Gesso Decorative Art

Rafael Contreras (Spanish, 1824 - 1890) Alhambra Architectural Model Plaque, 19th century. A large and magnificent Hispano-Moresque Alhambra plaque by...

Beautiful antique frame with a print of dancing Greek graces. The frame is made of wood, with refined carving and graceful curls. The wood is decorated with stucco and gilded with gold leaf. The print is also interesting, it is an antique print with beautiful gold print, depicting the dancing graces...

A large French 19th century oil on canvas (laid down on a masonite) "Les progrès de l'amour dans le cœur d'une jeune fille" The Progress of Love: The Lover Crowned, after Jean-Honoré...

Adolf Constantin Baumgartner Stoiloff (Austrian/Russian, 1850-1924) a fine oil on board "Charging Cossack Warriors on Horseback" within an ornate giltwood frame, circa 1890 Born in 1850 in Linz (Austria) Stoiloff died in Vienna in 1924. According to a research of Russian literature, he studied in the 1880s at St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. He was very well known for his Russian horse...

A lovely 19th century English school watercolor on paper of "a garden pergola" rendered in beautiful colors of brick, green, tan and grey. Presented in a gilded gesso and wood frame.

A fine Italian 19th century oil painting on canvas "La Madonna della Seggiola" after Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino 1483-1520) The circular canvas depicting a seated Madonna holding an infant Jesus Christ next to a child Saint John the Baptist, all within a massive carved gilt wood and gesso frame (all high quality gilt is original) which is identical to the frame on Raphael's original artwork. This painting is a 19th Century copy of Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola painted in 1514 and currently exhibited and part of the permanent collection at the Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, Florence, Italy. The bodies of the Virgin, Christ, and the boy Baptist fill the whole picture. The tender, natural looking embrace of the Mother and Child, and the harmonious grouping of the figures in the round, have made this one of Raphael's most popular Madonnas. The isolated chair leg is reminiscent of papal furniture, which has led to the assumption that Leo X himself commissioned the painting, circa 1890-1900. Subject: Religious painting Measures: Canvas height: 29 1/4 inches (74.3 cm) Canvas width: 29 1/4 inches (74.3 cm) Painting diameter: 28 1/4 inches (71.8 cm) Frame height: 57 7/8 inches (147 cm) Frame width: 45 1/2 inches (115.6 cm) Frame depth: 5 1/8 inches (13 cm).   Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Italian, March 28 or April 6, 1483 - April 6, 1520), known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, and the largest, work of his career. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. After his death, the influence of his great rival Michelangelo was more widespread until the 18th and 19th centuries, when Raphael's more serene and harmonious qualities were again regarded as the highest models. His career falls naturally into three phases and three styles, first described by Giorgio Vasari: his early years in Umbria, then a period of about four years (1504–1508) absorbing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his last hectic and triumphant twelve years in Rome, working for two Popes and their close associates. Raphael was born in the small but artistically significant central Italian city of Urbino in the Marche region, where his father Giovanni Santi was court painter to the Duke. The reputation of the court had been established by Federico III da Montefeltro, a highly successful condottiere who had been created Duke of Urbino by the Pope - Urbino formed part of the Papal States - and who died the year before Raphael was born. The emphasis of Federico's court was rather more literary than artistic, but Giovanni Santi was a poet of sorts as well as a painter, and had written a rhymed chronicle of the life of Federico, and both wrote the texts and produced the decor for masque-like court entertainments. His poem to Federico shows him as keen to show awareness of the most advanced North Italian painters, and Early Netherlandish artists as well. In the very small court of Urbino he was probably more integrated into the central circle of the ruling family than most court painters. Federico was succeeded by his son Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, who married Elisabetta Gonzaga, daughter of the ruler of Mantua, the most brilliant of the smaller Italian courts for both music and the visual arts. Under them, the court continued as a centre for literary culture. Growing up in the circle of this small court gave Raphael the excellent manners and social skills stressed by Vasari. Court life in Urbino at just after this period was to become set as the model of the virtues of the Italian humanist court through Baldassare Castiglione's depiction of it in his classic work The Book of the Courtier, published in 1528. Castiglione moved to Urbino in 1504, when Raphael was no longer based there but frequently visited, and they became good friends. He became close to other regular visitors to the court: Pietro Bibbiena and Pietro Bembo, both later cardinals, were already becoming well known as writers, and would be in Rome during Raphael's period there. Raphael mixed easily in the highest circles throughout his life, one of the factors that tended to give a misleading impression of effortlessness to his career. He did not receive a full humanistic education however; it is unclear how easily he read Latin. Early Life and Works His mother Màgia died in 1491 when Raphael was eight, followed on August 1, 1494 by his father, who had already remarried. Raphael was thus orphaned at eleven; his formal guardian became his only paternal uncle Bartolomeo, a priest, who subsequently engaged in litigation with his stepmother. He probably continued to live with his stepmother when not staying as an apprentice with a master. He had already shown talent, according to Vasari, who says that Raphael had been "a great help to his father". A self-portrait drawing from his teenage years shows his precocity. His father's workshop continued and, probably together with his stepmother, Raphael evidently played a part in managing it from a very early age. In Urbino, he came into contact with the works of Paolo Uccello, previously the court painter (d. 1475), and Luca Signorelli, who until 1498 was based in nearby Città di Castello. According to Vasari, his father placed him in the workshop of the Umbrian master Pietro Perugino as an apprentice "despite the tears of his mother". The evidence of an apprenticeship comes only from Vasari and another source, and has been disputed—eight was very early for an apprenticeship to begin. An alternative theory is that he received at least some training from Timoteo Viti, who acted as court painter in Urbino from 1495.Most modern historians agree that Raphael at least worked as an assistant to Perugino from around 1500; the influence of Perugino on Raphael's early work is very clear: "probably no other pupil of genius has ever absorbed so much of his master's teaching as Raphael did", according to Wölfflin. Vasari wrote that it was impossible to distinguish between their hands at this period, but many modern art historians claim to do better and detect his hand in specific areas of works by Perugino or his workshop. Apart from stylistic closeness, their techniques are very similar as well, for example having paint applied thickly, using an oil varnish medium, in shadows and darker garments, but very thinly on flesh areas. An excess of resin in the varnish often causes cracking of areas of paint in the works of both masters. The Perugino workshop was active in both Perugia and Florence, perhaps maintaining two permanent branches. Raphael is described as a "master", that is to say fully trained, in December 1500. His first documented work was the Baronci altarpiece for the church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in Città di Castello, a town halfway between Perugia and Urbino. Evangelista da Pian di Meleto, who had worked for his father, was also named in the commission. It was commissioned in 1500 and finished in 1501; now only some cut sections and a preparatory drawing remain. In the following years he painted works for other churches there, including the Mond Crucifixion (about 1503) and the Brera Wedding of the Virgin (1504), and for Perugia, such as the Oddi Altarpiece. He very probably also visited Florence in this period. These are large works, some in fresco, where Raphael confidently marshals his compositions in the somewhat static style of Perugino. He also painted many small and exquisite cabinet paintings in these years, probably mostly for the connoisseurs in the Urbino court, like the Three Graces and St. Michael, and he began to paint Madonnas and portraits. In 1502 he went to Siena at the invitation of another pupil of Perugino, Pinturicchio, "being a friend of Raphael and knowing him to be a draughtsman of the highest quality" to help with the cartoons, and very likely the designs, for a fresco series in the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral. He was evidently already much in demand even at this early stage in his career. Influence of Florence Raphael led a "nomadic" life, working in various centres in Northern Italy, but spent a good deal of time in Florence, perhaps from about 1504. Although there is traditional reference to a "Florentine period...

Attributed to Charles Edward Hallé (British, 1846-1914) "Mother and Child" oil on canvas. The Victorian era artwork depicting a young mother holding her joyful infant child, within a carved gildwood and gesso frame. (Relined). Signed (l/r): C.E. Hallé, circa 1870. Charles Edward Hallé (British, 1846-1914) Born in Paris, the son of Sir Charles Hallé...

A very fine and Large Italian 18th-19th century oval-shaped oil on canvas titled "The Triumph of Venice" After the original work by Paolo Veronese (Venice, 1528-1588). The original of this painting hangs in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice. The 'Ricci' coloration suggests a late 17th-early 18th century date. In 1715 Charles de la Fosse advised Ricci to paint only "Veroneses and no more Riccis", Venice, circa 1800. Measures: Height: 45 1/4 inches (115 cm). Width: 29 inches (73.7 cm). Frame height: 58 1/4 inches (147.9 cm). Frame width: 43 1/4 inches (109.9 cm). Frame depth: 5 1/4 (13.3 cm). Provenance: Royal Academy of Scotland. Paolo Veronese (Born 1528, Verona, Republic of Venice - died April 9, 1588, Venice) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at...

An 18th century Italian Venetian-style wall mirror with original silvered patina.

A group of eight Russian and Greek Orthodox icons painted over gold leaf and gesso laid on a wooden board. These are mounted on a Lucite panel and ...

A fine and large 19th century oil on canvas after Bartolomé Esteban Murrillo's (Spanish, 1617-1682) "Beggar Boys Playing Dice" (The original work by Murillo was painted in 1675). The impressive artwork depicts two young boys playing dice while another eats a piece of fruit as his dog watches on., within an ornate gildwood and gesso frame bearing a label from the faming company Bigelow & Jordan. The original work by Murillo is currently at the Alte Pinakothek Museum in Munich, Germany. The present work is signed: L. Rüber. Circa: Munich, Late 19th Century. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (born late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618 – April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children. These lively, realist portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars constitute an extensive and appealing record of the everyday life of his times. Murillo was born to Gaspar Esteban and María Pérez Murillo. He may have been born in Seville or in Pilas, a smaller Andalusian town. It is clear that he was baptized in Seville in 1618, the youngest son in a family of fourteen. His father was a barber and surgeon. His parents died when Murillo was still very young, and the artist was largely brought up by his aunt and uncle. Murillo began his art studies under Juan del Castillo in Seville. There he became familiar with Flemish painting and the "Treatise on Sacred Images" of Molanus (Ian van der Meulen or Molano). The great commercial importance of Seville at the time ensured that he was subject to influences from other regions. His first works were influenced by Zurbarán, Jusepe de Ribera and Alonzo Cano, and he shared their strongly realist approach. As his painting developed, his more important works evolved towards the polished style that suited the bourgeois and aristocratic tastes of the time, demonstrated especially in his Roman Catholic religious works. In 1642, at the age of 26, he moved to Madrid, where he most likely became familiar with the work of Velázquez, and would have seen the work of Venetian and Flemish masters in the royal collections; the rich colors and softly modeled forms of his subsequent work suggest these influences. In 1645 he returned to Seville and married Beatriz Cabrera y Villalobos, with whom he eventually had eleven children. In that year, he painted eleven canvases for the convent of St. Francisco el Grande in Seville. These works depicting the miracles of Franciscan saints vary between the Zurbaránesque tenebrism of the Ecstasy of St Francis and a softly luminous style (as in Death of St Clare...

Italian 19th century oil on canvas titled "The Music Professor" depicting a mid-19th century music-room scene of an elder man, the music professor, holding his violin, hat and umbrel...

A fine French 19th century oil on artist panel titled "The Bather and her Maid" after François Lemoyne (1688-1737) depicting a standing nude maiden being assisted by her maid, within an ornate giltwood and gesso carved frame, Paris, circa 1860-1870. François Lemoyne or François Le Moine or Le Moyne...

A fine Franco-German 19th century oil on canvas "Portrait of a Lady" depicting an 18th century young beauty posing with a profile gaze and cur...

Wonderful painting of nudes titled "Oreades". Oil paint on gesso relief. On board. Great colors and technique. Painted in an Art Deco style. It ...

Carved giltwood wall torchere candle holder, Italy, 19th century-1930s Hand-carved gold gilt wood candlestick sconce with wrought iron details. This w...

A large antique ecclesiastical style painted canvas housed in a gilt gesso timber frame. Showcasing painted details, this handsome panel displays initials to the centre surrounded b...

Giuseppe Pitto (Italian 1857 - 1928) is often known for his paintings depicting pretty women in Italian street markets. This exuberantly painted scene i...

This superb work of art combines the beauty of a painting with the mechanical complicities of an automaton and clock. Depicting a rural scene, the clock is integrated into the church, sitting within the giltwood and gesso frame. Also within the painting is automaton windmill, again integrated into the picture atop the windmill. The automaton runs off the clock, so requires no separate winding, The clock is a fine 8 day, fusee movement with gut string, with verge escapement...

Framed French Louis Vuitton Art Print in an Italian 19th Century Frame Louis Vuitton Print from Paris, France, framed in a one of a kind circ...

An important Egyptian sarcophagus mask from the Ptolemaic Period (711–332 B.C.), crafted with remarkable artistry and historical significance. Material: Made from stuccoed linen tex...

Rare 18th century Italian gaming board "Nobilissimo Giuoco Della Mea" Or "The Nobel Game of Chance" in original paint and decoupage, (lacca povera) depicting a game which appears to be a board version of "Put and Take" with different characters representing either plus or minus points. Four corners with scalloped carved coin wells, the centre slightly dished for either a top or ball to roll within. Characters include: Scimmia/Monkey - put 6, Re/King - take 1, Vople/Wolf take 3 , Pascia/Lord - take two and so on. Other characters include, Cinese/Chinese, Colombo/Pidgeon, Crepascolo/Twilight, Armigero/Knight?, Gezelia/Gazelle, Adone/Adonis, Gonhiere/Gondolier, Araba Fenice/Arab Phoenix?, Vecchio/Old Man, Leone/Lion. A very similar game board is in the collection of the Medici Villa...

A very fine and large 18th century oil on canvas titled "Mother and Child" (Probably members of The Swedish Royal Family). Attributed to Michael Dahl (Swe...

Marie Philips-Weber (German, 1845-1942) oil on canvas "Reading a Book" depicting a young maiden reading a book, within an ornate gilt and gesso frame. Signed: M. Weber Philips (l/r),...

For sale a charming European late 18th, early 19th Century Georgian/Regency era oil on board portrait painting of a youthful person, possibly a scholar, believed to have been painted...

Pair of American oil on canvas portraits in the original floral gilt frames and stretchers. South Carolina, Late 18th century. Signed Dr. Anthony Hemingway on re-verso.

A very fine Italian oil on canvas titled "The Solo Violinist" by Luigi Da Rios (Italian, 1844-1892), depicting an interior 18th century room scene of a single violinist player; withi...

"Horses Running", a bold abstract impressionist oil painting with heavy impasto. By Sheila Hedricks. Oil on board. In a period hand...

Jules Salles-Wagner (French, 1814-1898) A Large and Impressive French, 19th century oil on canvas "The Water Carrier" depicting a standing and posing young peasant girl holding twin-...

Attributed to August Stephan Sedlacek (Austrian/German, 1868-1936) "The Violin Presentation" Oil on Canvas depicting an interior 18th century scene of...

Pair of American gilt carved wood and gesso demi lune tiered wall mounted brackets. Early 19th century

A large elegant pair of decorative wooden wall panels, black lacquered with gold gilt on gesso backing. Both matching with gilt Empire Urns, the gesso surf...

Henry John Yeend King R.B.A, R.I., R.O.I. (British, 1855-1924) "A Victorian Lady Standing by a Sundial in the Park" Oil on panel. Signed lower right: Yeend King. "YK" Sticker en ver...

Greg Parker, American, b. 1952 Untitled, 1988 Graphite and oil on gessoed panel Signed and dated to verso. Geometric composition in monochromatic variations ending on a graphite...

George Adolphus Storey (British, 1834-1919) a very fine and large oil on canvas titled "Love in a Maze". Signed and dated lower right "G. A. Storey 1873". The ...

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Unique piece (One of a kind). By Pascal & Annie Leniau, year 1995.

Manner of Titian (Tiziano Vecelli - Italian, 1485-1576) An Oil on Canvas "Sleeping Cupid" within a gilt and black decorated gesso frame. A label on reve...

A highly decorative pair of hand painted marriage portraits depicting a man & woman in 17th century courtly attire. Both figures shown surrounded by flowering vines - he surrounded b...

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition in the shape of a face, hand-carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Limited edition, number 7 out of 8. In the back, ...

Contemporary artistic mirror. Octogonal shape sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Limited edition, number 4 out of 8. In the back, signed ...

Wonderful oval stipple engraving after James Gillray Showing the meeting of Colonel Gardiner with his daughters before the Battle of Prestonpans. Set against the background of sterl...

Great image of a bloodhound presented in a distressed antique gilt frame. Lithograph after Cpt. brown with original hand color. Published, 1847.

This mural is made of Gesso tiles in a wood frame. Painter, born in Wisconsin August 22, 1910. By 1930, Hillger settled in Los Angeles. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles art department, and his master's degree in fine arts from University of Southern...

A fine pair of Continental 19th century porcelain plaques each depicting George Washington, the first President of the United States and his wife Martha Washington within an ornate V...

Two original English watercolor/drawings circa 1854,1855, Ellen Dumbleton, from her sketchbook, Humble House and Summer house, Hall Grove. Beautifully pr...

Italian gilt and painted oval dressing - shaving mirror with decorative scrolled floral cartouche, flanking bell flowers, interior decorative lambs tongue frame resting on acanthus carved step back...

Federico Mazzotta (Italian, 1839-1897) A fine Italian 19th century Oil on Canvas "A Maiden with her Calf", depicting a joyous peasant next to her cal...

Francesco Peluso (Italian, 1836-1916) a fine Italian 19th-20th century oil on canvas "The Village Celebration" depicting a young couple of villagers dressed for Spring festivities and walking through a dirt road while playing musical instruments. The girl playing a tambourine and the boy a wooden noise maker...

Francois-Alfred Delobbe "The Little Neighbour", French, 1835-1920. A fine and charming Oil on canvas depicting a young lady standing next to a sweet young girl sitting at a well-head. Signed at lower centre: A. Delobbe. Label on reverse has title and medals Hors Concours Paris, 1874 and 1876. Within an ornate gilt-wood and gesso frame, circa 1870. Measures: Canvas height: 26 inches (66 cm). Canvas width: 19 3/4 inches (50.2 cm). Frame height: 38 inches (96.5 cm). Frame width: 34 inches (86.4 cm). François-Alfred Delobbe, (1835, Paris-1920, Paris) was a French painter in the Naturalist style. He was a student of Thomas Couture and William Bouguereau at the École des Beaux-arts, where he had been admitted at the age of 16, and had his debut at the Salon in 1861 with a portrait of his mother. Mythological, Orientalist and genre scenes in the Academic style were his original specialities. His career was truly launched when he obtained a commission to decorate the Town Hall of the recently annexed 15th Arrondissement; one of only eight such commissions granted. From 1875 until his death, he and his family were regular visitors at the artists' colony in Concarneau, where he had been invited to come by its founder Alfred Guillou and in whose home they sometimes stayed. The soft light of the region inspired him to focus on painting children and young women, generally in peasant scenes. He would often sketch profusely during the summer, then finish the painting during the winter at his Paris Studio. Most of his models came from the Concarneau region. Museums: Musée de Brême: Baptéme à Venice. Musée de Breslau: Filles de l’Océan. Musée de Rochefort: Le retour des champs...

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Limited edition, number 6 out of 8. In the back, signed by Pascal & Anni...

Contemporary artistic mirror. Octogonal shape sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Limited edition, number 1 out of 8. In the back, signed ...

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Unique piece (One of a kind). By Pascal & Annie Leniau, year 1992.

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Unique piece (One of a kind). By Pascal & Annie Leniau, year 1996.

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Unique piece (One of a kind). By Pascal & Annie Leniau, year 1994.

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Unique piece (One of a kind). By Pascal & Annie Leniau, year 1992.

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Unique piece (One of a kind). By Pascal & Annie Leniau, year 1993.

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Unique piece (One of a kind). By Pascal & Annie Leniau, year 1994.

Contemporary artistic mirror. Sculptural composition, hand carved. Original creation of materials and colors. Unique piece (One of a kind). By Pascal & Annie Leniau, year 2017.