Embroidery on cotton fabric. Japan, Meiji period (1868 -1912). The large panel in embroidered cotton fabric offers a naturalistic subject: eagles and other birds are depicted among stylized mountains, and pine and wisteria branches. The embroidery is presented in style frame.

Oil on Hardboard. On the reverse there is an inscription in pencil with the date "29 June 1931" and the signature Amos Campaioli. The large country landscape, with leafy trees and a pond, sees in the foreground a lady on horseback flanked by a man with his dogs. The painting is presented in a wooden frame, covered on the front with gilded stucco.

Vecchia Ciociara 1910

Pastels on paper. Signed and dated lower right. On the back there is a cartouche with the title and label of the Bolzani Art Gallery in Milan. Antonio Mancini was a realist painter, trained at the Neapolitan school of Morelli and Palizzi and later in Paris. He mainly dedicated himself to portraiture and genre scenes of popular or anecdotal taste, but while in an initial period he was close to nineteenth-century naturalism which led him to portray popular figures permeated with sadness (his street urchins), in a subsequent period he began to experiment different techniques, resorting to vivid flashes of light, placed on the canvas in lumps of violent color and bright flows, even reaching the use of extra-pictorial materials, such as colored glass, and proposing agitated figures, sometimes in imaginative disguises, an expression of his forte mental distress. This drawing, which belongs to the later production, presents the face of an elderly woman, (Ciociara by title), depicted in profile and surrounded by splashes of color that create a nuanced and lively halo. The work is presented in a contemporary frame (with small defects).

Amarici (Etiopian Figures) 1930s

Pencil on paper. Signature, title and location lower right. In the second half of the 1930s, Contardo Barbieri left as a volunteer for the campaign in East Africa. From this period there are some works that propose oriental subjects, such as these characters of the Ethiopian people called Amharic because they were natives of Amhara, a region of central-northern Ethiopia where the city of Dessié is located. In frame.

Trees in the Snow, 1978

Oil painting on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. The painting, coming from a private collection in Pavia, is published on page 73 of Simona Morani's monograph dedicated to the artist Primo Carena (Bolis editions), with the presentation signed by the art critic Rossana Bossaglia. The lake landscape well expresses the subdued intimacy associated with the rigorous realism that characterize the pictorial production of the painter from Pavia. In his landscapes Carena tends "to capture the atmospheric reality of the places without indulging in descriptivism... but constantly supported by a lyrical vein, which is the underlying motif of all his production". The work is presented in a style frame. It is published on page 75 of Simona Morani's monograph dedicated to the artist Primo Carena (Bolis editions), with the presentation signed by the art critic Rossana Bossaglia. The landscape well expresses the subdued intimacy associated with the rigorous realism that characterize the pictorial production of the painter from Pavia. In his landscapes Carena tends "to capture the atmospheric reality of the places without indulging in descriptivism... but constantly supported by a lyrical vein, which is the underlying motif of all his production". The work is presented in a period frame.

Glimpse of the Cloister of the Dome of Monreale

Mixed technique, with canvas, wooden panels, metal threads, small beads, etc. At the bottom center is the artist's name, unidentified. It is a three-dimensional and perspective reconstruction of the cloister of the Monreale Cathedral, with the fountain in the foreground. The work is presented in a display case with a gilded frame from the early 1900s.

Oil painting on canvas. Portrait of a young gentleman. It has several color drops. It is presented in a contemporary lacquered frame.

The Joachim Quartet 1904

Etching. Signed lower right; additional signature and date on the top corner of the sheet music. This is a famous portrait taken by the Viennese photographer and engraver Ferdinand Schmutzer, of the musical quartet directed by maestro Joseph Joachim (1831 -1907), famous Hungarian violinist, composer and conductor. Among the famous portraits painted by Schmutzer are those of Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Richard Strauss. The work is presented in a frame.

Crayons on paper. In the lower right, inconsistent signature and date 1930. In an orderly countryside, a cottage stands on the left with clothes hanging in the sun on outdoor lines; on the right, a man on crutches walks along the road, while another lights a cigarette on the bank above. In the center, a light pole divides the scene in two. The work is presented in a period frame.

Via di paese, 1941

Oil painting on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. The painting, coming from a private collection in Pavia, is published on page 59 of Simona Morani's monograph dedicated to the artist Primo Carena (Bolis editions), with the presentation signed by the art critic Rossana Bossaglia. The view of the town well expresses the subdued intimacy associated with the rigorous realism that characterize the pictorial production of the painter from Pavia. In his landscapes Carena tends "to capture the atmospheric reality of the places without indulging in descriptivism... but constantly supported by a lyrical vein, which is the underlying motif of all his production". The work is presented in a period frame.

Pulcinella's Games

Oil (mixed) on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. Additional signature, title, technique and declaration of authenticity on the back. Mario Cortiello, a Neapolitan painter, pupil of Gennaro Villani and later friend and collaborator of Umberto Lilloni, participated in the renewal of Neapolitan painting with his own personal style, without straying from tradition. Endowed with fertile invention and remarkable representational ability, he left behind a rich and varied production. Recurring in his production are landscape or urban views, populated by numerous figures, often, in the Neapolitan setting, by Punchinello, depicted floating on dreamlike backgrounds, so much so that he is defined as the Neapolitan Chagall.

The Nine Muses

Tapestry. The word Euterp appears at the bottom right. The enormous grass juice depicts the nine Muses, female Greek divinities, all sisters, as daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and having the god Apollo as their guide. They represented the supreme ideal of Art, understood as the truth of the "Everything" or the "eternal magnificence of the divine". Initially considered in a generic way as divinities of song and joyous dances, responsible for putting into music and verse stories such as the origin of the world, the birth of gods and men, the exploits of Zeus, and often depicted accompanied by various musical instruments, starting from the Hellenistic era, all singing and musical expressions were associated with them, including sad and funeral ones, and other arts such as theatre, and each of them was associated with a specific genre of art, so that they could be invoked individually to exercise their inspiration and protection. The word "Euterp"refers to the name of one of them, Euterpe, muse of lyric poetry and music, traditionally depicted with a flute; but the name Euterpe etymologically means "She who cheers" who brings joy, and one can therefore think that the choice of this name to title the tapestry refers to the most ancient function of the Muses, those of bringers of joy through art. In this presentation, the muses appear dancing, dressed in veils and flowering branches; in their hands or placed next to them, instruments or other objects symbolizing the art that they inspire appear (both tragic and comic theatrical masks, the pictorial palette, various musical instruments...). The large painting has signs of wear and humidity stains.

Oil painting on canvas. At the bottom left there is an unidentified signature. Large composition of variegated flowers, placed outdoors on bare, deserted ground. The colors of the flowers are applied with a certain material consistency, making them stand out and emerge from the almost monochromatic background. The painting has some dirt splashes in the lower left corner. It is presented in a contemporary frame.

Portrait of a young commoner

Oil on canvas applied to the table. Signed lower right. Antonio Vallone, a Neapolitan painter close to Morelli's school, specialized in genre portraits, above all of smiling young men and women, street urchins or peasant women typical of his homeland. The work is presented in a period frame.

Controluce collinare, 1960

Oil on cardboard. Signed and dated lower right. The painting, coming from a private collection in Pavia, is published on page 70 of Simona Morani's monograph dedicated to the artist Primo Carena (Bolis editions), with the presentation signed by the art critic Rossana Bossaglia. On the back there is a stamp of participation of the work in the artist's personal exhibition at the Castello Visconteo in Pavia in 1992. The landscape, a stretch of countryside with a backdrop of hills, well expresses the subdued intimacy associated with the rigorous realism that characterizes the production painting by the painter from Pavia. In his landscapes Carena tends "to capture the atmospheric reality of the places without indulging in descriptivism... but constantly supported by a lyrical vein, which is the underlying motif of all his production". The work is presented in a period frame.

City Glimpse

Oil on wood. Signed on the back. Riccardo Viriglio, a landscape painter from Pavia, portrayed urban views mainly of his city and landscape views especially of Lombardy. Here too there is a view of a city square with a portico. In a stylish frame.

Bronze plaque with bas-relief figure. The figure of a naked man is depicted, holding an arrow and aiming it at the center of a target: the symbolism is evident, that is, the exaltation of the determination of the man who must go straight to the target; this meaning is well suited to the fascist period to which the plaque dates back, as is the reference to classicism. The plaque is inserted and presented in a contemporary wooden frame.

Landscape with River Glimpse 1906

Oil painting on canvas. Signed lower left. The Roman-born artist Cesare Maggi established himself as a pointillist landscape painter, portraying alpine landscapes in the Engadine and Aosta Valley, often enlivened by the inclusion of figures and animals. Becoming a friend of the painter Giacomo Grosso in Turin in 1901, he then successfully oriented himself towards the portrait genre, setting aside the pointillist technique. While still favoring high mountain views, he broadened his subjects by also engaging in seascapes and still lifes. In this work, still from the first period, Maggi portrays a glimpse of the countryside crossed by a calm river, bordered by rows of bare trees and small grassy hills, behind which the farmhouses overlook: already no longer linked to the techniques divisionist, the work is rather characterized by dense and opaque mixtures of color, in which the earth, the water and the farmhouses are superimposed in a continuum broken only by the band of sky above. The work is presented in a period frame.

Madonna with Child

Oil on hardboard. Signed lower right. Francesco Mazzucchi, an artist originally from the Pavia area and active in Lombardy, dedicated himself mainly to sacred art, leaving his works in some churches in the Vigevano area. Proposed here is this delicate and tender depiction of the Madonna with Child, in the colors and scene, which sees mother and son in a moment of domestic intimacy, intent on playing with the pigeons in the garden. In frame.