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 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. A delicate composition of flowers is placed inside a sort of wooden cradle, with mushrooms and fruit on the ground; the background is external, but poorly defined by various stains. The work, on the first canvas, is also presented in a beautiful frame from the early 18th century, in lime wood carved with a leafy wreath held together by ribbons, and gilded with gouache.

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 two large pumpkins and mixed fruit (grapes and peaches): 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.

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.

Hunting Scene

Watercolor etchings. Taken from a posthumous edition by Nicolas Bonnart (1636 -1718), as written at the bottom left, the four scenes are titled at the bottom in French, and depict a group of knights who try their hand at hunting different animals: l bear, deer, wild boar and birds. The central folds of the book are evident, there are humidity stains. They are presented in a stylish frame, in old-fashioned painted wood.

Oil on canvas. The landscape shows a very green countryside, crossed centrally by a watercourse on whose bank, in the foreground, a herd of cattle is watering; in the centre, on the opposite bank, a farmhouse surrounded by greenery, and in the background, blue-coloured peaks under a sky with pink clouds. As is recurrent in 18th century landscape painting, one finds here a bucolic atmosphere of serenity and peace, generated by nature. The painting, restored and retouched, is presented in a lath 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 on canvas. Northern Italian School of the 18th century. The broad landscape shows in the centre a herdsman who has just passed with his cattle over the small bridge over the stream, which flows through the wooded countryside; in the background, again in the centre, a farmhouse and several country buildings. Restored and retouched, the painting is presented in a stylish frame.

Oil on canvas. Northern Italian school of the 17th-18th century. In a large, rather barren hilly landscape, which widens and fades to the right, there is a high rock, shaped like an arch, under which there is Saint Jerome penitent, depicted in the act of prayer and adoration of the Cross. In accordance with the canons of 17th-18th century painting, the figure of the Saint, adapted to the iconography in his clothes and attitude, is however inserted in an unsuitable landscape, close to that of the painter who drew on the landscape reality known to him. . The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a period frame.

Tempera and oil on panel. Venetian-Cretan school of the 17th-18th century. The term Venetian-Cretan School (or Creto-Venetian) indicates an important pictorial school, also known as the Post-Byzantine school, a movement that flourished on the island of Crete under the control of the Serenissima of Venice between 1204 and 1669. Thanks to the political situation, particularly after the fall of Constantinople, Crete became the main Christian artistic center of Greek origin from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. In this environment a particular pictorial style developed which was marked by tradition and movements of both Byzantine and Latin origin. In particular, given the important demand for Byzantine icons in Europe, the island soon became a center of production of these works of art. The style of the Byzantine icon is found in this work, which proposes a subject widely re-proposed in art, namely the Adoration of the Shepherds at the birth of Jesus: the figures of the Holy Family and the Shepherds are strongly attributable to the traditional Byzantine iconographic representation , but they are placed in a more Latin landscape, which opens wide, with a depth of perspective that refers to seventeenth-century European landscape painting, without the traditional gold background but with chromatic choices that still recall the divine golden light, in particular where an angel announcing the Glory of God looks out from the open heavens. The painting has a detachment of the paint in the central part, corresponding to a previous restoration, which requires further recovery. On the back of the plate there is a sealing wax stamp. The painting is presented in an antique wooden frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Emilian school of the 17th-18th century. This is an ancient copy of the famous panel painting by Correggio, entitled The Madonna of San Girolamo or Il Giorno, dating back to around 1528 and preserved today in the National Gallery of Parma. The subject of the representation is Saint Jerome's presentation to Jesus of the translation of the Bible from Hebrew into popular Latin, a work carried out by the saint at the request of Pope Damasus and which he accomplished by locking himself up in solitude in the Bethlehem cave. In the painting, the centrality of the scene is occupied by Mary sitting with the Baby Jesus in her arms. Various figures are composed around them in a semicircle. On the left is the powerful figure of old Jerome standing, looking at the Child, while clutching the translation scroll in his hand, with the lion, his hermit companion, crouched at his feet. On the same side, an angel holds the Bible while smilingly addressing the Madonna and Child. On the other side, Magdalene lies semi-reclining, affectionately embracing the baby's foot, who in turn caresses her hair, in an intimate gesture that underlines the intense bond between the two figures. Behind Magdalene, a little angel wrinkles his nose sniffing the penitent saint's jar of ointments. The scene is placed under a red curtain, open onto a large landscape. Correggio's painting was widely successful, so much so that numerous copies and ancient replicas exist, including this one presented here. The work, restored and relined, is presented in an ancient contemporary 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 on canvas. Italian School. Still life with fruit (watermelon, pears, peaches and pomegranates) and vegetables (pumpkin, califlowers) standing on a surface; on the right there is the ladder of a hemhouse with an hem inside. The painting needs to be cleaned and restore because of some drops of color. Revival frame.

Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Oil painting on canvas. XVIII -XIX century. The sacred theme in this scene takes on a familiar connotation, full of very earthly tenderness and intimacy: in an almost exotic context, which evokes an oasis in the desert for palm trees and a spring of water in a barren and hilly landscape. bare, Joseph and Mary sit to rest during their flight to Egypt, to escape the persecution of Herod; the mother tenderly holds baby Jesus on her knees, looks at him tenderly and swaddles him, while Joseph observes them pleased and relaxed. The whole scene is characterized by the dominance of brown-ocher colors, from which only Maria's dress differs, in her traditional blue and red colors; in the background, a clear sky in the colors of a dawn that has just dawned, with shades of pink. The canvas was applied on a new frame from the mid-1900s and placed in a frame from the same period, which has some shortcomings.

Oil painting on canvas. At the top right are the name of the man portrayed and his age, 78 years old. The man's habit and the attitude of prayer, in front of the Crucifix, with the meditation book in his hand, identify him as a prelate. The surname Albertoni is widely spread in Italy, in various families that started from Lombardy to extend to Parma and then to Rome. The painting, restored and relined, is presented in a period frame.

Oil on canvas. The two paintings, certainly similar in terms of subject type and pictorial methods, offer two landscape glimpses typical of the 17th and 18th Nordic production. They feature large countryside spaces near watercourses and inhabited by farmhouses. There are figures of peasants and commoners focusing on their work. The blue mountains in the background, preceded by gentle hills and surrmounted by a blue sky with white clouds. They had been previously relined and restored and they both show color spots and opacity. They feature a contemporary frame.

Oil painting on canvas. Flemish school of the 17th-18th centuries. The large scene takes place in a vast Nordic landscape, within a forest full of twisted plants, and on the right a city surmounted by rocky peaks. Inside the woods a large group of figures, popular but also high-ranking figures, all in oriental clothes, who form a circle around John the Baptist, portrayed in his traditional iconographic costume (dressed in skins, with the staff surmounted by the Cross and wrapped in the scroll, a little lamb at his feet): John's gaze is turned upwards, in line with a bird flying above the treetops, a symbolic representation of the Holy Spirit who inspires the preacher's words. Restored and relined, the painting is presented in a late 19th - early 20th century frame.

Oil painting on canvas. French school of the eighteenth century. On the base of the column to the right, there is an inscription with the woman's name, age 86 in the year of the portrait ("Marguerite Paree agèe 86 ans en 1762"). The canvas, with signs of restoration and relining, has a rather marked crack.