Contemporary Sculpture Bronze Armando Riva Horse Italy 2015 - Italy, 2015

Oil on canvas. This is a copy of a painting by Anthony Van Dick (1599 -1641), who created this subject in three versions during his stay in Italy – between 1621 and 1625, which were later widely copied. The composition of the two figures is faithful to the original, with the contrast of Mary's gaze, which turns sorrowfully towards the sky, thinking of the fate of her Son, against the determined and confident gaze of the Child, who turns away from the composition. The imposing column in the background is missing from the original, here monochrome. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on polystyrene. On the back of one there is a label from the 1974 Milan exhibition, with the data of the work and the title "Spazio rosso". Roberto Ciaccio has had a deeply conceptual artistic path that has led him to results of pure abstraction. He has experimented with different materials and techniques, but above all his research has been in interdisciplinary terms, often dealing with philosophy, music, poetry, architecture). The two works are presented in a plexiglass case.

The Announcement

Oil on panel. The reference name is shown at the top left, with the surname changed to Mayer. This is a copy of the painting of the same name by Claus Meyer, which was auctioned in Germany in 2005. The German artist loved to reproduce genre scenes in Flemish style. In the work presented, set in a room of a bourgeois house, a man from behind is reading a letter to a group of other men, all notables or personalities of the place. The work is presented in a period frame.

Auronzo di Cadore

Oil on canvas, 1954. Signed and dated lower right. Further signature and title on the back. In a contemporary gilded frame.

Oil on canvas. Christ, seated in prison, wearing a red cloak and a cane in his hands, also receives the crown of thorns, to complete the symbols of mockery of his declared royalty, the reason for his death sentence. The scene presents lively and well-defined figures; the central Christ, suffering and resigned in the expression of his face, is illuminated by the light that enters from the opening in the rock face, while the two soldiers surround him. The painting on the first canvas is inscribed in three twisted wooden elements, carved with leafy and gilded motifs.

Oil on the table. Northern European school of the 17th century. The scene depicts an episode in the life of Scipio narrated by Tito Livio and Valerio Massimo. Publius Cornelius Scipio, later known as Scipio the African, in 209 BC. during the Spanish campaign, after the capture of Cartagena he received as a personal gift a beautiful virgin, who was in the group of hostages. But he, listening to the pleas of his family, respected her by sending her back to her parents and fiancé, with the only recommendation that her betrothed work for peace between Rome and Carthage. In the representation Scipio is in the center, seated on his throne, and turns to the left, to the suppliant parents of the girl, while with a merciful gesture, he indicates to them to take back his daughter, standing on the right, flanked by her boyfriend. All around, soldiers and followers of the king. The scene is full of figures, bright and colorful, and underlines the positivity of the king, a central and powerful character, but capable of meekness and clemency. The restored painting has been reinforced on the back with wooden strips. It is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil on canvas. Northern European school, late 19th century. Unidentified signature (Marie Ross?) lower right. Wide view of a green countryside, crossed by a stream; in the background a farmhouse, towards which the female figure is heading on the path. Played on pastel shades of green and blue, the painting is bright and serene. It is presented in a contemporary frame, with small damages to be restored.

Composed of woodblocked sheets, sewn together and partly colored, with matching figures and texts. The group consists of 23 booklets, of which two in three copies and one in four copies; another couple has the same cover but different contents. The booklets can be considered as "manga" of the nineteenth century: the word "manga" still today can designate many different productions, such as single cartoons, scattered drawings, more elaborate illustrations, comic strips, comic books, as well as animated drawings. Therefore, starting from the assumption that there is no "manga form" but different ways of conceiving objects and graphic forms all denominated with this word, the term manga can be attested in literary and essayistic use in Japan as early as the eighteenth century to indicate, as mentioned above, drawings and sketches. But it is from the first half of the nineteenth century that Katsushika Hokusai's 15 volumes of illustrations, studies, graphic entertainment and detailed bichromatic prints became established, thanks to the progressive publication, starting from 1814. If, on the other hand, we want to give the word the more specific meaning of “stories drawn in sequence”, then the debut must be placed in the second half of the nineteenth century, similarly to what happened in Europe and the United States for comics. The booklets are in good condition.

Oil on canvas, applied to panel. French School. Signed F. Barthélemy and dated 1876 lower left. The scene is in oriental taste and setting, and suggests the domestic and intellectual education of a young girl (the reference, albeit secular, to the Education of the Virgin is evident!): a young girl, standing at the center of the scene, while intent on embroidery, listens to the teaching of her mother, who is holding some written sheets in her hands; the elderly woman is dressed in oriental dress and reclining on a triclinium, while, behind her, a servant moves the curtain, revealing the background of an imposing classical temple. The scene is characterized by carefully crafted and richly detailed settings, such as the bunch of flowers on the embroidery table, the fabric covering the triclinium on which the mother is reclining; the intimate and domestic atmosphere is underlined by the earthy colours of the palace walls, on which the bright colours of the figures stand out, well lit by the light bursting from outside. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Lombard school of the late 17th-early 18th century. The rich composition offers a large bouquet of colorful flowers in an embossed vase, next to a bowl full of porcini mushrooms and a bunch of grapes: with different intensities of color, the various naturalistic elements emerge from the completely dark background, creating effects of lights and shadows. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in an early 20th century frame.

Hospitalization of the Trident 1916

Oil on cardboard. Signed lower right. On the back there is the name with the title, which locates the small glimpse in Macedonia in 1916, during the First World War. Alfonso Corradi, born in Emilia but trained and then lived in Milan, was a student of ornaments at the Brera Academy and for some years he also devoted himself to scenography. He specialized in landscape and embarked on an exhibition career concentrated above all in Milan. The subject proposed here, although of a landscape nature, is part of a rare production of a series of small pictures, almost sketches, which leads back to the First World War, in particular to the military expedition of an Italian body to Macedonia in 1916, sent by the government to the aim to counter the Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces during the First World War and to control that territory. Moreover, there is no documentation of the painter's direct participation in this war campaign. The painting is framed.