 October 1589, Lord Burghley noted Southampton's age in his diary, and by 1590 Burghley was negotiating with Southampton's grandfather, Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montague, and Southampton's mother, Mary, for a marriage between Southampton and Lord Burghley's eldest granddaughter, Elizabeth Vere, daughter of Burghley's daughter, Anne Cecil, and Edward de Vere...

Oil on Board. Central-Italian school of the second half of the 1500s. The sacred scene of the Annunciation sees the two protagonist figures placed in the foreground in an interior th...

Pauwels Franck, known as Paolo Fiammingo (Antwerp, 1540 - Venice, 1596) Venus lying in a landscape Oil on canvas 116 x 150 cm. In antique frame 136 x 170 cm. The work is accompanied by a critical card by Dr. Federica Spadotto The splendid painting proposed sees portrayed, bare and stretched out on a red brocade cloth in gold sprinkled with roses, a refined and sensual Venus, in a composition with a profound symbolic value, and arriving at the perfect representation of the Renaissance woman who, like Venus, becomes an allegory love, eros, beauty and fertility. The canvas is part of the prestigious Venetian artistic and cultural environment of the second half of the sixteenth century, whose distinctive distinctive trait can be traced back to its cosmopolitan vocation. This characteristic, as Dr. Spadotto noted in her in-depth study, belongs to the same physiology of the Venetian capital, that is, being a distinctly commercial city located in a strategic point with respect to trade. Representing one of the liveliest ports in the Mediterranean also meant witnessing the continuous passage not only of goods, but of men, ideas, suggestions from distant countries, which influenced not only the taste of their people, but above all art. This happened thanks to the circulation of prints, as well as pictorial specimens, to which are added the stays of great foreign artists and, above all, the permanence in the capital of a non-negligible number of Dutch, Flemish and German masters. An emblematic case in this regard comes from Pauwels Franck (Antwerp, 1540 - Venice, 1596), better known as Paolo Fiammingo, who established himself in his native city at a young age - in 1561 a figure enrolled in the Guild of San Luca - and arrived in Venice in 1573. . He resided in Venice from 1584 until his death, although the stylistic and formal references of some of his works have led critics to believe that in previous years he had undertaken a journey to central Italy, or to Florence and Rome, where he would have metabolized the lively cultural debate that permeated these cities and which, on the other hand, seemed completely absent in Venice. Here Paolo will be fascinated by the sense of color and by the atmospheric component fixed on the canvas by Jacopo Tintoretto (Venice 1518 - 1594), of which he becomes a collaborator, to undergo, around 1590, the suggestion of Paolo Caliari...

After Raphael Conestabile Madonna 1483 - 1520 Oil on canvas Image size: 8 x 8 inches (20.5 x 20.5 cm) Original ornate hand carved gilt frame Conestabile Madonna Made in compositiona...

Panel depicting the Holy Family with San Giovannino. At the center of the scene is the Virgin, with a red tunic and a blue cloak edged with gold embroidery,...

Bernardino Detti (Pistoia, Italy, 1498 - 1572) Title: Face of Christ Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 41 x 32 cm - with frame 47 x 55.5 cm Antique box frame made of solid wood and walnut burl. Publications: unpublished The painting by Bernardino Detti (1498 - 1572) depicts the face of Jesus...

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...

Crucifixion, cercle of Adriaen Isenbrandt, mid 16th century School of Bruges, cercle of Adriaen Isenbrandt (actif 1510-1551) Oil on oak panel with its original ebonized frame Dimensi...

Tempera on wood depicting a half-length female figure; she wears a red dress over a light-colored tunic, while a green drape rests on her right shoulder. The red hair is tied up with a central parting and is partly covered by a white headdress; the full face has an absorbed expression: a thoughtful gaze, arched eyebrows and slightly furrowed lips. Presented in a frame made with parts of an ancient larger frame. Historical-critical analysis: Our table in question is one of the numerous derivations from a lost fresco by Andrea del Sarto...

Portrait Of Lucas Cranach The Elder (1472-1553), 16th Century German Renaissance School Large 16th Century German School portrait identified as Lucas Cranach The Elder, oil on canv...

In the panel depicting the mythological episode of the Rape of Europa, the foreground is occupied by the two main characters: Zeus in the guise of a bull, his neck and horns adorned ...

Old Master Drawing by the Circle of Lambert Lombard. Drawing/ Study of a Man in Renaissance Style, later signed "F. Floris". Study of a Man Lombard li...

Venetian-Cretan master of the early 16th century, icon of Christ the Bridegroom (or Nymphios). Tempera on gold ground on panel. Measure 41 x 29 cm Holy Week, in Eastern tradition an...

Portrait Of An Architect & Dog, 16th Century circle of TINTORETTO (1518-1594) Huge 16th Century Italian Old Master portrait of an architect and dog, oil on canvas. Exceptional earl...

Provenance: S. Spinelli Collection, Florence; their sale, Galleria Pesaro, Milan, July 11-14, 1928, lot 112 (unsold); reoffered Galleria Luigi Bellini, Florence, April 23-26, 1934, lot 132, as manner of Baldassare Peruzzi Dr. Giacomo Ancona, Florence, 1930s, and after 1939, San Francisco; thence by descent to his son: Mario Ancona, San Francisco; thence by descent to his children: Mario Ancona III and Victoria Ancona, San Francisco, until 1995; thence to: Phyllis Ancona Green, widow of Mario Ancona, Los Angeles (1995-2012) Literature: Donato Sanminiatelli, Domenico Beccafumi. Milan 1967, p. 170 (under paintings attributed to Beccafumi) Among the precious survivors of Renaissance secular paintings for domestic interiors are several unusual and particularly attractive panels painted in Siena at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries. These paintings depict exemplary figures from antiquity—heroes or heroines, as well as allegorical, literary, and mythological figures. For the most part, these panels have survived in groups of three, although it is possible that some of these works were painted either as part of larger series or as individual projects. One such trio by Beccafumi consists of two paintings now at the National Gallery, London (Marcia and Tanaquil) and a third in the Galleria Doria-Pamphilj, Rome (Cornelia). These were commissioned around 1517–1519 for the bedroom of Francesco di Camillo Petrucci in Siena and were most likely placed together as elements in the wall decoration (spalliere) or installed above the back of a bench or cassapanca. Another, earlier (ca. 1495–1500), set of three—Guidoccio Cozzarelli’s Hippo, Camilla, and Lucretia (Private Collection, Siena) survives with its original wooden framework—a kind of secular triptych. Judith, Sophonisba, and Cleopatra in the collection of the Monte dei Paschi, Siena, are by an anonymous artist close to Beccafumi called the “Master of the Chigi-Saracini Heroines.” Girolamo di Benvenuto’s Cleopatra, Tuccia, and Portia are dispersed (homeless, Prague, Chambery), and Brescianino’s Faith, Hope, and Charity are in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena. The present painting first appeared in the Spinelli sale in Florence in 1934, at which time it was sold with two panels of identical size and format. Each was catalogued as being by the “manner of Baldassare Peruzzi” and of unidentified subject. Of these, the painting depicting a male figure turned to the right has recently reappeared in a private Italian collection, while the location of the third work, portraying a cloaked figure turned three-quarters left, remains unknown. Our panel depicts the allegorical figure of Fortune. Here she is represented in typical fashion as a nude female figure balanced on a wheel (sometimes called the Rota Fortunae), her billowing drapery indicating that she is as changeable as the wind. The appearance of the Virgin and Child in the cloud at the upper right is an unusual addition to the iconography. The subjects of the two pendant male...

Portrait Of Thomas Smythe (1514-1577), 16th Century School of Hans HOLBEIN (1497-1543) Fine huge 16th Century English Old Master portrait of Sir Thomas...

Attributed to Antonio Calza (1653–1725, Verona) "Soldier on Horseback" Oil on panel Diameter: 26 cm This striking oil painting on panel, attributed to the renowned Italian Baroque pa...

The painting features the enthroned Madonna and Child, two praying angels, and Saints Nicholas of Tolentino, Augustine, Luke the Evangelist, and Monica, below an elegant canopy. The ...

The painting and the preparatory drawing are offered together. Provenance Private collection, Germany, Trier, c. 1980- 2013 Saint John the Baptist Brown ink and wash over red chalk on oatmeal paper 31 x 20.5 cm Inscribed: „Ferrau Fenzonio da Faenza invt. esque … imp. da Fran. Villamena …“. bears the collector's mark of Henry Scipio Reitlinger (1882-1950; Lugt 2274a) on a tiny label glued to the verso On the reverse is a partial drawing of a Pieta, pricked for transfer. Provenance New York, Doyle, 14. October 2015, No. 6 The painting and the preparatory drawing resemble the composition of an engraving after Ferraù Fenzoni by Francesco Villamena. Drawing, engraving and painting are almost identical, except for minor differences. Even the measurements nearly correspond: painting (32 x 25,5 cm), drawing (30 x 20,5 cm), engraving (31,1 x 23,5 cm). Dr. Guiseppe Scavizzi confirmed the attribution of the present panting to Fenzoni and he dates it to c. 1590. The inscription on the drawing reads “Ferrau Fenzonio da Faenza invt. esque. . . imp. da Fran: Villamena . . .”. The engraving’s inscription also lists place and date “Ferra Fensionius inventor/F. Villamoena sculpsit Rome/Aspectu fruitur… antra puer/cum Privilegio… 1613”. Interestingly, the engraving is not mirrored as it is in most printing processes. Painting, drawing and engraving are not reversed but the same. It is remarkable to note that there are further paintings by Fenzoni which were engraved in the same order and not reverted. They also show strong parallels regarding the compositions and the measurements (see for example “Deposition of Christ” ). Ferraù Fenzoni was an Italian painter mainly active in Todi. He is also called Il Faenzone after his birthplace (Faenza). He apprenticed in Rome during the papacy of Gregory XIII and contributed to numerous fresco cycles under pope Sixtus V, such as the Loggia della Benedizioni in the Lateran Palace, the frescoes on the walls and vaults of the Scala Santa of the adjacent Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, and the decoration in the Sistine library. His expressive canvases straddle the styles of Mannerism and Baroque. In 1594, he moved to Todi. A “Last Judgement” by him is housed in the cathedral of Todi. He returned to Faenza in 1599, where he decorated chapels in the cathedral from 1612 to 1616. In 1622, he completed a “Deposition”, now in the local Pinacoteca. In 1640, Fenzoni was named “cavaliere dello speron d’oro” by Cardinal Colonna and, on 25th April 1634, he was nominated vicar and “castellano of Granarolo”. Fenzoni‘s style is characterized by a mixture of the Mannerism of the Northern Netherlands and the Italian Baroque. Saint John the Baptist, Old Master, 17th Century, By Fenzoni, Religious Scene, Rome Art...

Coronation Portrait Of King Edward VI (1537-1553) as King Of England & Ireland, 16th Century English School - Oil on panel - circa 1547 Large 16th Century Coronation portrait of Edward VI as King Of England & Ireland, oil on panel. Early and important portrait...

Italian painter (16th century) - Ascent to Calvary. 18 x 28 cm. Antique oil painting on panel, without frame. Condition report: Good state of conservation of the painted surface, ...

Lady Dormer, Mary Browne c. 1592 oil on panel 35 x 29 inches, unframed; 41 x 34.75 inches, inc. frame Inscribed 'Lady Dormore' Mary married Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton who gave birth to Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton - one of the great figures in Shakespears"s circle and founder of the Virginia company, developers of Virginia USA. Henry Wriothesley, born 6 October 1573 at Cowdray House, Sussex, was the only son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, by Mary Browne, the only daughter of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montague, and his first wife, Jane Radcliffe.[5] He had two sisters, Jane, who died before 1573, and Mary (c. 1567 – 1607), who in June 1585 married Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour.[6] After his father's death, Southampton's mother married firstly, on 2 May 1595, as his second wife, Sir Thomas Heneage (d. 17 October 1595), Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, and secondly, between 5 November 1598 and 31 January 1599, Sir William Hervey. She died in November 1607.[7] Early life When his father died on 4 October 1581 Southampton inherited the earldom and landed income valued at £1097 6s per annum. His wardship and marriage were sold by the Queen to her kinsman, Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham, for £1000. According to Akrigg, Howard then "entered into some further agreement, of which no documentation can now be found, which transferred to Lord Burghley personally the custody and marriage of the young Earl, but left Howard holding his lands", and late in 1581 or early in 1582 Southampton, then eight years of age, came to live at Cecil House in the Strand.[8] In October 1585, at age twelve, Southampton entered St John's College, Cambridge,[9] graduating M.A. on 6 June 1589.[10] His name was entered at the Gray's Inn legal society before he left the university, and he was admitted on 29 February 1588.[11] On Southampton's 16th birthday, 6 October 1589, Lord Burghley noted Southampton's age in his diary, and by 1590 Burghley was negotiating with Southampton's grandfather, Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montague, and Southampton's mother, Mary, for a marriage between Southampton and Lord Burghley's eldest granddaughter, Elizabeth Vere, daughter of Burghley's daughter, Anne Cecil, and Edward de Vere...

Christ and St John the Baptist embracing Studio of Joos van Cleve (1485 – 1541), Antwerp First half of 16th century Oil on oak panel, h. 55 cm, w. 43 cm A 17th century ebonized wood frame Framed: h. 100 cm, w. 83 cm Provenance: • Advertisement in Burlington Magazine, 1929, at the antique dealer Paul Larsen, 34 Duke's Street, London, United Kingdom • Clowes Sale, Christie's London, 7 July 1950, lot 153 (as Joos Van Cleve) • Acquired from the Katz antique dealers in Dieren (Netherlands) in the 1950s (one of the most important art galleries in the Netherlands specialising in Old Masters) • By descent, private European collection The composition of our painting depicting two naked babies embracing, Jesus and Saint John the Baptist, draws its source from a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, probably executed in Milan around 1490 (kept at Windsor Castle, United Kingdom). This scheme, widespread early in the Lombard school, was widely reproduced by Leonardo's Milanese followers (Marco d'Oggiono, Bernardino de Conti or Bernardino Luini.) It is very likely that Joos Van Cleve was inspired by one of the works of his artists during his stay in Italy, however some historians hypothesize that he borrowed the figures from the painting by Marco d'Oggiono who had copied it on site in Flanders (it would have belonged to Margaret of...

Tuscan painter active towards the end of the 16th century Portrait of Captain Niccolò Orsini (Pitigliano, 1442 - Lonigo, 1510), count of Pitigliano and Nola. Tuscany, end of the 16th century Oil on canvas, 64 x 47 cm., Framed 89 x 73 cm. The portrait we present to you shows the effigy of a vigorous high-ranking male figure in armor, in the most typical Renaissance pose, half-length and taken in profile, with his face and gaze turned to the side; the serious and intense expression and the facial features evoke at first glance the portraiture of early Florentine mannerism. He is Niccolò III Orsini (Pitigliano, 1442 - Lonigo, 1510), count of Pitigliano and Nola and son of Aldobrandino Orsini, famous leader and captain (or capitano di ventura) who lived between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, who served for the state Pontifical in Naples and Florence and above all for the Republic of Venice. Portraiture with these characters, which derives from ancient coinage, was used in the sixteenth century in the sequences of Portraits of Illustrious Men, both in painting and in sculpture. The profile portrait was in fact a genre reserved, according to the Renaissance tradition, for celebrations, presenting those characteristics of imperturbability typical of the military role covered. Our painting is a work created by an author active in Tuscany towards the end of the sixteenth century, adhering to those pictorial styles made famous by the portraitist Cristofano di Papi dell'Altissimo (1530-1605), a pupil of Bronzino and then of Pontormo, known for having created a collection of about 500 portraits of illustrious men, known as the 'Gioviana Series' (now in the Uffizi Gallery); and among these it is possible to identify one dedicated to Niccolò Orsini. Our painting is inspired, in particular, by a print taken from the collection of prints...

Jacopo BASSANO (c. 1510-1592, Italian) Portrait of a Procuratore Oil on canvas 30 ¼ x 26 inches (including frame) Provenance: Lucien Bonaparte’s Collection (as Portrait of Doge Priuli, Tiziano); Rich-mond, Virginia Museum, Portrait of Doge Lorenzo Priuli. The painting is a portrait of a man half-length, on a black background. It is a three-quarter portrait, according to a custom very common in the genre of portraiture in sixteenth century. The man is wearing a decorated...

Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and angels Circle of Joos Van Cleve (1485 – 1541) 16th century Antwerp school Oil on oak panel Dimensions: h. 32 cm (13 in.), w. 28.5 cm...

This recently rediscovered portrait of Santi di Tito depicts a Florentine senator, with a letter in his hand indicating that the painting was executed in 1574 when the sitter was 66 years old. On the basis of these clues, it is tempting to view it as a portrait of Bartolomeo Panciatichi, who was painted some thirty years before by Bronzino (1503 - 1572). While the treatment of the hands recalls the Florentine tradition of Mannerist portraits, the comparison with Bronzino's portrait illustrates Santi di Tito's search for greater realism, despite the stereotyped composition. 1. Santi di Tito, Counter-Reformation painter and portraitist Santi di Tito was the great painter of the Florentine Counter-Reformation. He proposed a new artistic language that broke away from Mannerism. Little is known about his training in Florence (perhaps alongside Bronzino or Baccio Bandinelli), but this period of training enabled him to join the Company of Saint Luke, the guild of Florentine painters, in 1554. Between 1560 and 1564, Santi di Tito spent time in Rome, where he frequented the workshop of Taddeo Zuccari. This stay had a fundamental influence on his work, thanks to the discovery of the late work of Raphael, but also his encounters with the painters Francesco Salviati and Federico Barocci. Around 1565, Santi di Tito returned to Florence, where he remained until the end of his life, dividing his talents between the creation of important religious paintings and countless portraits. He became one of the city's leading painters, distinguishing himself, in particular, in the creation of large religious compositions in which the spirit of the Counter-Reformation was reflected. In 1568, Santi di Tito became a member of the Confraternity of Saint Thomas Aquinas...

Lucas Cranach the Elder and Studio 1472-1553 German Moses and the Pillar of Cloud Oil on panel Moses and the Pillar of Cloud is a bold and evocative composition that showcases the signature intense color and intricate detail of Lucas Cranach the Elder’s celebrated oeuvre. The remarkable 16th-century oil on panel by Lucas Cranach and his studio captures the narrative moment when Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and encounters God manifested through a large pillar of cloud. Moses stands at the precipice of a bridge and turns back to soldiers helping to lead the group of Israelites who huddle closely together. Cranach depicts Moses with his traditional iconography, rendering the rays of light on his head which came to be interpreted as "horns" in the translation of the Bible. Using his traditional walking staff, Moses gestures toward the pillar, seemingly acknowledging that God will protect the group as they cross the bridge to the other side, leaving exile and entering a promised land. In a nod to Cranach’s Germanic locale, he renders the figures and setting in a manner that feels decisively more akin to European aesthetics than those of the Red Sea. Soldiers wear elaborate, gothic suits of armor that recall the livery of Northern European guardsmen. The terrain appears more like a European forest giving way to a sweeping valley than the arid landscape the Israelites trekked through on their journey across the Red Sea. Though still clearly recounting a story from the Old Testament, Cranach renders the cast of characters and setting in an earthly, familiar manner. This aesthetic shift speaks to Cranach’s own changing beliefs as he found himself at the center of the Protestant Reformation. After first gaining recognition in 1505 as the official painter of Frederick the Wise, Cranach established a thriving painting and print studio in Wittenberg, Germany. Cranach was renowned for his court portraits and genre paintings and was also well known for his association with the famous protestant reformer Martin Luther, then under the protection of Frederick the Wise. As Wittenberg became a bastion of new religious thought, Cranach soon befriended Luther and played an active role in creating the printed materials that proliferated throughout the Reformation...

Sacred Conversation: Madonna with child with St. John with idealized landscape background with mountains. Early XVI century. Oil on wooden panel of Venetian conifers. Marco Bello, attributed. (Venezia, 1470 - 1523, Udine), pupil and follower of Giovanni Bellini. Venetian school. Madonna with child with St. John with idealized landscape background with mountains. Dimentions: 57cm x 68cm x 6cm Beautiful late Renaissance frame...

Provenance: with Leo Blumenreich and Julius Böhler, Munich, 1924 Dr. Frederic Goldstein Oppenheimer (1881-1963), San Antonio, Texas; by whom given to: Abraham M. Adler, New York, until 1985; thence by descent to the present owners While old inscriptions on the verso of this panel propose its author to be Hans Holbein and the sitter Sir John More—a lawyer, judge, and the father of Sir Thomas More—this fine portrait has long been recognized to be by a Flemish hand. Max Friedländer gave the painting to Bernard van Orley (1487/1491 – 1541) in 1924, but did not include it in the volume dedicated to the artist in his Early Netherlandish Paintings...

Extraordinary in its beauty and rarity, this early 16th-century German painting of an illuminated manuscript showcases a masterful trompe l’oeil effect. Unequivocally among the finest of only 17 known works of its kind, the oil on panel is both rare and captivating. With illusory pages that appear to leap from the panel, this virtuosic painting of a hand-colored book suspended into space is exceptional. Created more than four centuries ago, the composition evokes a strong sense of realism. Executed by a masterful Northern Renaissance artist of the German school, the illuminated manuscript pictured shows the astonishing splendor of the historical books of the period. Sumptuously decorated with scrolling floral motifs in the margins, the manuscript appears before a deep black background, heightening the trompe l’oeil illusion of depth through its strong contrast and the naturalistic shadows falling across the fluttering pages. It has been said that of the 17 known versions of this composition, ours stands alone in its precision in both perspective and the play of light and shadow. The visible folios feature choral arrangements and other texts, indicating the pictured manuscript likely served a role in the celebration of church services. In fact, other examples of manuscript paintings...

Landscape with Figures is an original Old Master Painting realized in the Second half of the 16th Century and attributed to the French painter Matthijs Bril (Antwerp, 1550 – Rome, 15...

Sacred Conversation: Madonna with child with St. John with idealized landscape background with mountains. Early XVI century. Oil on wooden panel of Venetian conifers. Marco Bello, attributed. (Venezia, 1470 - 1523, Udine), pupil and follower of Giovanni Bellini. Venetian school. Madonna with child with St. John with idealized landscape background with mountains. Dimentions: 57cm x 68cm x 6cm Beautiful late Renaissance frame...

Important late 16' early 17' century painting By Giovanni Battista Viola with finely carved gilt- wood frame. Landscape with a Mythological St...

The Tempi Madonna, 16th Century After RAPHAEL (1482-1520) - early Christies stencil Large 16th Century Italian High Renaissance depiction of...

Provenance: Bradley Collection. Private Collection, Upperville, Virginia. Literature: Katlijne van der Stighelen and Hans Vlieghe, Rubens: Portraits of Unidentified and Newly Identified Sitters painted in Antwerp, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, vol. 19, pt. 3, London and Turnhout, 2021, under cat. no. 189, p. 161, and fig. 75. This painting had previously been considered to be by an anonymous Tuscan painter of the sixteenth century in the orbit of Agnolo Bronzino. While the painting does in fact demonstrate a striking formal and compositional similarity to Bronzino’s portraits—compare the nearly identical pose of Bronzino’s Portrait of a Young Man in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig. 1)—its style is completely foreign to Italian works of the period. That it is painted on an oak panel is further indication of its non-Italian origin. This portrait can in fact be confidently attributed to the Antwerp artist Huybrecht Beuckelaer. Huybrecht, the brother of Joachim Beuckelaer, has only recently been identified as the author of a distinct body of work formerly grouped under the name of the “Monogrammist HB.” In recent studies by Kreidl, Wolters, and Bruyn his remarkable career has been delineated: from its beginnings with Joachim in the workshop of Pieter Aertsen; to his evident travels to Italy where, it has been suggested, he came into contact with Bronzino’s paintings; to his return to Antwerp, where he seems to have assisted Anthonis Mor in painting costume in portraits; to his independent work in Antwerp (where he entered the Guild of Saint Luke in 1579); and, later to his career in England where, known as “Master Hubberd,” he was patronized by the Earl of Leicester. Our painting was recently published by Dr. Katlijne van der Stighelen and Dr. Hans Vlieghe in a volume of the Corpus Rubenianum, in which they write that the painting “has a very Italian air about it and fits convincingly within [Beuckelaer’s] oeuvre.” Stighelen and Vlieghe compare the painting with Peter Paul Ruben’s early Portrait of a Man, Possibly an Architect or Geographer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which the sitter holds a compass and wears a similarly styled doublet (Fig. 2). Huybrecht both outlived and travelled further afield than his brother Joachim, who made his career primarily in Antwerp. Whereas Joachim was the main artistic inheritor of their uncle and teacher, Pieter Aertson, working in similar style and format as a specialist in large-scale genre and still-life paintings, Huybrecht clearly specialized as a painter of portraits and was greatly influenced by the foreign artists and works he encountered on his travels. His peripatetic life and his distinctly individual hand undoubtedly contributed to the fact his career and artistic output have only recently been rediscovered and reconstructed. His periods abroad seem to have overlapped with the mature phase of his brother Joachim’s career, who enrolled in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke much earlier than his brother, establishing himself as an independent painter in 1560. Joachim’s activity was confined to the following decade and half, and his latest work dates from the last year of his life, 1574. Our portrait was likely produced in the late 1560s, a dating supported by the dendrochronological investigation performed by Dr. Peter Klein, which established that it is painted on an oak panel with an earliest felling date of 1558 and with a fabrication date of ca. 1566. This painting presents a portrait of an artist, almost certainly Huybrecht’s self-portrait. The young sitter is confidently posed in a striking patterned white doublet with a wide collar and an abundance of buttons. He stands with his right arm akimbo, his exaggerated hands both a trademark of Huybrecht and his brother Joachim’s art, as well as a possible reference to the “hand of the artist.” The figure peers out of the painting, interacting intimately and directly with the viewer, as we witness him posed in an interior, the tools and results of his craft visible nearby. He holds a square or ruler in his left hand, while a drawing compass...

Oil on Board. Flemish school of the 16th century. The work bears a plaque at the base attributing it to Lambert Van Noort (1520 -1571), justified by the proximity to his painterly ma...

Luis de Morales, called 'El Divino' (Badajoz 1509 - 1586) workshop of La Pietà with Saint John Oil on panel (82 x 65 cm /In frame 109 x 92 cm) STATE OF CONSERVATION: The panel is in good condition, with restorations and cracks clearly visible from the pictures. Gilded and lacquered wooden frame, in good condition. We present this intense Pietà executed on wood panel, the work of a painter of the late Spanish Renaissance who drew on the celebrated iconographic model created by Luis de Morales, known as El Divino (Badajoz 1509-1586), a subject reproposed by the artist and then by his flourishing workshop in numerous versions. This is an extraordinary work, in which the author demonstrates incredible realism and emotional depth in his portrayal of the Madonna and Christ, accompanied by Saint John the Evangelist. In an extremely devout Spain, Luis de Morales counts himself as one of the painters most interested in the dramatic aspects of Christ's life, from his painful Passion journey to his death. This devotional subject, the Pieta, so frequent in Christian art, is renewed in Morales' art with enormous expressive force; it is not for nothing that the artist was nicknamed the Divine, and not only for the creation of a devotional iconography in line with the spirituality of the time, but also for the intrinsic intensity of his religious paintings. The depiction, to great dramatic effect, shows Christ, immediately after being deposed from the cross, gently welcomed into the arms of the Virgin. The intense maternal compassion is also evident in the expression on her face, which, always aware of her son's fate, exudes suffering, melancholy but also serene resignation. Christ, abandoned in his mother's embrace, shows an emaciated and sorrowful face, made even more ghostly by his half-open mouth. The tree of the cross looms over the figures, emphasised by an evocative dark, completely monochrome background, to which the three figures are contrasted with strong lighting. Evident in Morales' painting is the devotional slant typical of Counter-Reformation painting, accentuated by a style that recalls both Italian painting for its research and chiaroscuro effects, and Flemish and German painting for its strongly accentuated dramatic tones. The work shows a strong physical and psychological characterisation of the characters, rendered by the marked chiaroscuro effects and the plastic construction of the figures, also using a sfumato technique, which show the primary influence of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Sebastiano del Piombo. On the other hand, his Flemish training is evident in the anatomical modelling and treatment of the folds of the Virgin's dress, which retain the sharpness of the Nordic painting tradition. We can mention, among the most beautiful versions similar to our composition: - Fig.1 Luis de Morales (c. 1520-1586), La Piedad, c. 1568, Óleo sobre tabla 72 x 50 cm.
Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao - Fig.2 Luis de Morales, La Piedad, c. 1560, Óleo sobre tabla 126 x 98 cm.
Real Academia de Bellas - Fig.3 Luis de Morales, La Piedad, 1565 - 1570, Oil on panel 42 x 30 cm.
Museo del Prado - Fig.4 Luis de Morales, Triptych of the Pietà St John and St Mary Magdalene...

A masterful example of Italian Mannerist painting, this exceptional panel was composed by the renowned Florentine painter Domenico Puligo. Alongside Jacopo Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino, Puligo is remembered as one of the foremost figures of the Mannerist movement that rose to prominence during the 16th century in Florence. This panel of the Virgin Mary with the Christ child and Saint John the Baptist is a characteristic example of his celebrated devotional images, which grace museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Museo del Prado (Madrid), Palazzo Borghese (Rome), and Palazzo Pitti (Florence), among many others. Puligo’s skill with color is fully demonstrated in the beautifully preserved work. Considering its age, the vibrancy and the sheer range of color is remarkable. The Virgin Mary’s crimson dress...

Scipione Pulzone, called Il Gaetano (Gaeta 1544 - Rome 1598) - workshop of Portrait of Bianca Cappello (Venice, 1548 - 1587) Grand Duchess of Tuscany, second wife of Francesco I de 'Medici Second half of the 16th century oil on canvas, cm. 70 x 56 cm., Framed 103 x 87 cm. The proposed painting illustrates the portrait of Bianca Cappello (Venice, 1548 - 1587), a noblewoman of Venetian origins, second wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I de 'Medici, whose expressive power is wisely highlighted by the composite cut of light three quarters, with the head and gaze directed at the observer. The beam of light coming from her right brings out the volumes of her face plastically and lingers on her features, highlighted by the large white lace ruff that surrounds his neck and by the details of her precious clothing. Bianca wears a dark red dress, perhaps a zimarra, embroidered in gold with a plunging neckline and a raised collar of the shirt curled in a ruff and also edged with precious lace, embroidered with the motif of the Florentine lily.   The favorite jewels of the noblewoman were pearls: we see them on a choker that adorns the neckline, in the earrings and again in the hairstyle, which sees the hair gathered at the nape of the neck and adorned with a string of small black pearls and embellished with a clasp. It is a high-quality painting that can be confined to the workshop of the painter Scipione Pulzone called Gaetano, representing at best a pictorial genre, that of portraiture, in which the master excelled. This attribution would be confirmed by comparisons with the numerous portraits that Pulzone dedicated to the Medici family. Our painting, in particular, could represent one of the versions that the workshop has replicated, at the request of the numerous art collectors who wish to have a portrait of one of the most influential personalities of the Florentine scene. The characters drawn by Pulzone were icons of incomparable elegance: noblewomen, knights and religious lent their faces to the eye of the artist who was able to grasp every meticulous detail with his superb technique. A photographic wealth and surprising material attention that trace the pictorial prototypes of Flemish inspiration, in particular of Antonis Mor...

The painting features the enthroned Madonna and Child, two praying angels, and Saints Nicholas of Tolentino, Augustine, Luke the Evangelist, and Monica, below an elegant canopy. The ...

Jacopo da Empoli (Florence, Italy, 1551 – 1640) Title: Temperance Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 101.5 x 75.7 cm – with frame 140 x 115.3 x 10.50 cm Expertise by Al...

Circle of Michael Coxie (Malines, 1499 - Malines, 1592) Ecce Homo with Pontius Pilate Oil on panel Flemish school 16th-17th century 112 x 81 cm - framed 121 x 90 cm. The proposed p...