Modern Painting Signed Cazzaniga Oil on Canvas Italy 1913 - Male Portrait, 1913

Landscape with Figures

Mixed media on cardboard. Signed lower left. Stamp of the artist's studio on the back. The painter of Apulian origins Giuseppe Casciaro, painter and teacher at the Institute of Fine Arts in Naples where he trained, was essentially a landscape painter and produced in particular views of the surroundings of Naples, Irpinia (Nusco) and Puglia. He preferred the pastel painting technique in which he excelled. Here is a glimpse of a Mediterranean countryside, crossed by a path with wayfarers. It is presented in a period frame.

Glimpse of the Village 1923

Oil on panel. Signed lower left. On the back is a further signature and the date (November 1923). De Bernardi's painting fits into the tradition of Lombard landscape painting of the 19th and 20th centuries. He always lived in Besozzo, his hometown in the province of Varese, but he travelled a lot, in Italy and outside of Italy, collecting impressions and researching, to relive them in his work, new landscapes. He preferred landscape production, even if declined with a changing style in his different pictorial phases. Here is a glimpse of a small village, De Bernardi's painting fits into the tradition of Lombard landscape painting of the 19th and 20th centuries. The picturesque. He always lived in Besozzo, his hometown in the province of Varese, but he travelled a lot, in Italy and outside of Italy, collecting impressions and researching, to relive them in his work, new landscapes. He preferred landscape production, even if declined with a changing style in his different pictorial phases. Here is proposed the glimpse of a mountain village. The work is presented in a frame in style.

Oil on canvas. Looking at the compositions of the 17th-18th century, the painting proposes a composition of variegated and colorful flowers, which surmount a sculpture of three fauns and a cut pumpkin. It is presented in a contemporary frame.

Oil on canvas. Central European school of the first half of the 20th century. Unidentified signature on the lower left. In a wide valley under sharp mountain peaks, a small lake opens up, on which some houses overlook and boats sail; some common people's figures are busy with daily activities. Pleasant and serene in the green-blue hues of nature. It is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. French school of the early 1900s. At the bottom right the signature Carlo Rossi, on the left the title in French ("Duels et enlèvement"). The scene, which recalls the narrative of the "Cloak and sword" genre, sees a gentleman in an elegant doublet dueling with a group of men, who are meanwhile trying to take away his lady by force. The scene is set in the street of a village with Nordic-style houses. The painter Carlo Rossi was active in France at the end of the 19th century, as can be seen from another of his works of the same genre, sold at auction in Tours. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on hardboard. Venetian school of the late 19th century. Signed Carlini on the lower left. Moving family scene, with the fisherman just landed embracing his family - wife, mother, children and dog! - who have come to welcome him, while his colleagues unload the catch and arrange the nets. The colors are intense, especially the earthy ones of the figures, the sand and the boat, which contrast with the blue of the sky and the sea. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Central European school of the first half of the 20th century. Unidentified signature lower left. Sweetness and tenderness shine through these two embraced figures, similar in facial features and expression, composed in their elegant and lively clothes, with the background of a floral wallpaper. The painting is presented in a period frame.

The Organ-Grinder

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower right. Trace of a date, not readable. The Cuneo artist Ottavio Steffanini had a life in constant movement, divided between Italy, Europe, America (in particular Venezuela). A restless and unpredictable artist, he concentrated his painting above all on female figures, portrayed with placid sensuality and an opulence influenced by the Spanish masters with whom he studied. But in his production there is no shortage of other subjects, united by an incessant exaltation of life, of nature. Here, however, a male figure is proposed, a half-length portrait of an accordion player, dignified and proud in his pose and gaze. The work is presented in a period frame.

Mixed media on canvas. The large scene, painted in the unique reddish-pink range, features two large figures on the right, while the entire left side is occupied by a desert landscape, with the waves of the dunes fading into the distance. The two figures depict a seated horseman, wearing a turban and Saracen dress, being fed by a maiden in Western dress, who is handing him a tray laden with food, while on the shelf below is a basin of water, ears of corn and various fruits. This could be one of the many representations of the story of Angelica and Medoro, recounted by Ariosto in Orlando Furioso, which tells of the love between the Christian maiden and the Saracen knave wounded in a clash, who then fled together to Catai, thus triggering Orlando's madness. The work is presented in a frame.

Ligurian Beach

Oil on canvas. Signed lower left. It is a glimpse of the Ligurian Riviera, near a cove, surmounted by houses close to the coast. Berto Ferrari, born and always lived in Liguria, was a skilled and sensitive marine and landscape painter of the post-impressionist tradition, who painted the beauties of the Ligurian Riviera and numerous views of the Apennine hinterland. The painting has drops of color and traces of restoration. It is in a coeval frame.

Sur le Canapé d'Argent pâle 1911

Color lithograph on vellum paper. The title at the bottom left. On the passepartout the name and the wording "original lithographie". It is planche n.10 of the "Amour" series, created in 1899 by the French artist and inspired by the love poems Denis wrote for his future wife, Marthe Meurier. Some replicas of the initial series were made, of which the one on tissue paper dated 1911. Maurice Denis, French painter, was artistically formed in coincidence with the birth of the symbolist movement that strongly influenced him, imposing himself for his simplicity and for his philosophy of a art that was a synthesis between the external world and the artist's spirituality. In his earliest works, the pictorial style was naturalist and neo-impressionist, but over time tended towards a pure decorativism, characterized by areas of flat color and clear outlines. In 1888, at the Julian Academy in Paris, Maurice Denis founded with Paul Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard and Paul Ranson, the group of painters Nabis (Prophets), a group that drew on the works and poetics of Paul Gauguin in their aesthetic ideals. , for the overcoming of Impressionist naturalism through a return to primitive and Japanese art. Of the Nabis meetings, usually held in the editorial office of the magazine "Revue Blanche" or at the Ranson Academy, Denis particularly appreciated the mystical climate, the esoteric jargon and the nickname that each painter received from the group: Denis was called "the Nabi by the nice pictures". As "Nabi" Maurice Denis painted intimate, enigmatic pictures and the themes of his painting, of a religious nature or situations of everyday life, were brought into an ideal and unreal dimension, in an atmosphere of warm and serene intimacy, obtained with an extremely delicate feature. A constant in his life was the profession of the Catholic faith, which always had a priority role for him. He received numerous commissions for the decoration of churches and this made him return to the great tradition of mural painting by performing solemn frescoes of monumental structure, inspired by a literary Catholicism. The religious fervor led Maurice Denis to found, in 1919, the Ateliers d'Art Sacré, dedicating a lot of time to prayer, so much so that he became the tertiary of San Domenico, without isolating him from the world, for which he participated in the social life of the time. In addition to his vast production as a painter, Denis was a great draftsman and illustrator. Until his death Maurice Denis continued to paint in a modern interpretation of the great ancient painting, supported by his strong artistic vein, continuously fueled by his travels, many of them in Italy, which led him to come into direct contact with the Pre-Raphaelites and the neoclassicals.

Les Bouches de Naples gemissent de Terreur ou de Plaisir 1969

Ink on paper. Signature, date and title below. Accompanied by authentication on photo from Galleria Giò Marconi in Milan and stamp from private archive. It is the drawing of the young artist who soon became one of the most important exponents of world surrealism, who was a poet and painter, but also a filmmaker, art and film critic, photographer and humorous designer. Born in the north of France, in 1927 he settled in Paris, where he came into contact with a group of young poets and philosophers, with whom he founded the '' Grand Jeu '' movement: play is understood as an art of living. Since 1928 he has collaborated with texts, poems and drawings for the movement's magazine and in the meantime he collaborates as an editor and reporter with various Parisian newspapers.In 1932, having exhausted the experience of the `` Grand Jeu '', he passes to the surrealist movement, collaborating on its publications and participating in its exhibitions. His humor turns towards the unusual and cruelty, more and more derisive of the absurdity of everyday life, of the tragic side of common existence, to which the spirit and the unconscious rebel, trying to access the unobservable. Knows Salvador Dalí. In 1939 he also began his activity as a filmmaker. In 1941 his first personal exhibition took place in Paris: the first buyer was Pablo Picasso. Participate in all surrealist exhibitions, including the 1947 international one in Paris. In 1951, for reasons relating to the internal discipline of the group, he abandoned the surrealist movement with others, while continuing to practice its poetics. In 1955 he also became passionate about photography. Since 1968 he has devoted himself almost exclusively to painting, abandoning the activity of humorous draftsman. In the same year he settled permanently in Milan: in Italy he exhibited in various personal exhibitions, those in Milan at the Galleria Marconi. The work presented here, an early drawing, comes from an important Milanese private collection. It is presented in a frame.