Ancient Painting '600-'700 The Penitent Magdalene Oil on Canvas

Oil painting on canvas. Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Augustus is one of the Eleven Roman Emperors who were portrayed half-length in a series created by Titian in 1536-40 for Frederick II, Duke of Mantua. Passed first to the English royal house and then to the Spanish court, the paintings were all destroyed in a catastrophic fire at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in 1734 and are now known only from copies made by various Flemish engravers between the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. Among these, we have received the engraving of the portrait of Vitellius made by Aegidius Sadeler (1570 -1629), compared to which our copy presents some small differences, as was usual when works by other great artists were copied. The emperor, characterized by a prominent nose, thin lips, plump cheeks and a double chin, holds the staff of command and wears armor with a red cloak over it. The painting has been restored and relined.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern European school of the 18th century. Caratacus was a Celtic king of the Catuvellauni tribe of Britons and leader of the anti-Roman resistance and famous as a freedom fighter. For eight years he resisted the Roman invasion of Britain starting in 43 AD. For eight years he was the most wanted man in the Roman Empire, hunted relentlessly, from fight to fight, from fortress to fortress, in the mountains of Wales, until he was not betrayed and handed over to the Romans in 51 AD by Cartimandua, queen of the Yorkshire Brigands, to whom he had turned for help. Defeated, he was brought in chains to Rome with his entire family: brought before the emperor, the British king spoke with such wisdom and pride (with the speech reported by Tacitus in his Annales) that Claudius, struck by his words, granted the grace to him, his wife and brothers, allowing them to spend the rest of their days in Rome. The painting presents the moment of Caratacus' peroration, at the center of the scene in chains, fervently pleading his case before the emperor: he is sitting on his throne, flanked by his wife and surrounded by senators and soldiers. The painting, restored and relined at the end of the 19th century, has slight damage.

Oil painting on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 18th century. According to the taste of the 18th century, the proposed landscape is dominated by the remains of an ancient temple, vestiges of past glories. All around there is a countryside with a stream, but fading in the distance towards the blue peaks of a mountain range. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The vertically developed landscape sees an imposing architectural structure in ruins at the centre, invaded by weeds and presented with nuanced colors and features, as if to underline its decadence. In front, in the foreground and well defined, some figures of shepherds at rest, while the cows graze: one shepherd plays the whistle, the second, sitting leaning on his stick, observes the third, who, having stripped naked, is intent on washing himself, stretched languidly on the edge of the waterhole. On the left there is a glimpse of rocky peaks, gray under a sky with dawn atmospheres. The restored and framed painting is presented with a strip frame.

Oil on canvas. 17th century Tuscan school. According to Christian tradition, Saint Veronica was the 'pious woman' who, seeing the passion of Jesus carrying the cross and his face smeared with sweat and blood, wiped it with a linen cloth, on which the imprint of Jesus' face would remain. This veil, also known as the Holy Shroud, thus became the iconographic sign of the saint. Veronica also appears in the centre of the painting, while two angels on the sides hold the linen on which Christ's face is imprinted, crowned with thorns; below it, a chalice symbolically collects the divine blood, while above the saint's theta the Holy Spirit hovers. Restored and re-framed, the painting is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The composition features a hanging hare in the centre, flanked by some quails and a pigeon; on the right side, a wicker basket containing chestnuts and pine branches; on the left side a bunch of asparagus and a vase of colorful flowers, whose bright and lively colors create a chromatic contrast with the other elements, all in brown and gray tones. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a repurposed 19th century frame.

Oil on canvas. Central European school. The scene, set inside a tavern, depicts a fight between two men, who are held by the other patrons and by the innkeeper; on the table, next to the interrupted lunch, the cards of the game that sparked the quarrel. The whole scene is filled with figures, painted in a raw and almost grotesque way, with very pronounced, almost theatrical expressions and poses, underlined even more by the bright colours. Due to these characteristics, the painting fits well into that production of genre scenes based on popular life captured in its most lively and characteristic moments, which started in the seventeenth century in Central Europe, especially in the Netherlands, to replace naturalistic and religious painting with lighter subjects, and which in Italy found a particular expression in the "Bamboccianti School", developed in Rome by Flemish and Italian painters. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. Central European School. The scene is set in the shop of a barber, who is intent on cutting a man's hair under the watchful eye of other customers and, above all, of some women with children, one of whom even observes the result of his work with glasses. Glasses were introduced in art first as a sign of distinction, and later also as a sign of scientific attention, progressively delineating the figure of the scholar, doctor and surgeon: in this painting, they actually underline the irony of the scene, and they are used as a tool for a close female examination of the spouse's haircut! The whole scene is filled with figures, painted in a crude and almost grotesque way, with very marked, almost theatrical expressions and poses, underlined as well by the bright colours. Due to these characteristics, the painting fits well into that production of genre scenes based on popular life captured in its most lively and characteristic moments, which originated in the seventeenth century in Central Europe, especially in the Netherlands, to replace naturalistic and religious painting with lighter subjects, and which in Italy found a particular expression in the "Bamboccianti School", developed in Rome by Flemish and Italian painters. The painting has been restored and relined. It is presented in an antique frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Central European school of the late 18th century. The scene recounts a biblical episode widely reproduced in pictorial art, taken from the book of Esther: the young Israelite, who for her beauty had been chosen as a bride by King Ahasuerus (probably the Persian Xerxes), intercedes with the king himself to save his people, threatened with extermination and victims of a plot by the evil advisor Aman. The work depicts Queen Esther while, accompanied by her retinue, in all her splendor she is welcomed benevolently by the king, who supports her in the face of the faintness to which she is subjected due to fear, while he denounces and unmasks, by indicating it, the plots of the perfidious Haman who retreats in fear. The painting is presented in a period frame.

Oil painting on canvas. The scene tells the biblical episode of the book of Exodus in which little Moses, whom his mother had entrusted to the river inside a basket to save him from the massacre of the Israeli male children (ordered by the Pharaoh of Egypt to prevent if the Israeli people became too numerous and could rebel against slavery), he is found by a handmaiden of Pharaoh's daughter, who decides to adopt him and saves him. The scene is set on the banks of a river but in a non-oriental landscape, with architectural structures on the right: numerous figures, depicting the princess' entourage, placed in the center together with the child in the basket. The restored canvas was applied on a modern stretcher. It is presented in chronicle of the 19th century.

Oil on canvas. Mittel-European School. There is a No.S monogram on the back and numbers probably from an inventory. The painting reminds of pieces from the Austrian area. It represents a battle between knights, it is dominated in the foreground by the confrontation between two of them. The painting comes from a historical collection from Lombardy. The painting is still in its first canvas and original framing; there are patches on the back and signs of antique restorations, it has also undergone an additional pictorial and reperativr restoration, in our lab. Well marked crack. The painting is presented in an original and coeval frame, lacquered.

Oil on canvas. Italian School. The scene, full of figures, depicts the Holy Family walking towards Egypt, guided by an Angel and assisted by other angels above. The figures are inserted in a typical Italian landscape, they are depicted in a very earthly dimension: the Child, even with a halo, sleeps peacefully in His Mother's hands; Mary, who is wearing an unusual pilgrim's hat, met her husband's Joseph gaze, who is reassuring her with a sweet gesture - he is putting a hand on her knee-, while he is talking with the Angel who is showing them the way. Relined, the painting has some paint losses that need restoration. It is in an adapted frame, from the late '800 - early '900.