ANCIENT PAINTING
 

Oil on oak panel. Flemish school of the 17th-18th century. The sacred representation shows the moment of the birth of Jesus in a cave, watched over and adored by Mary and Joseph together with four angels; the figures are well characterized and highlighted by bright colors, while behind them the donkey and the ox blend in with the chromatic uniformity of the cave and the earth. On the right, in the background and in soft colors, fading into the background landscape, the scene of the announcement to the shepherds is depicted. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The painting is inspired by the pictorial methods of Francesco Foschi (1710 -1780), an artist who specialized in landscapes and who widely spread the taste for winter landscapes. In this painting we have a glimpse of a mountain landscape, with a village located in a valley beneath rocky and snow-capped peaks. Even the houses and meadows are sprinkled with snow, which is absent on the path traveled by numerous figures; the pink atmosphere of the sky evokes the beginning of a new day, already fervent with activity. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in a mid-20th century frame.

Oil on canvas. Sweet depiction of the putative paternity of Saint Joseph, who delicately holds his little son in his arms, who in turn strokes his beard, while they tenderly look into each other's eyes. Peculiar is the detail of the white cloth with blue stripes that the saint holds with one hand and which corresponds to the Talled (or Tallit), or the Jewish shawl used by men for ritual prayers. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The scene depicts the episode told in the biblical book of Genesis, of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, after they committed the sin of eating the forbidden fruit, fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Aware of their nakedness, the man and woman are driven away by an archangel, with the sword of justice in his hand and surrounded by a cloud of fire, they walk shamefully and modestly into the world, represented in a Nordic landscape. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in an early 1900s frame, with carved and applied wooden decorations and friezes.

Oil painting on canvas. Large scene of the Nativity, which develops on two crossed lines: a vertical dimension centered on the architectural structure in bricks and straw, the stable that gave shelter to the family of Nazareth, over which the angels hover announcing the divine glory; horizontal dimension in the lower half, composed of a multitude of figures: in the center the Holy Family, on the two sides the shepherds who go to honor the Child, bringing their simple gifts in nature. Of simple and popular taste, the scene is placed on a poorly defined background. The painting has been restored and relined, but still has large losses of colour. In frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Italian school of the 17th century. According to iconographic tradition, Magdalene is depicted scantily clad, with her long hair loose, while she ecstatically contemplates the Crucifix which she holds in her arms here, with a loving attitude. In front of her, resting on a surface, three of her iconographic symbols: the meditation book, the skull, Memento mori par excellence, and the jar with the precious ointment with which the woman, according to the Gospel story, anointed the feet of Jesus , anticipation of both the death of Jesus and his royal role. The figure is placed on a dark, non-outlined background, from which she emerges with the light color of her complexion and the red of the cloth that surrounds her loins. The painting is on first canvas; has a small patch. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil painting on canvas. On the left is a young commoner busy with sewing, attaching a button to a piece of fabric; on its right stands the bobbin, a traditional work tool used for making lace. The painting features extensive twentieth-century repaintings; there are also some slight tears necessary for restoration. It is presented in a re-adapted and re-lacquered frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The large scene depicts Mary, already Assumption into heaven and supported on the clouds by little angels, receiving the Crown from the Holy Trinity. This coronation expresses the apotheosis of Mary, who by becoming "Queen of Heaven" becomes the intermediary between the earth, Humanity, and Heaven, the Divinity: what is not given to man to see becomes possible through Mary who in this glorification is more than ever the tenacious thread that binds us to the Almighty, the true "gate of heaven", as it is defined by the Fathers of the Church. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an early 20th century frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The Saint, in the foreground, is depicted on his knees, adoring the Crucifix which he holds with one hand, while the other points downwards at the skull, the traditional "Memento mori". The figure is placed inside a cave, from whose opening you can glimpse an arid and barren landscape; the light enters from a hole in the rock and radiates linearly on the Cross to reach the face of the Saint. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a 19th century wooden frame.

Oil on canvas. Venetian school of the eighteenth century. The portrait proposes the figure of a young woman wearing an everyday dress, but embellished with spotted fur edges; curiously, with the raised arm she flaunts a fur muff tucked over one hand, probably a habit to underline a fashion of the time. The painting shows signs of restoration, with conservation of the original canvas, although reassembled on a new frame. It is presented in a coeval oval frame, but surmounted by a wooden frieze added at a later time.

Oil painting on canvas. The biblical scene depicts the Holy Family with Mary sitting on the donkey, newborn Jesus in her arms and Joseph pulling the animal, as they flee from Nazareth, headed for Egypt, to escape Herod's persecution. Some little angels hover above them. The gazes of the angels, Joseph and Mary tenderly converge on the Child. In the background a Nordic landscape. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Central Italian school of the 17th century. According to the iconographic tradition, also in this painting the guardian angel is depicted as a winged young man who accompanies a child along a stretch of road, indicating the sky as the destination of the journey. The winged figure stands out and dominates the scene, lively in its colours, powerful in the physical strength it emanates, albeit sweet in its delicately protective attitude towards the child, whose small figure is enveloped in the limbs of its guardian. The scene is enclosed within a garland of bright and colorful flowers, which give color to the figures, otherwise placed in a dark and almost monochrome landscape. The depiction of characters, mainly religious, enclosed in floral frames had great development especially in Rome, linked to names such as Giovanni Stanchi (1608 -1675), rather than Mario Nuzzi known as Mario de' Fiori (1603 -1673), and others. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a strip frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Central European school of the 18th century. A river landscape is proposed near a village, with a small bridge in the center that crosses the watercourse, and populated by numerous popular figures, with typically Northern European characteristics due to their fleshy features and cunning and curious expressions. They are engaged in everyday activities related to fishing: in the center a man exposes his catch to a couple, guaranteeing, through the gesture of his arm, its fresh origin; in front of him a child overturns a tub of fish and water snakes while another fisherman, further back, also sells his goods. Two other men, standing in the water, haul in their nets; A shepherdess passes over the bridge with her child and goat. w sitting in the foreground on the right, a woman observes the scene. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on walnut board. Flemish school of the 16th century. The painting presents a landscape characterized by a tall leafy plant in the centre, which vertically divides the scene into two parts, rising from the brown and dark earth in the foreground, towards the horizon of wooded blue hills, which then fade into a chromatic continuum in the sky above, interrupted by the thick foliage of the tree. The scene in the foreground is animated by various figurines of walking characters, scattered across the countryside. The chromatic choices are peculiar, the browns and blues, which together with the type of landscape and the figures refer to Flemish painting; moreover, the use of a walnut panel testifies to a Flemish artist working in Italy, where this pictorial support, unusual in Northern Europe, was used. The painting is presented in a contemporary frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Venetian school of the late 18th century. The large painting tells the evangelical episode of the meeting between Saint Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist, and Mary, waiting for Jesus, but inserted in a larger choral scene: it is placed on a large staircase, probably that of the temple in where Zechariah, Elizabeth's husband, was a priest, and a crowd of figures, and is animated by a crowd of figures, among which several women with children and families stand out. Detail in the foreground on the left is the figure with a little boy attached to his legs, who looks towards the viewer, indicating with a broad gesture of his arm the central event, the meeting between the two holy women. The colors stand out, which according to the Venetian pictorial tradition, are founding elements of the scenes, which underline the figures and fade into the different three-dimensional planes. Relined and restored, the canvas has a slight crack on the left. It is presented in a gilded frame from the late 19th century.

Oil painting on canvas. The large painting recalls the pictorial methods of the 17th century but is from a later period, and was created on a canvas applied to an older one. The scene tells the biblical episode (taken from the Book of Kings) widely narrated pictorially, depicting the bath of Bathsheba, the wife of General Uriah, in the service of King David. According to the biblical story, David is on the terrace of his palace when he notices the woman bathing in the garden of her home, surrounded by her handmaids. Davide falls in love with her and seduces her, making her pregnant. To hide the crime, he recalls General Uriah from the front, to make him lie down with his wife, but Uriah does not want to leave his soldiers; then David sends him to fight on the front line hoping that he will be killed: this happens and David can marry Bathsheba, but he will be punished by God for the adultery and impiety committed. The painting shows the moment in which Bathsheba, having just come out of the bathroom, while she is reflected in the mirror held by a slave girl, and surrounded by other servants, reads the note that King David sent her; the latter appears at the top right, overlooking the terrace. The scene is dominated by female figures intertwined with each other, in a tangle of clothes and fabrics, and surrounded by flowers from the garden; in the center stands the mirror in a rich golden frame. The painting has a patch at the bottom right. It is presented in an antique gilded frame.