Asta 18 by Bertolami Fine Art

Old Master Paintings

1 FOLLOWER OF ALBRECHT DURER Second half of the 16th century

St. John the Evangelist Oil on copper, 10 x 10 cm This picture was painted by an anonymous follower of Albrecht Dürer, working in the mid-16th century, who has clearly mastered the technique of painting in oil on copper. The artist’s highly graphic and clean rendering of the figure’s facial features unmistakably echoes the style of Dürer in his engravings. The silky, irridescent red drapery is also handled with enormous skill. The picture’s small size suggests that it may be a fragment belonging to a cover designed for a Gospel Book or for a work of private devotion in the shape of a small, portable illumination.

£ 3.000 - 4.000 2 AnDREA COmmODi (Florence, 1560-1638)

Head of Christ Oil on panel, 26 x 22 cm It’s a painting typical of the Tuscan Catholic- Reformation culture between the end of 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. Actually, the golden background which recalls primitives’ painting was used in different religious works of art of that time. These works of art were inspired by the cult of the ancient origins of Christianity and by the educated and faithful mark. Features such as Christ’s head bent backwards, the deep and pensive look oriented slightly upwards and the very elegant and defined design of the image recall the Tuscan tradition or of Tuscan origins (the same as Cristofano Roncalli, Durante Alberti, Bacco Ciarpi). Actually, the best representative of the Tuscan tradition is Andrea Commodi who was born in Cortona, but was a dynamic artist who worked in Tuscany and Rome. If we compare one of the most important altarpieces by Commodi the Immaculate Conception of Cortona (published in L. Fornasari-A. Giannotti, Arte in terra d’Arezzo, Il Seicento, edifir 2003, p. 77) and the painful Christ, it shows the style and dating sameness. Then, this Christ must be one of those sacred images created in the years prior to and after the Holy Year of the17th century. Those years marked the transition from Manierism to a new Tuscan Naturalism and Commodi was one of the most important representatives of that period.

£ 13.000 - 16.000 2

3 GiOvAn BATTisTA BOLOGnini (attr.) (Bologna, 1611-12/1688)

The Suicide of Lucretia Oil on copper, 31.5 x 21 cm This painting, of outstanding quality, is a copy of a well-known prototype of which two versions are known, one in the Neus Palais in Potsdam and the other in the Galleria Spada in Rome. The original canvas is imposing in terms of its size (235 x 150 cm in the Rome version; 215 x 151 cm in the Potsdam version) yet it is reproduced in our small oil on copper with a sharp and meticulous rendering of detail. It also faithfully reflects the master’s composition, with only a few minor variations, in the fall of the drapery and in the silky cloth unveiling the scene like a theatre curtain in the top left-hand corner of the painting. We propose attributing this oil on copper to Giovan Battista Bolognini, a well-known pupil and copyist of Guido Reni, whose known works display a deep familiarity with his master’s style, although he frequently interprets that style with more vibrant and fraying brushwork. It is worth comparing this piece with the figure of St. Ubald the Bishop in the church of San Pietro al Monte in Bologna, or with the Immaculate Conception and Saints in the college of San Luigi, also in Bologna, both of which combine an extremely skilled imitation of Reni’s work with a distinctive personality of their own (see Nicosetta Roio, Giovanni Battista Bolognini, in La Scuola di Guido Reni, edited by E.Negro and M.Pirondini, Modena 1992, pp. 33–44, plates 14, 20; interestingly, Roio mentions in her book the existence of a copy of the Suicide of Lucretia in a private collection in Rome, although she publishes no photographs of it and fails to mention either its dimensions or the painting technique used).

£ 3.500 - 4.500 8

4 siR AnTHOny vAn DyCk (workshop)

Salvator Mundi Oil on canvas, 85 x 63,5 cm The painting is to be considered a good workshop copy of the original one owned by the Gemaldegalerie in Dresda with the same theme and similar in size (72,5 x 49,5 cm). We do agree with Maurizio Marini’s opinion on the work. In fact, he correctly ascribes the creation of the work to Van Dyck’s workshop where the painting was succesfully accomplished for a private devoted buyer. The canvas is strictly linked to the above mentioned prototype residing in Dresda. The latter had a great success and it was widely spread as copies and engravings. Marini noticed some different details, while comparing the copy and the original painting in Dresda such as the minor dimension given by the radiation of the nimbus on the head, the scenic space wider on the whole four sides and the insertion of some floral elements. If we consider the similarity to the original one, we can share Marini’s opinion on the dating between the third and fourth decade of the 18th century.

£ 14.000 - 16.000 4

5 FRAnCEsCO simOnET known as “Monsù Francesco” (Rome, 1660-1731)

Baptism of Christ Oil on canvas, 90 x 60 cm

In our view this painting may be attributed to Francesco Simonet, a little-known artist of rare painterly quality and one of the most interesting figures in the rediscovery of the classicising tradition in Roman painting at the turn of the 17th century. He worked in the monastery of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte in Rome, among other places, and is known to have cooperated with various figure painters, including Pier Leone Ghezzi. In this Baptism of Christ the figure painter should be identified with another rare artist, Antonio Bicchierari (Rome, 1688 – 1766), who was working in Palazzo Ruspoli in 1715. Bicchierari is responsible for the vault of San Lorenzo in Panisperna, which contains convincing comparisons with the figures in our canvas. Another very interesting comparison should be made with what might well be a prototype for this composition, a Baptism of Christ by Pier Francesco Mola in the Pope-Hennessy Collection, oil on canvas, 26 x 34 cm (see Richard Cocke, Pier Francesco Mola, Oxford 1972, p. 49 – cat. 20, plate 28). The work may date to the start of Mola’s cooperation with Albani, which spawned the Bolognese-Roman classicising strain that could certainly have provided the inspiration for our composition here. Thus our Baptism would appear to be a work based on this prototype, which differs from our piece in the greater prominence assigned to the group of Christ and St. John the Baptist in the left foreground, and in the presence of a single angel to the left of Christ in place of the three angels with the group, set in a more central position, in Simonet’s composition. Our Baptism, which may be dated to some time between 1715 and 1720, is thus a product of the cooperation between Bicchierari and Monsù Francesco.

£ 6.000 - 8.000 9

6 GiUsEppE CADEs’ CiRCLE Second half of the 18th century

Portrait of a young woman Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm The work must have been accomplished in Cades’ workshop in Rome by 1780’s. Features such as the sturdy and pale brush stroke typical of the fleshy pink and the woman’s hair and plumed hat can be found in works like Nativity of a private collection in London and Agar and the angel of a private collection as well. The latter might not have been accomplished personally by Cades, but probably by our portraitist (Giancarlo Sestrieri, Bibliography of the Roman painting of the end of the 17th century and the 18th century, Torino, II, tables b/n 183 and 186). The canvas is in a perfect state of conservation.

£ 4.500 - 6.500

7 FRAnCEsCO GUARDi (Venice, 1712-93)

View of the Island of San Giorgio Oil on canvas, 31 x 38 cm This picture may be fairly confidently attributed to the hand of Francesco Guardi, who tackled this particular view of the lagoon on more than one occasion in the course of his career. The clear, luminous brushwork, with measured its white highlights picking out certain details of the gondolas and the small figures in the composition, is typical of his work. The painting’s state of conservation is outstanding. A useful comparison may be made with a View of Venice with the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore (Federico Zeri Photographic Library, Entry 69960, Folder 0631/3) which is identical in terms both of its composition and of its clear, measured brushwork; while another fine version is to be found in the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo (Federico Zeri Photographic Library, Entry 71437, Folder 0632/2).

£ 15.000 - 17.000 7

8 LUCA LOnGHi (Ravenna, 1507-1580)

Madonna with the Child, St. Joseph, St. Girolamo and a holy bishop Oil on panel, 93 x 71.5 cm The table we are examining is a good example of the figurative Mannerist culture in Emilia Romagna where some elements of Raphael's Umbrian style coexist with some more local features, as a reference to Francesco Zagnelli's works of art. Vasari reminds us that Longhi was an expert portraitist and this pecularity appears especially in the figure of the bishop placed down on the right side of the canvas. Actually, the bishop might represent a probable buyer. There are very incisive comparisons with the Madonna and Child between St. Francis and St. George residing in the Town Hall in Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna and the Circumcision in the National Gallery of Ferrara. The type of Madonna's face in a lowered position even if more softly in the graphic and colouristic structure can be found in a Madonna with the Child (oil on canvas) by Barbara Longhi, Luca's daughter. Her painting is owned by the Medieval and Renaissance Art Gallery of Indianapolis Museum of Art. The table is in a perfect state of conservation. Expertise by Emilio Negro

ÂŁ 35.000 - 40.000 11

GiOvAn BATTisTA GAULLi, known as Il Baciccio (Genova, 1639-Roma, 1709)

Portrait of Pope Alexander VII Chigi c. 1667 Chigi Albani Della Rovere Collection, Castel Fusano Oil on canvas, 90 x 78 cm This painting, which appeared on the Italian market fairly recently (in a sale of "Dipinti antichi e dell'Ottocento" held by Wannenes on 3 December 2013), may be considered to be an autograph replica of the portrait of Pope Alexander VII Chigi in the National Gallery for Foreign Art in Sofia, published by Francesco Petrucci. Petrucci also publishes this picture, from the Chigi Albani Della Rovere Collection in Castel Fusano, as an autograph work by Baciccio (Francesco Petrucci, Baciccio. Giovan Battista Gaulli 1639 – 1709. Bozzi editore, Rome 2009. Pp. 147 et seq.; cat. A8, with particular reference to cat. A9a). Rediscovered by Petrucci in Sofia in 2009 and published in the monograph mentioned above, the Sofia prototype, formerly in the Messinger Collection (dispersed in a public auction held in Munich in 1918), was published alongside a second picture rediscovered on the same occasion. This second picture, a portrait of Mario Chigi, the brother of Pope Alexander VII, is also in the museum in Sofia. The two portraits, particularly that of the pope, are mainstays in the development of Baroque portraiture, acting as a kind of foil to Bernini's contemporary sculpture, with which they are indeed frequently associated. Our version's intrinsic quality is certainly as good as that of the portrait of Alexander VII in Sofia. The brushwork is of superb quality, and it is easy to discern the hand of the master both in the perfect definition of the portrait and in the treatement of the papal attire. The nuanced delicacy and irridescent luminosity of Baciccio's palette, which enables him to turn an official portrait into a lofty expression of Baroque naturalism, are concentrated in our version in the face and hands of the sitter; the brushwork of the mozzetta and the cardinal's beretta is only slightly less vibrant here than in the Sofia prototype, but the colour is still jewel-like, evincing a strong control of light that confers solidity on the figure as a whole – the unmistakable mark of an autograph work. Petrucci suggests that the prototype of Alexander VII in Sofia can be dated to 1666 and our version to 1667, thus only a year later. As Petrucci points out, the autograph Chigi replica introduces seven pairs of buttons, compared to the six pairs in the Sofia version, and the mozzetta is slightly longer. Petrucci argues that the painting is almost certain to come from the Colonna household, on the strength of the ties of friendship that existed between Flavio Chigi and Prince Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna. (Petrucci, op. cit., p. 365, A9a) There are numerous replicas and copies of this portrait of the Chigi pope, including the versions in the Museo Civico in Udine (Petrucci, op. cit., p. 364, A9) and in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, while good quality copies are known to exist also in storage with the Museo Civico in Siena, at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and in the art gallery in the Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia. The painting is in a perfect state of conservation.

£ 55.000 - 65.000

10 CARLO mARATTi (Camerano, 1625-Rome, 1713)

Madonna with the Child Oil on canvas, 64 x 52 cm It is a high quality and undoubtedly authentic version of a marvellous theme by Maratti, where, on the landscape in the background shown behind curtains, the Madonna admires the double nature either human or devine of the Child who's placed perspectively with the head oriented towards the viewer similar to a formal protype invented by Guido Reni. Actually, the formal prototype was riformulated by Maratti with a remarkable focus on the sentimental characteristic of the theme which is well-defined by the Madonna's smile and by the celestial transparence of the chromatic substance. The painting can be surely dated around the period of his highest artistic maturity, while he was working in S. Peter's Church and for numerous private buyers. The Madonna with the Child might date back to the very end of the 18th century because of its similarity to the Baptism of Christ, currently residing in S. Maria degli Angeli in Rome, but it was originally in S. Peter's Church and completed in 1698. The Madonna might have been created durig the Jubilee, when Maratti created most of his works as A. Mezzetti reports in the Journal of the National Institute of Archeology and History of Art. N-S. IV, 1955, pages 153-354.

ÂŁ 32.000 - 38.000

11 JUsEpE DE RiBERA (worshop) (Xàtiva, 1591-Napoli, 1652)

St. Paul Oil on canvas, 65 x 51 cm This painting may be considered to be a product of Ribera's workshop, with considerable intervention on the part of the master himself in view of the high quality of the brushwork. The figure of St. Paul holding a sword in the foreground harks back to a number of direct and indirect prototypes from the master's workshop, which were frequently reusedby his assistants to replicate known compositions in the largest number of copies possible. It was precisely this widespread exploitation of prototypes – well-known to have been a typical feature of Italian painting in the early 17th century, midway between its naturalist and classicising phases – that contributed to the success and the popularity of Ribera's style in Europe and to its consequently abundant presence, in the shape of derivations and copies, in the public art galleries and private collections of a large part of the Old World. The depiction of the saint as a three-quarter figure with his left shoulder and right hand holding an attribute, in the foreground and middle ground respectively, is a composition that Ribera is known to have replicated on more than one occasion, adapting it on each occasion to the figure that he was painting. There are numerous instances, of which Spinosa has recently compiled a complete list, in which we can identify this composition. There is the St. Paul in the Fondazione Longhi, in which the three-quarter figure is shown from a different angle, with a book in his hand and his sword behind his back, and which is also larger (126 x 97 cm, in: Nicola Spinosa, Ribera, la obra complta. Madrid, Fundacion Arte Ispanico. 2008, p. 311, A15); in this case an older male model was used, different from the figure in our painting, but then this is an important aspect of Ribera's painting, in which it is possible to identify models reused over time, both in terms of the heads of individual figures and of entire sets of features, in the manner of Caravaggio's early style. A model akin to ours in terms of age may be identified in the St. Paul in the picture gallery of the Girolamini fathers in Naples, although in this case the saint is shown in profile and with the hand gripping the sword held higher; the same male model appears in a St. Paul in a private collection in Naples, in which the angle and size of the figure are very close to those of our own figure (Spinosa 2008, ibid, pp. 329, 330, A47, A50), as indeed is the overall quality of the painting. Another model from life different both from ours and from the other pictures discussed above was used for a version of St. Paul now in the Museo Nacional del Prado, which is smaller in size (75 x 63 cm, Spinosa 2008, ibid, p. 375, A123) but which is very close in terms of its composition, particularly in the angle of the hand and in its use of an intense, almost metallic light. In connection with the modus operandi of Ribera's workshop, it is worth comparing our piece with the St. Paul in the Musée des Beaux Arts in Rennes and with the St. Joseph in the Morra Collection in Naples (62 x 48 cm and 60 x 49 cm respectively, Spinosa 2008, ibid, p.380, A135 and A136), where the composition of a three-quarter bust with red drapery and a closed fist in the left-hand corner of the canvas has clearly been devised beforehand in order to then be tailored to the figure needing to be painted, producing a curious effect of visual redundancy. In both these cases, in any event, the quality of the painting is very similar to that of our own piece. Interestingly reminiscent of our piece is the St. Paul owned by the Sociedad Ispanica Americana in New York, although in this case the saint is portrayed as a standing figure of monumental proportions. The painting is signed and dated Jusepe de Ribera / español F. 1632. (125 x 99 cm, Spinosa 2008, ibid, p. 387, A151). The same model from life as our own was used in the large altarpiece depicting St. Paul Standing, signed and dated Jusepe de Ribera / Valentiano. F. 1637, and now in the Museo de Bellas Artas de Alava in Vitoria; in this instance (as for A151, cit.), the saint holding the sword is portayed as a full figure (205 x 112 cm; Spinosa 2008, ibid, p. 442, A229). Another, smaller version, with the saint in reverse, signed and dated 1645, is mentioned as being in the Galerie Sanct Lucas in Vienna in 1978 (75 x 53 cm; Spinosa 2008, ivi, p. 464, A332). Of Spinosa's work authenticated only through photographs, it is worth mentioning a St. Paul that is virtually identical to ours, to the point where it may be considered to be the prototype of our canvas, or at least a first version of it, also in consideration of its larger size (whereabouts unknown, 118.8 x 88.4 cm; Spinosa 2008, ibid, p. 492, B19). Works of uncertain attribution listed by Spinosa include a St. Paul, probably another replica of the prototype mentioned above, of comparable quality with our own, which was sold by Sotheby's in Madrid on 21 November 1996 (lot n. 8, 53 x 41 cm; Spinosa 2008, ibid, p. 510, C36). We would suggest that the canvas should be attributed to the master's workshop, although both the work's intrinsic quality and the comparisons discussed above make it tempting to toy with the hypothesis, which needs to be endorsed and subscribed to more broadly, that the picture may in fact be more closely connected with the hand of Ribera himself. The picture is in an excellent state of conservation, aside from a layer of oxidised varnish on the surface. The adherence of the colour to the canvas and the adherence of the canvas to the wooden frame supporting it are in equally outstanding condition.

£ 13.000 - 16.000

12 GiOvAnni BERnARDO AzzOLinO (Cefalù, 1572-Naples, 1645)

Last Supper Oil on panel, 140 x 210 cm This picture is one of the most outstanding masterpieces of Giovanni Bernardo Azzolino, a painter of Sicilian origin but who trained and spent his entire career in Naples. Azzolino may rightly be considered one of the most important rediscoveries in art history in recent years, both on the basis of Bernardo De Dominici's account ("Vita di Giovan Bernardino Siciliano , pittore e scultore" in Vite dei pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani 1742; published in Naples by Paparo, edited by F. Sricchia Santoro and A. Zezza, Vol. III, 2008 p. 229 et seq.) and thanks to more recent scholarship ( V. Farina, Al sole e all’ ombra di Ribera. Questioni di disegno e pittura a Napoli nella prima metà del Seicento, Longobardi 2014 ). The Last Supper is remarkable for its sharp naturalism influenced both by the extremely modern experiments of Ribera (who married Azzolino's daughter Francesca and was in close contact with his father-in-law) and by Azzolino's enthusiasm and interest in the classicism of Domenichino, as we learn from De Dominici who underscores this dual Caravaggesque and Carraccesque strain in the great Sicilian painter's work. His grandiose development of still-life, his variety of expression and his perfectly polished draughstmanship defining his individual images all come together to make this work a significant example of early Neapolitan naturalism which is utterly new and innovative, depending only to a minor extent on the novel achievements of Caravaggio. Azzolino was a highly experienced artist who was also possessed of vast cultural knowledge. A comparison between the Last Supper and one of his most superlative altarpieces of known date, his majestic St. Dominic Distributing Rosaries in the church of San Pietro Martire in Naples (published and thoroughly discussed in G. Previtali, La pittura del Cinquecento a Napoli e nel Vicereame, Turin 1978, p. 159, ) painted in 1640, prompts us to date the Last Supper to the same period, thus including it among the masterpieces of the painter's mature years. Still reminiscent in some ways of the great Flemish Mannerism of Teodoro d'Errico, at the same time it partakes fully of the great debate on modern painting being conducted in the kingdom of Naples.

£ 18.000 - 22.000

13 ORAziO GEnTiLEsCHi (attr.) (Pisa, 1563-London, 1639)

The Ascension of Christ Oil on canvas, 138 x 168 cm Formerly in the collection of Claudio Strinati This painting clearly dates back to the transition phase between the 16th and 17th centuries, during which central Italy was a seething cauldron of talent in the shape of the great Mannerist masters who were already toying with modern naturalism – painters such as Giovanni Baglione, Ferraù Fenzone, Cristofano Roncalli known as Il Pomarancio, Giovanni Battista Pozzo, Tommaso Laureti, the Cavalier d'Arpino and others. The Ascension of Christ under discussion here has obvious points of contact with that environment, particularly with the circles of Pomarancio and of the Cavalier d'Arpino, yet it hints at a different culture – albeit at a culture of lofty formal and expressive quality. The work may reasonably be dated to the very early years of the 17th century, possibly even to before 1605. In this connection, it may be meaningful to link it to the still relatively obscure phase in the career of Orazio Gentileschi stretching from Jubilee Year in 1600 to 1606–7, when we can start to identify, with absolute certainty, works by Orazio that are both clearly influenced by Caravaggio and of unquestioned date. From the trial of 1603 in which Baglione brought a suit against Caravaggio and others, we learn that Caravaggio and Gentileschi had been the best of friends until the year 1600, even swapping useful tools of the painter's trade such as the pair of wings and the Capuchin friar's habit famously described in a testimony in the trial. Over the following two years, one gets the impression from the trial proceedings that relations between the two artists began to turn sour after they fell out for some unknown reason. But in 1603 we know as yet of no certain works by Gentileschi that can be clearly ascribed to the influence of Caravaggio. It is only with the Baptism of Christ in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome that we finally have a fully Caravaggesque work by Gentileschi, yet it is unlikely to have been painted before 1605–6. With the loss of the Fall of Saul that Gentileschi painted for the basilica of St. Paul's Without the Walls and of the frescoes in the apse of the church of San Nicola in Carcere, of whose existence we know from archival documents, we can say nothing definite about Gentileschi's presumed intermediate phase between Mannerism and his subscription to the style of Caravaggio. The work under discussion here, however, may well provide us with some valuable clues precisely in that connection. Both the apostles and the three saints painted in the foreground display a level of formal sophistication and of sharp naturalism that would appear to point to the development of Gentileschi's style after his Mannerist work in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (which can be dated to 1593) and in the Abbey of Farfa (which stretched up to 1600 or thereabouts) both of which still evince a heavy, residual Mannerist sediment. Moreover, a comparison between the figures in this Ascension and those in what are considered to be his earliest proto-Caravaggesque pictures, such as the Holy Family in the collection of the Cassa di Risparmio di Pisa in the Palazzo Blu, suggests that the painting under discussion here, adorned with the coat-of-arms of the Crescenzi family with whom Gentileschi may well have forged close ties precisely in the first few years of the 17th century, testifies even more effectively to the potential attribution of this work to the master.

£ 30.000 - 40.000

14 LiOnELLO spADA (Bologna, 1579-Parma, 1622)

Salome with the head of the Baptist Oil on canvas, 72.1 x 58.3 cm The work of art can be ascribed to Lionello Spada with a wide margin of certainty. He was a maestro from Bologna and probably one of the first followers to experience an actual relationship with maestro Merisi. Some sources, recalled by Emilio Negro, confirm that the twenty-year-old Lionello was among the models who posed for the Vocation of St. Matthew in the church St. Louis of the French. Actually, the acquaintanceship between the two is not historically declared and, even though dates might confirm it, we all know that Caravaggio did not have any direct apprentices, he had only followers especially post mortem (after his death). Between 1610 and 1617 Spada travelled a lot, he visited Naples, Malta and probably Rome, but he spent the last phase of his short career in Parma where he created several works of art chracterised by a clear Caravaggism for the court Ranuccio Farnese. Salome’s scathing and thin features surely belong to this phase, where a widespread and golden light of Flemish cut is opposed to a chromatic range that fluctuates between red and ochre of Salome’s figure that stands out of the black background, merely Caravaggio’s origin. Cogent comparisons are with the Good Fortune residing at Estense Gallery in Modena or with the thorn coronation residing at Condè Museum in Chantilly, while we can find the protype of Salome’s face in Judith with Oloferne’s head residing at the National Gallery in Bologna (inv. N. 69 112.5x138 cm; on the topic: Emilio Negro. Lionello Spada. Manerba/Reggio Emilia 2002, page 125, record 57, table XIX). Expertise by Emilio Negro

£ 33.000 - 38.000 22

15 BALDAssARRE ALOisi, known as “Il Galanino” (attr.) (Bologna, 1577-Rome, 1638)

Judith and Holofernes Oil on canvas, 180 x 130 cm This painting, with its rapid, smooth application of paint, betrays a grasp of colour which, while occasionally lacking in polish, is nevertheless very effective. We would argue that it is by a Caravaggesque master and that it may be dated to some time before the end of the 1630s. It is complex to decipher because it does not fit neatly into any one of the identifiable categories in the context of known early 17th century approaches to naturalism. This prompts us to suggest that it may well be the work of a copyist, thus an artist who would tend to dip into and to blend a variety of different styles, which is exactly what we see in this painting. Some of the features are pure Caravaggio, such as the old servant observing the scene in the background, with her vivid sense of realism and colour. While the figure of Judith, on the other hand, is considerably less intense, tending towards a more classicising style and to the display of more decorative details, such as the blue ribbon in her hair or her precious earrings. These features could well point us in the direction of Baldassarre Aloisi, known as “Il Galanino”, an artist from Bologna who settled in Rome and Naples – in which latter city he was the official copyist to the court, tasked by Viceroy Pedro Fernàndez de Castro, Count of Lemos, with copying the works of Caravaggio. Two interesting comparisons may be made with a Portrait of Antonio Bruzio in the church of Sant’Agostino in Rome, and with an altarpiece depicting The Virgin Helping Christ To Carry Cross in the church of St. Sulpice in Paris, published by Monique de Savignac in 1987 (see M. De Savignac, Un tableau de Baldassarre Aloisi dit le Galanino dans une église de Paris: la Vierge aidant le Christ à porter sa Croix, in Paragone, XXXVIII, NS, 1, 443, 1987, pp. 38–41). The painting is in an excellent state of conservation.

£ 36.000 - 42.000

16 GiOvAnni FRAnCEsCO GUERRiERi da Fossombrone (Fossombrone, 1589-Pesaro, 1656)

Amphitrite in Her Chariot Oil on canvas, 180 x 120 cm This picture may be attributed to Guerrieri da Fossombrone, an artist from the Marche, and was probably painted during his time in Rome between 1615 and 1618, when he was engaged in painting his well-known cycle of frescoes in Palazzo Borghese, commissioned by Prince Marcantonio Borghese and based entirely on Cesare Ripa's Iconology. Guerrieri was only twenty-five years old in 1615 and he had recently completed a very important commission for the church of Santa Maria del Piano del Ponte in Sassoferrato. Our painting, which is based on the outstanding formal design work in that commission, is thought to depict Amphitrite in her Chariot, seated on a large shell sustained by four branches of pure coral. Two tritons are sounding their horns on the far left. The composition is extremely mannered in tone and is very strongly influenced by Caravaggio's early, calmer style forged primarily, in its turn, on the early manner of Guido Reni and deeply imbued with the Sienese culture of Antiveduto Grammatica. The figure of Amphitrite, solid and classicising in her movements, may be considered a perfect combination of Reni's classicism and of Caravaggio's early Roman manner, at a time when the two major strains of Baroque culture existed side by side while producing very different results. The composition recalls the figure of the Chariot of the Hours on the vault of the Casino Pallavicini Rospigliosi on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, a milestone in Reni's career. It is worth comparing our composition with several different details in the frieze in Palazzo Borghese, such as the scene of Mount Parnassus, where various different categories of female figure unquestionably echo our Amphitrite's clear, jewel-like tone (albeit heavily tinged with chiaroscuro), and the same may be said of the other superb frieze depicting the Triumph of the Sciences (for which, see Andrea Emiliani, Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri da Fossombrone, Venice 1997, pp. 65 et seq.). The painting is in an excellent state of conservation. Expertise by Andrea Emiliani, Mina Gregori and Daniele Benati

ÂŁ 65.000 - 72.000

17 BEnEDETTO GEnnARi (Cento, 1633-Bologna, 1715)

Judith with the Head of Holofernes Oil on canvas, 124.5 x 118 cm This painting is very probably by Benedetto Gennari, who is well-known for being both Emilian master Guercino’s nephew and the heir to his thriving workshop. Gennari’s style is very similar but easy to tell apart from that of his far more celebrated uncle, whose dramatic chiaroscuro tones he emulates, yet without ever achieving the extraordinary nuanced solemnity typical of Guercino’s work. The difference between the uncle and the nephew is all the more glaring in this canvas because the hand of both artists’ work in the composition is very easy to decipher. Gennari undoubtedly afforded due consideration to the Judith and Holofernes now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Brest, a picture which his uncle had painted for an apothecary named Giacomo Zanoni, as we can read in his Book of Accounts for 1 April 1651. The stylistic difference between the picture under discussion here and the prototype now in Brest is clear, yet it is useful in helping us to determine that the face of Judith in our picture is very clearly by the hand of Guercino himself. This in no way diminishes the freshness or the power of Gennari’s work, which is clearer in the handling of the colour contrasts and very sharp in the definition of the drapery, certainly not taking second place to Guercino’s contribution. What is missing compared to the Judith and Holofernes in Brest is the sense of theatre and the breadth of the stage setting, where Judith’s rapid, slicing movement with her sword still betrays the legacy of Guido Reni. The rendering of the figures in our picture is thus slightly less rigid than in the prototype, yet no less effective for all that. We would argue that it is also useful to compare the picture with a Holy Family with the Young St. John the Baptist and St. Anne now in the Musée des Beaux Arts in Dijon, in which the contrast between the faces of the youthful Mary and the older St. Anne echo the contrast between the freshness of Judith and the lined face of her servant in our picture (see, in the Federico Zeri Photographic Library, entry 59294 folder 0549 in the section devoted to Benedetto Gennari). And finally, it is worth comparing this painting with a canvas of the same subject now in the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. The Kassel picture is a blatant copy of the Brest prototype and unquestionably an autograph work by Gennari, yet softer in its overall execution than our painting here. The date for our picture should be close to that of the Brest painting, thus around 1655 when Gennari was only a little over twenty years old. The picture’s state of conservation is excellent, both in terms of the support and in terms of the adherence of the colour to the priming coat on the canvas. Expertise by Andrea Emiliani

£ 29.000 - 33.000 26

18 GiUsEppE BARTOLOmEO CHiARi (attr.) (Rome or Lucca, 1654-Roma, 1727)

Bathsheba at her Bath Oil on canvas, 110 x 150 cm This painting has the typical features of the later Roman school that drew its inspiration from Pietro da Cortona, combined with a revival of classicising stylistic notes ranging from Sacchi and Guido Reni to Annibale Carracci and Maratta. The balanced, symmetrical construction of the figures and the way in which they interact to perfection with the architectural setting, dominated by two columns and, to the left, by a fountain with a putto riding a dolphin, combine to make this picture both a harmonious and, at the same time, a typically Roman work. Such features suggest that the painting may very probably be by the hand of Giuseppe Chiari, a pupil of Maratta, in a youthful phase still redolent of the style of Pietro da Cortona; and if this is so, it can be dated to some time in the last twenty years of the 17th century. Potential comparisons may usefully be made with such known works by Chiari as Susanna and the Elders in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt in the Bob Jones University Museum and Gallery in Greenville (SC) and a splendid allegorical female figure under Entry 47965 in the Federico Zeri Photographic Library. The painting's state of conservation is flawless.

ÂŁ 25.000 - 30.000

19 LUCA GiORDAnO (attr.) (Naples, 1634-1705)

Allegory of writing Oil on canvas, 123 x 95 cm Neapolitan painter Giordano, one of the major protagonists of Italian baroque, is possibly the author of this artwork. As known, Giordanoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prolific career was so vast that comparing his most important works, sometimes, can be time-consuming and of no use, as his art style is easily recognizable. The painting we are examining was probably executed after one of his Venetian sojourns, possibly that of 1653, as the comparison between the placid face - though emphasizing the deep tension of the allegory itself on the one hand - and famous Venus, Cupid and Mart (1663), residing at Museo Nationale di Capodimonte, Naples on the other, highlights rather evident common characteristics. In addition, comparison with Portiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suicide, residing at Trafalgar Galleries, London (D. M. Pagano in Luca Giordano, exhibition catalogue, curated by Nicola Spinosa, Naples, 2001, p. 182, 51) constitutes further persuasive evidence. Sharing common traits such as the colour range with a penchant for monochrome and chiaroscuro reminiscent of Riberan tradition, both paintings feature shafts of light hitting the figures from the left, thus emphasizing their tender pose. The execution of somatic characteristics is almost tantamount to Giordanian authorship authenticity. Imperceptible undertones contribute to building a classical and enlightened structure with chiaroscuro encroaching on the reddish backdrop. The painting can be assigned to 1660s. It is in very good condition.

ÂŁ 18.000 - 22.000 28

20 ABRAHAm BLOEmAERT (workshop) (Gorinchem, 1564-Utrecht, 1651)

Adoration of the Magi Oil on canvas, 230 x 170 cm In our opinion, this work is considered a good version, partially original, of the same altarpiece owned by the Central Museum of Utrecht. Moreover, the famous preparatory drawing of the altarpiece is owned by the same museum. The style of the work recalls Bloemaert’s narrow workshop, but the overall quality leads one to think of a possible, hands-on creation of the work. Evidence of Bloemaert’s co-operation is: the differences, not so minimal, while comparing the replica and the original Dutch version. On our canvas, bigger in size, on the right side there are two characters more than the prototype: a boy wearing a plumed hat and a girl with loose hair, just behind the black slave who is accompanying one of the Magi. If we consider the latter characteristics, the replica shows to be closer to the preparatory drawing, if we exclude the possibility that the one in the Central Museum of Utrecht might have been cut on the right side. The scene of the Adoration is examined with a deep breath by hesitating on the details of the colourful costumes of the people in the procession and then by giving an intense religious moment in the solemn dignity shown by the Virgin towards one of the old Asian kings. The painting is in a perfect state of conservation and it has been cleaned recently. The cleaning has highlighted some areas that had been restored aggressively by thinning the superficial glazings. Moreover, in the area close to the Comet, a dark reddish brown base preparation has emerged and this can clearly confirm a dating in the first half of the 17th century.

£ 25.000 - 29.000

21a

21 (a, b) LEOnARDO COCCORAnTE (Naples, 1680-1750 ca.) Pair of architectural caprices

1. Monks and pilgrims on the bridge. 2. Resurrection of Lazarus. Oil on canvas, 180 x 120 cm (each) Appearing on Italian market some years ago, this pair of architectural caprices is for sure to be attributed to the great Neapolitan maestro, expert in architectural caprices with figures (see Finarte, Dipinti antichi, Rome, 11 Dec. 2008). The first caprice features three land-going pilgrim monks along with plebeians, whereas the pendant a scene with the resurrection of Lazarus. Well-preserved, the paintings have never been on display before, except for the catalogue above-quoted. Photographs of both them were attentively analyzed by Federico Zeri back in 1989 as Harry Salamon states in a handwritten note. In fact, the author of this commentary viewed the said note the current owner of paintings possesses, judging the pair as one of the best by Coccorante. What is peculiar to the caprices is the distinction between the two architectural foregrounds, amongst the most excellent the artist ever executed; in the Resurrection of Lazarus – played down compared to the overall composition – the series of columns concluding with the serliana at the back in off-axis perspective favouring the right, is a novelty frequently recurring in the artist’s paintings.

21b

For an excellent example of this see Landscape with classical ruins and figures forming part of Salocchi collection, Florence (Fototeca Zeri, card 64030, envelope 0593.), where the line of columns leads to the scene of banditry in the background. Another good example is Caprice with figures kept in an undisclosed private collection. So the theme of the huge room with a fallen in vault, recalling Roman baths, turns up in several other later paintings such as Landscape with classical ruins (Fototeca Zeri, card 64033, envelope 0593). Coccorante co-operated with three other figure painters, famous Giacomo del Po and less renown Giuseppe Tomaioli and Giuseppe Marziali. As the style of Dal Po is easily recognizable − and therefore to be excluded as author of the figures in the background − we believe that their authorship can be attributed to the other two masters.

£ 42.000 - 50.000 31

22 GiROLAmO mARCHEsi DA COTiGnOLA and workshop (Cotignola, c. 1480-c. 1545) 1530s

Madonna and Child with St. Mercurial, St. John the Baptist and the Donor Oil on canvas, 198 x 145 cm Formerly in the collection of Claudio Strinati This painting may be considered a second autograph version – with help from the assistants in his workshop – of an identical altarpiece by Cotignola in oil on wood, now in the Pinacoteca Civica in Forlì. It is an unusual work because second versions of 16th century altarpieces such as this are extremely rare. Known from a photograph taken in the 1960s and now in Federico Zeri's photographic library (PI-0353 / n. arch.77182), where it is listed as by an anonymous 16th century artist from Parma and erroneously identified by Donati as a coeval copy (A.Donati, Girolamo Marchesi da Cotignola, San Marino 2007, pp. 167–8, s. 81, plates on pp. 118–19), our altarpiece is in fact a faithful, autograph replica of the painting which stood until 1866 in the Orsi Chapel in the church of San Mercuriale in Forlì (see, in this connection, R. Zama. Girolamo Marchesi da Cotignola, catalogo generale, Faenza 2007, pp. 178–80 and relevant plate) and which was moved to the Pinacoteca Civica in Forlì in 1893. Being a second version, most of which must be by the hand of the master himself in view of the high quality of the painting, the not uncommon choice of a canvas support rather than the more traditional poplar panel was prompted by considerations of cost and conservation as well as by the practical features inherent in linen cloth. This particular canvas is extremely important also with respect to the prototype in Forlì itself, which is in a very poor state of conservation today. Our own piece testifies to the picture's complete aspect before Ottorino Nonfarmale's restoration in 1972, which restored it to the public in the version we can see today, namely with numerous gaps. Our canvas, on the other hand, despite displaying a yellowish tinge due to an oxidised varnish probably applied during restoration in the 1950s or 1960s, is in an excellent state of conservation and may be considered to be one of the rare canvas works from the Romagna area painted between the 1520s and the 1530s. Compared to Cotignola's early work – which he produced between the 1510s and the 1520s and to which period the prototype in Forlì should be ascribed – our altarpiece reveals the master's more nuanced, mature style found, for instance, in such pictures as the Madonna and Child with the Young St. John, St. Francis and St. Bernardino in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna (inv. 532) or in a small panel with the Madonna and Child with St. John and St. Francis which was sold by Sotheby's in London in 1968 and which has been correctly attributed to Cotignola both by Zama (R. Zama 2007, op. cit., p. 188) and by Ervas (P. Ervas, Per Girolamo Marchesi. Da Bologna alla pala di Sant’Aniello, in Proporzioni, VI, 2005, p. 73). According to Vasari (G. Vasari, Lives of the Artists…, edited by G. Milanesi, V, Florence 1880, pp. 182 et seq.), Cotignola probably painted our altarpiece during his second visit to Rome (regnante papa Paulo III), a period of which little is known and of which we consider our picture to be an outstanding example, also in view of its brushwork, which is more vigorous than is to be found in the painter's earlier output.

£ 30.000 - 40.000

23 LUDOviCO mAzzAnTi (Rome, 1686-Orvieto, 1775)

Noli me tangere Oil on canvas, 57,5 x 41,5 cm The painting is very important work in the repertoire of 18th century Roman painter Ludovico Mazzanti. Together with Odazzi, he was brought up under the influence of Gaulli; successively, however, he interpreted very originally Lanfranco’s and Maratti’s artistic language. On the back of the painting, the inscription reads: Munificentia / Emi et radmi D. Cardinalis Bufalini Ancone / Il cav(r) Ludovico Mazzanti F. l’anno 1766/80 di sua età. Both handwriting and ink are absolutely authentic, so we can safely state that the picture was executed by Mazzanti towards the end of his activity, in 1766, and then, eight years later, the legitimate owner donated it to the bishop of Ancona. The work was commissioned by Cardinal Aldovrandi, from Rome, as art critic Cinzia Virno highlights. In fact, Paola Santucci, another art critic speaks about the existence of a lost Noli me tangere from cardinal’s collection. (Paola Santucci, Ludovico Mazzanti, L’Aquila, 1981, p. 118.), and at this stage it cannot but be this one. In all likelyhood, it was Card. Aldovrandi himself who donated the painting to the bishop of Ancona. Though really executed in the closing years of the artist, it perfectly matches the smoothness and bright tones, most characteristic of the chromatic range of this Roman painter. The picture was executed after Mazzanti had completed very important commissioned work for paintings and overdoors for Palazzo Borghese. In spite of its small dimensions, the painting cannot possibly be considered a sketch, as its artistic details are very accurate.

£ 8.000 - 10.000

24 AnDREA LiLiO (Ancona, 1555-Ascoli Piceno, after 1631)

St. Francis praying Oil on canvas, 88 x 65 cm It was Luciano Arcangeli who rediscovered this painting and attributed it to Lilio at the opening of the exhibition in Ancona (1985), (Andrea Lilli nella pittura delle Marche tra Cinquecento e Seicento, exhibition booklet, Pinacoteca Civica Francesco Podesti di Ancona, July – Oct. 1985, curated by Luciano Arcangeli and Pietro Zampetti, Rome, 1985, pp. 58-59, 2.). On that occasion, it was repeatedly underscored that the Poverello reflects Counter-reformation ideals, ever more similar to the monk-like and meditative figure of St Jeronim. In addition, the visible flaking of the face, hands and the sackcloth reflect, on the one hand, a deeply Baroque ascendancy on the painter – especially evident in the hues of the chromatic range favouring monochrome whereas on the other, they are also owed to his stern and pointy Gothic-like graphic style, typical of late Mannerism in central Italy. It is thanks to this chronology that Arcangeli assigned the painting to the late Sistine years and the beginning of the period of the works ascribed by pope Clement VIII Aldobrandini in the central nave of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Recently, art critic Massimo Pulini has attributed this work to Ferraù Fenzoni (Massimo Pulini, Andrea Lilio. Milan, 2003, p. 13 and illustration; p. 240, 7), acknowledging that it is “...a work of high value representing the anti-classicist and anti-reformist streak which swept Rome at the end of 16th century...”. Pulini, in fact, related the present St Francis to a drawing by Fenzoni, showing a monk in the act of reading (Pulini, op. cit., p.13) which might lead to think that this served as an initial sketch to the painter. What emphases further on such possible authorship is the period in which the painting saw the light – first forwarded by Arcangeli and successively confirmed by Pulini namely, when reciprocal influences between Lilio and Fenzoni became more manifest. In this respect, we maintain that Pulini’s hypothesis is of an absolute importance, although accepting the historical attribution by Arcangeli. In the end, it sounds sensible to compare the suffering and vivid figure of St Francis with the edgy face but smooth - as far as the brushstroke is concerned – of St Rochus and the dog, in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, signed and dating 1596.

£ 14.000 - 18.000 35

25 ERAsmUs QUELLinUs ii (Anversa, 1607-1678)

Madonna with the Child Oil on canvas, 60 x 35 cm The table, not very big in size and in a perfect state of conservation, is to be considered authentic and created by Erasmus Quellinus (Anversa, 1607-1678) who was Rubens’ apprentice and he used an enamelled and sharp painting. The work we are examining is unpublished and it is influenced by the Italian Rubens’ line. Moreover, the great range of bright colours confirms Ruben’s influence on his apprentice. We can date the work of art around the middle of 17th century, but it is still influenced by an overall late Mannerist planning. The figure of the Virgin might have been influenced by Perin del Vaga’s drawing: Madonna with the Child and Angels made with sanguine and crayons residing at Del Prado Museum and dated 1605-1608 (see Michel Jaffè, Rubens and Italy, Rome 1984, table 126). It has a high detailed and well-defined quality of painting. Quellinus seems to have looked at Rubens’ works of art such as The Holy Family with St. Elisabeth, St. John the Baptist residing at the Metropolitan in New York (oil on canvas, 66 x 51.4 cm) dated 1608 and defined by a brightness which recalls Giuliano Romano’s chromatic landscapes.

£ 18.000 - 20.000 36

26 GiOvAnni BATTisTA LAmpi known as “the Elder” (circle) (Romeno, 1751-Vienna, 1830)

Portraits of Catherine II of Russia, known as “the Great”, and of Peter III of Russia Oil on canvas, 110 x 90 cm (each)

£ 10.000 - 15.000

27 EiGHTEEnTH-CEnTURy FREnCH mAsTER

Miniature portrait of nobleman Oil on panel, 7,7 x 6,4 cm

£ 700 - 1.000

Old Master Drawings

28 AnOnymOUs LATE 16TH CEnTURy FLOREnTinE ARTisT

Design for a piece of furniture or adornment for a chapel Brown ink and watercolour, 540 x 417 mm

£ 700 - 1.000

29 BERnARDinO inDiA (attr.) (Verona, 1558-1590)

The Sacrifice of Isaac Charcoal on paper prepared with brown pigment, 155 x 115 mm Overleaf: masked character. Distinguished by its dynamic and expressive traits, the group is believed to have much in common with works by special Verona artist Bernardino India, who painted intensively different decorative cycles of Palladian architecture after the second half of 17th century. His tense lines and the special way of drawing hands and legs with pointed fingers and toes which recur in recently rediscovered works such as Study for an allegory of Faith, forming part of collection Garofalo (L. Bortolotti in La collezione Raffaele Garofalo. I disegni e le sculture, curated by T. Strinati, Milan, 2006, pp. 16-17, 3, with comparisons cited by the author) or in the splendid sheet showing Mary Magdalene washing Jesus’ feet, turning up for sale some years ago (sold on 26 Jan. 2000, Sotheby’s, NY, 22 by 31 cm) and featuring the same peculiar traits and additional slightly emphasized Morellian details.

£ 600 - 900

30 GiROLAmO mACCHiETTi (Florence, 1535-1592)

Study of a male figure with shield Red pencil on paper, 190 x 110 mm The sheet might have some similarities with a drawing which was recently on the market and assignable to the popular Mannerist Florentine master Girolamo Marchietti, among the painters of Francesco I's small Studio in Palazzo Vecchio. It is a preparatory work for St. Laurence's Angel of Glory (Sold on the12th December, Gonelli Auction House, Florence, on 14x20 cm) where the traits are very similar to our one, even though, the male study in question turns out to be generally rougher.

ÂŁ 600 - 900

31 piETRO LiBERi (attr.) (Padova, 1614-Venice, 1687)

Study of a male nude Ink, pen and pencil on paper, 175 x 178 mm

ÂŁ 400 - 600

32 AnTOniO BiCCHiERAi (Rome, 1688-1766)

Four allegories of the Eucharist Watercolour on paper, 266 x 196 mm

£ 600 - 900

33 GiOvAnni BATTisTA mERCATi (Borgo Sansepolcro, 1591-Rome, 1645)

Study of drapery Red pencil on paper, 320 x 228 mm The sheet is a probable preparatory study for one of the frescos with Stories of the Virgin which can be found in Chapel Orsini di Pitigliano in the church St. Barthlomew on the Island in Rome, therefore datable around the late 20s of the 17th century.

£ 700 - 1.000 34 JACOpO pALmA THE yOUnGER (Venice, 1548-1628)

Soldier on the ground Pen and watercolour on white paper, 42 x 65 mm

£ 300 - 500 34

35 piER FRAnCEsCO mOLA (Coldrerio, 1612-Rome, 1666)

36 GiOvAnni BATTisTA LEnARDi (attr.) (Rome, 1656-1704)

Walking parish priest

Tobiolo and the Angel

Dark ink pen on paper, 188 x 121 mm

Red pencil on paper, 193 x 135 mm

This small illustration is certainly authentic by Mola, the incisive, sturdy and shaded line that portrays the character presented here is typical of the maestro and visible in a large part of his copious creation; we can mention only two interesting comparisons: one with the drawing of the Self-portrait scared away by two monstrous women in a private collection in London published in an anthological exhibit catalogue of Mola in 1989 (on the topic: Pier Francesco Mola, exhibit catalogue, Lugano-Rome, 1989, Milan 1989, page 285), the other one with a preparatory work for the figure of St. Joseph in two different poses created with the master’s swift line and extraordinary plastic-luministic abilty. (on the topic: Sonja Brink. Expert Designer. Drawings by Pier Francesco Mola and his entourage in the collection Kunstacademie in Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf 2012, pages 48-49. The drawing is 17.9x23.5 cm inv. KA (FP) 11840).

In this study the figure of the angel strong points of contact with the same angel hoding the palm of martyrdom placed on the high part of the altarpiece depicting the Sepulture of St. Andrew in the church S. Andrea delle Fratte in Rome. The altarpiece is a certain work of art by G.B. Lenardi who was a late follower of Pietro da Cortona and to whom we can attribute the sheet we are examining. A rare drawing by Lenardi depicting God punishing a cabalist has characteristics similar to our one and it appeared on the Anglo-Saxon market (Sale Christie's London on 15th December 1999, 27 x 21 cm). The drawing shows very blunt and simplified in the rendering of the drapery and faces.

£ 1.000 - 1.500

£ 600 - 900

37 AnOnymOUs OF THE 17TH CEnTURy

Balaam and the Angel Brown ink on paper, 193 x 271 mm

£ 1.000 - 1.500

38 DURAnTE ALBERTi (Borgo Sansepolcro, 1556-Roma, 1623)

Munich Ink on paper, 106 x 59 mm

£ 300 - 500

39 AGOsTinO miTELLi (Badolo-Battedizzo, 1609-Madrid, 1660)

Study of facade and arches Ink pen, 90 x 75 mm

£ 300 - 500

40 JACOpO COnFORTini (attr.) (Florence, 1602-1672)

Allegory of the Eucharist Ink and watercolour on paper, 126 x 359 mm According to us, the sheet, probable preparatory drawing for a frescoed frieze, has some points of contact with a drawing recently attributed to the Florentine master Jacopo Confortini who was not very popular; it is a Reserruction of Lazarus created with sanguine and white lead in Garofalo Collection (L. Bortolotti in: Raffaele Garofalo Collection. Drawings and sculptures. Edited by T. Strinati. Milan 2006, pages 44-45, 13). Actually, the Reserruction recalls our study in the shaded and soft rendering of the somatic traits and drapery.

£ 600 - 900

41 JACQUEs CALLOT (Nancy, 1592-1635)

Study of parade Ink on white paper, 107 x 164 mm Such small-size sketches by Callot are not very frequently displayed for sale. However, comparisons with some other sheets sold in the past clear up all attribution doubts. A good specimen is Study depicting faces and horrible characters, of the same size as ours, and of really rock-hewn traits (sold on 27 Nov. 2002 at Christie’s, Paris, 10,19 x 14 cm); another specimen is a tiny sanguine drawing, featuring a hunter with two dogs (sold on 6 March 2012 at Campo & Campo, Antwerp, 6 x 6,5 cm), where the graphic lines resemble very much those of the artwork in question. It must be underscored, in addition, that the inscription musici, absolutely authentic, refers to a group of characters on the left side of the composition.

£ 1.000 - 1.500 47

42 JACOpO BAssAnO (attr.) (Bassano del Grappa, 1510-1592)

Flagellation Charcoal on paper, 414 x 270 mm We would argue that this drawing may be attributed to the hand of Jacopo Bassano, on the grounds of a stringent comparison with a recently auctioned drawing depicting a Seated Bishop Reading from a Book on his Lap (sold at Sotheby's in New York on 24 January 2007; 31 x 25.8 cm). There is a remarkable degree of similarity in the way the pigment is scumbled in the two works: with an irridescent painterly approach in the drawing sold in New York, and with soft, intense areas of chiaroscuro in this charcoal drawing.

ÂŁ 1.500 - 2.000

43 FRAnCEsCO COzzA (Stignano, 1605-Rome, 1682)

Study for a God Father Charcoal on yellow paper, 266 x 199 mm The study might refer to the God Father with angels frescoed by Cozza in the clearstory of the church S. Maria della Pace in Rome. However, the frescoed figure shows some differences such as both hands lifted or the globe brought to the Father by an angel, but we believe that the drawing might be a first form of the work of art in the Roman church. Moreover, it is interesting to notice the difference in quality between the cited mural painting and the drawing. Actually, the latter is more refined than the fresco. The artworks ascribable to the the master of Calabrian origins are quite a few, but some of them can show remarkable points of contact with our God Father, especially a study of a figure setting to music residing at the Department of Grphic Arts of the Louvre (U.V. Fischer Pace in: Francesco Cozza, Exhibition catalogue, Catanzaro, 2007, page 236-237, IIIa, 8).

ÂŁ 800 - 1.000 49

44 GUGLiELmO CORTEsE (Saint-Hippolyte, 1628-Rome, 15th June 1679)

Study for St. John the Baptist Caharcoal on paper, 320 x 256 mm It's a remarkable drawing attributable to Guglielmo Cortese during his greatest artistic maturity the same period as (citing an emblematic masterpiece) the alterpiece depicting the Madonna of the Rosary in the church St. George in Monteporzio Catone, when he was very close to Gian Lorenzo Bernini even artistically in the mid 60s of the 17th century. The figure of high quality and refinement is depictedwith the artist's typical criterion of the image reclined in a smiling contemplation which was repeatedly shown in his works.

ÂŁ 600 - 900 50

45 piER FRAnCEsCO mOLA (Colderio, 1612-Rome, 1666)

Two figures in a lacustrine landscape Dark watercolour on white paper, 102 x 138 mm A lot of comparisons can confirm a definite connection to Mola for this small illustration. The swift and very modern line which might be considered as anticipatory of a nearly 19th century sensibility represents the highly recognisable basics of the master; it is worth seeing a marvellous preparatory work for the Calvary scene residing in Dusseldorf (on the topic: Sonja Brink. Expert Designer. Drawings by Pier Francesco Mola and his entourage in the collection Kunstacademie in Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf 2012, pages 41-42. The drawing is 14.4 x 21 cm inv. KA (FP) 811) where the graduated shadings of the swift watercolour brush strokes are the same as the ones in our illustration and they can give either the two figures on the right or the three in the foreground a sense of intrinsic dynamism which is difficult to imitate. The same discussion is considerable for a comparison with other two masterpieces of the master: St. Joseph's dream and Madonna with the Child (S. Brink, yonder, pages 63-64, KA (FP) 861; pages 87-88, KA (FP) 869) both characterised by a pictorial use of watercolours on an incisive and sturdy graphic base.

ÂŁ 3.500 - 4.500

46 GiOvAnni pAOLO sCHOR (attr.) (Innsbruck, 1615-Rome, 1674)

Study for a figure of Aeneas, overleaf architectural study Ink and watercolour on paper, 184 x 222 mm The sheet has a clear Cortona's lode, even though it is not ascribable directly to the master but to Schor who was a well-known collaborator of Pietro da Cortona in the famous cycle, recently restored, of Alessandro VII Gallery at Quirnale. A sheet which has been on the market this year inspires a very remarkable comparison, it is a study for the Apparition of Mary in the sky (Sale Viterberg Kunst, Heidelberg, on 25th April 2015, 21 x 11 cm) which shows, in the absolute classicist elegance of the figures' poses just like in our Aeneas proceeding solemnly, a fragment of Cortona's originality characterised by a sharp line which attenuates Da Cortona's extreme softness. Overleaf, we can notice a very interesting study for a spiral column which seems to refer to one of the columns of the canopy by Bernini in St. Peter's church.

ÂŁ 2.200 -3.000

47 GUGLiELmO CORTEsE (Saint-Hippolyte, 1628-Rome, 15th June 1679)

Scene of a battle Ink on paper, 189 x 269 mm The drawing seems to be comparable with copious other ones attributed to Borgognone's circle to whom we can relate different types of images such as fallen horses and dead bodies lying on the ground that are often depicted in Cortese's works. A comparison with the authentic big fresco depicting Joshua's Battle residing at Alessandro VII Gallery in Quirinale (certain work created around 1657) leads one to date the drawing, which can be considered as the master's circle work of art, exactly during the 7th decade of the 17th century.

ÂŁ 900 - 1.200 48 CiRO FERRi (Rome, 1633-1689) Sketch for decorating an altar Ink and watercolor on paper, 270 x 193 mm

ÂŁ 600 - 900 48

49 LUiGi GARzi (Pistoia, 1638-Rome, 1721)

Samson and Delilah Red pencil on paper, 185 x 230 mm We believe that it is almost surely certified that the sheet belongs to Garzi thanks to similarities with other graphics by this author. Amongst them stands out the sanguine drawing Story of a saint monk, forming part of collection Garofalo. (D. Tommaselli in La collezione Raffaele Garofalo. I disegni e le sculture, curated by T. Strinati, Milan, 2006, pp. 56-57, 17). It shows the same gentle lines and regular distribution of the figures in the space along with the use of chiaroscuro, the latter making the difference clear between the fore- and the background.

ÂŁ 1.000 - 1.500

50 FRAnCEsCO vAnni (Siena, 1563-1610)

Christ at the column Dark ink on paper, 153 x 127 mm The drawing we are examining has the free and experienced line of the Sienes master comparable to an artwort as a study for a holy communion of the Mary Magdalene (overleaf a study with a man throwing a stone) residing at the Town Library of Siena (on the topic: M. Ciampolini, Drwings of the Sienese Renaissence and Baroque, Siena, 2002, pages 110-114).

ÂŁ 1.500 - 1.800 55

51 GiACOmO TRiGA (attr.) (Rome, 1674-1746)

Study for a Death of St Bibiana Black pen on paper, 165 x 122 mm

£ 700 - 1.000

52 FRAnCEsCO sOLimEnA (Canale di Serino, 1657-Barra, 1747)

Allegory of Chastity Pen and blue watercolour, 238 x 101 mm This elegant and solid allegorical female figure is extraordinarily sculptural in style and strongly modelled by the skilled use of chiaroscuro, both of which features are commonly associated with Solimena's artistic vocabulary. The drawing is a preparatory study for a painting tracked down by the collector, and listed in Federico Zeri's Photographic Library as an Allegory of Chastity, in a private collection in New York (New York, NY, Frederick Mont & Newhouse Galleries, Federico Zeri Photographic Library, entry 64239, folder 0597). Numerous comparisons are possible with known drawings by the artist, for example – particularly for the female face – a sanguine Study for the Face of a Young Man in the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples (in. 1365) or, for the strong chiaroscuro, an Allegory of Winter in pen, ink and watercolour owned by the Società Napoletana di Storia Patria (inv. 11750; in this connection see Settecento Napoletano. Sulle ali dell’Aquila Imperiale. 1707–1734, exhibition catalogue edited by the Soprintendenza PSAD di Napoli, Naples 1994, pp. 337–9, notes 108–19).

£ 3.600 - 4.400 52

53 FRAnCEsCO vAnni (attr.) (Siena, 1563-1610)

Sainted Bishop Brown ink and watercolour on black pencil base, 270 x 219 mm This drawing, of outstanding quality, is of both difficult attribution and complex stylistic analysis because it belongs to the turn of the 16th century, which was one of the most productive periods in the history of drawing in Tuscany, at a time when Mannerism was veering towards the early Baroque and producing some extremely interesting examples of cultural syncretism, such as this sainted archbishop being accompanied to heaven by two angels and a cloud of cherubs. The town with its towers and walls beneath him is difficult to identify. The draughtsmanship is clear and meticulous, showing no hesitation in the depiction of faces, drapery or even minute details. In our view, it closely echoes the style of Francesco Vanni, several of whose surviving preparatory drawings for altarpieces – this is also undoubtedly such a work – are finished to a similarly high degree. One might mention, for purposes of comparison, a Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine and a Madonna and Child both in the Uffizi's Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe (inv. 1693E and 1292F), in which the draughtsmanship shares a number of features with our study. The same style, however, may also be found in the work of other artists of outstanding quality who were contemporary with Vanni, such as Pietro Sorri, Aurelio Lomi, Agostino Ciampelli and Andrea Commodi.

£ 2.200 - 3.o00 57

54 FRAnCEsCO TREvisAni (Capodistria, 1956-Roma, 1746)

Birth of Adonis Ink on squared white paper, 300 x 301 mm We would argue that this drawing can be firmly attributed to Francesco Trevisani. The drawing, which is a preparatory composition for a canvas or fresco, cannot be linked to any of the master's known paintings, but comparison with his known drawings, including several that have come onto the market fairly recently, is very telling indeed. See, for instance, a small group of sketches by the master now in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe in the Uffizi (Frank R. Di Federico, Francesco Trevisani, 18th Century Painter in Rome, catalogue raisonné, Washington 1977, XII, figs. 32–70) where the handling of the figures' anatomy, their effortless torsion and movements in space, and the unmistakably classicising rendering of the faces so clearly influenced by Maratta, not to mention the particular approach to chiaroscuro, are all details which can easily be found in our composition. An Apotheosis of St. Bruno, which has recently come onto the market (pencil on paper, 39.5 x 29 cm; sold at Artcurial SVV Paris on 27 March 2015), may be attributed to Trevisani but it is of inferior quality to this drawing, while a study for a female figure with sketches of hands in different poses (black and while chalk on prepared brown paper, 22.7 x 27.3 cm, sold at Christie's in Paris on 26 June 2002) may also be attributed to the master, but its overall quality is not high. The only piece truly comparable with our drawing was sold on the English market some twenty years ago. The piece in question is a scene showing Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (ink on paper, 27.4 x 43.5 cm, sold at Phillips in London on 3 July 1996), where the tight control of space and light, together with a full and rapid stroke, is also found in our mythological scene here, albeit in a more highly “polished” style.

£ 4.500 - 5.000

55 (a, b, c) FEDELE FisCHETTi (Naples, 1732-1792)

Studies for a Printed Book Dedicated to Livia Dora Carafa Watercolour on paper, 235 x 168 mm (each) These three drawings are extremely rare examples of the mature work of Fedele Fischetti, a leading 18th century Neapolitan artist better-known for his large fresco cycles in the Reggia di Caserta and in several other palazzi belonging to the Neapolitan aristocracy, than for such small works. The drawings in question are extremely fine preparatory sketches for the frontispiece, and a handful of vignettes and tailpieces, of a volume entitled Prose e versi per onorare la memoria di Livia Doria Carafa Principessa del S.R.I. della Roccella, printed in Bodoni typeface in Parma in 1784. All of Fischetti's drawings were engraved for printing by Raffaello Morghen, and the first drawing in the series under discussion here is the frontispiece in the volume, of extraordinary iconographical complexity and sophistication, comprising a broad anthology of Ripa's Iconology and remarkable for what is in effect its already fully NeoClassical formal balance. The history of the volume of Prose which Vincenzo Maria Carafa della Spina dedicated to his wife Livia, who had died in 1779, bringing together a substantial group of artists and members of the Accademia degli Arcadi to develop a complex iconographical programme, has recently been explored in some depth by Massimo Pisani (M. Pisani, I ritratti di Livia Dora Carafa principessa di Roccella di Fedele Fischetti e di Giuseppe Sanmartino: un contributo alla ritrattistica napoletana, in Antologia di Belle Arti, NS, 35, 36, 37, 38 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1990. Studi sul Neoclassicismo, II. Pp. 30 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 42), who also publishes the engraving of the frontispiece in the volume (Pisani, ibid, p. 32, fig. 3) based on the drawing under discussion here. Thus these drawings are both an important discovery in connection with early Neapolitan Neo-Classical graphic art and a major contribution to the corpus of Fischetti's work. The drawings are in an outstanding state of conservation.

ÂŁ 3.600 - 4.400

55a

55b

55c

56 AGOsTinO CARRACCi (Bologna, 1557-Parma, 1602)

Study for a satyr playing the flute Brown ink and watercolour on paper, 163 x 212 mm This drawing belongs to the group of mythological figures depicted with dynamic yet tightly and clearly defined strokes which we so often find in Agostino Carracci's studies, for instance in a celebrated and unquestionably autograph sheet containing studies (especially female nudes) now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (published in, among other sources, Antonio Carracci, various authors, Edizioni Merigo Art Books, Brescia 2007, p. 31). The remarkable similiarities in the draughtsmanship suggest that this drawing may be dated to Carracci's later years, some time in the early 17th century, or else to his closest circle of followers, of which his son Antonio was a leading member (though Antonio's drawing career has yet to be accurately reconstructed).

ÂŁ 2.900 - 3.600

57 GUiDO CAGnACCi (Santarcangelo di Romagna, 1601-Vienna, 1663)

Study for a female head Pastel and pencil on blue paper, 200 x 258 mm We would argue that this outstanding drawing is a preparatory study for the head of the Virgin Reading, now in the Ducrot Collection in Rome and formerly in the Ugolini Collection in Cesena. The painting in question, which is certainly by Cagnacci because it is signed on the Virgin's mantle, may be dated to 1655–6, and thus the drawing may be dated to the same period. (On the Ducrot painting, see: A.Brogi, in Guido Cagnacci, protagonista del Seicento tra Caravaggio e Reni, catalogue of an exhibition held in the Musei di San Domenico in Forlì, edited by D. Benati and A. Paolucci, Milan 2008, pp. 298–9). Drawings attributable to the master, or to his circle or imitators, which have come onto the market are not only extremely rare but of a quality decidedly inferior to this one. They include a Study of a Female Nude (sold at Christie's in London on 1 July 1997; 20 x 14 cm) which, while it has never been suggested that it might be an autograph work, is nevertheless interesting as an example of the master's intense and melancholy treatment of the female face.

£ 7.200 - 8.800

58 sTEFAnO DELLA BELLA (attr.) (Florence, 1610-1664)

Study for a military camp, intended for use as a stage set Brown ink and watercolour, 252 x 390 mm

ÂŁ 2.500 - 3.000

59 GiOvAn BATTisTA nALDini (attr.) (Fiesole, c. 1536-Florence, 1591)

The Supper at Emmaus Red pencil on paper squared in black pencil, 173 x 190 mm This composition, with its outstanding formal balance, is a study after an altarpiece depicting the Supper at Emmaus which Santi di Tito painted for Santa Croce in Florence. Naldini focuses on the main group in the altarpiece, where Santi di Tito had placed several other decorative figures around the three figures of Christ and the apostles under a spatious vaulted and columned portico. The group that Naldini has isolated is noteworthy for its original three-quarter view of the scene, a viewpoint which manages to impart a more dynamic air to the group than is to be found in more traditional full-face representations of the Supper at Emmaus. The rapid, sketchy handling of the drapery and the faces with their straight noses and barely outlined features closely reflect the style of Giovan Battista Naldini who, although he only worked up until the 1590s, often appears in his drawings to herald the Baroque. The figure on the left is remarkably similar to a study of a man seated on a chair and to various studies of hands now in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe in the Uffizi (inv. 857F), while the taut pencil strokes offset by an outstanding and typically Florentine formal balance are to be found in a study of a nude in red pencil also in the Uffizi's Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe (inv. 17808F; in this connection see Renaissance drawings from The Uffizi, exhibition catalogue edited by Annamaria Petrioli Tofani, Sidney 1995; pp. 130â&#x20AC;&#x201C;5. notes 56, 58).

ÂŁ 2.500 - 3.000

60v

60r

60 CARLO mARATTi (Camerano, 1625-Rome, 1713)

Study for a female figure; studies for a Madonna and Child on the back Red pencil on paper, 282 x 431 mm This drawing, with a kneeling female figure on the front and several studies for a Madonna and Child with Saints on the back, has recently been attributed to Maratti and the attribution has been verbally endorsed by Stella Rudolph. The similarities are indeed numerous with Marattiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s taut, expressive style in the vast corpus of drawings attributable, ranging from his Allegory of Divine Wisdom in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (44.8 x 36.6 cm) in which the taut strokes are accompanied by a stringent control of the figure in space, to his several studies, also in the Metropolitan in New York, for the Immaculate Conception with St. Gregory, St. Chrysogonus, St. Augustine and St. John the Evangelist now in the Cybo Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, and to a different version in the Pierpoint Morgan Library (in this connection see C. Maratti and His Contemporaries. Figurative Drawings from the Roman Baroque, exhibition catalogue edited by J.K. Westin and R. Westin, Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, 1975, pp. 41 et seq.).

ÂŁ 7.200 - 8.800

61 FRAnCOis BOUCHER (Paris, 1703-1770)

Diana and Endymion charcoal on brown paper glued onto cardboard, 279 x 375 mm In our view, this drawing marks a significant addition to the corpus of drawings by French master François Boucher, whose work frequently comes onto the market in the shape of pieces of outstanding beauty. It seems especially appropriate to compare this work with a drawing sold on the French market depicting Venus Showing the Apple of Power to the Gods on Mount Olympus (Piasa SA sale in Paris on 25 March 2010, 27 x 33 cm), of a similar size to the piece under discussion here. The two works share the soft and sensual draughtsmanship of the figures and the tight control of space that turn Boucher's scenes into limpid theatrical set pieces. It is extremely rewarding to compare our item with similar pieces known to scholarship, which are often of the same size and which share its oval format. For instance, a red pencil work depicting Hippolytus Toppled from his Chariot (26.2 x 38.2 cm) with an oval frame and signed in black pencil bottom left, now in the E. Horovitz Collection in Boston (see Alastair Laing, The drawings of Francois Boucher, with a foreword of Pierre Rosemberg, Exhibition Catalogue, The Frick Collection, New York – The Kimbell Art Museum Forth Worth, Texas. New York 2003, pp. 42–3, 2), a red pencil sketch of a Peasants' Banquet En Plein Air now in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa (32.3 x 23.7 cm; A. Laing, ibid, pp. 60–1, 11), or a study of Cherubs Bringing Crowns and Garlands of Flowers to the Three Graces in the W. Dreesmann Collection (27.7 x 34.5 cm; A. Laing, ibid, pp. 202–3, 78), in all of which we can easily identify the same elegant, sinuous pencil strokes that we find in our own scene. It is equally worthwhile to compare our piece with a stupendous Venus Bathing formerly in the Gancourt Collection and now in the Wildenstein Collection in New York (see Alexandre Ananoff, L'Oeuvre dessiné du Francois Boucher (1703 – 1770). Catalogue raisonné, tome 1, Paris 1966, pp. 197–8, 757, fig. 124), where the winged cherubs accompanying the goddess to her bath are virtually identical – in terms of the quality of the draughtsmanship and of the treatment of the faces with their features barely hinted at and with their tousled hair – to the puttini fluttering around the figure of Diana, holding torches and a jug filled with water, or gently stroking Endymion's hair in our own piece. And finally, the graceful pencilwork in our drawing may also be usefully compared with a Rape of Europa in sanguine now in the Département des Arts Graphiques in the Musée du Louvre (inv. 40985, 26.5 x 40.8 cm; see Francois Joulie et Jean Francois Méjanès, Francois Boucher, hier et aujord’hui, Paris 2003, p 129, 61), where the face of the leading figure, Europa, shares extaordinarily similar features with the face of Diana in our drawing – indeed, these features (a small, pert nose and large, slanting eyes) might almost be likened to a kind of hidden signature in Boucher's female figures. It is also worth pointing out that the dry stamp of Boucher's frame-maker is present on the matting card.

£ 7.200 - 8.800

62v

62 UBALDO GAnDOLFi (San Matteo della Decima, 1728-Ravenna, 1781)

Study for a three-quarter length male nude; study for a full-face male nude on the back Red pencil on paper, 429 x 279 mm This study is both a typical and an easily recognisable work by Ubaldo Gandolfi, which it is worth comparing with a sanguine identical in size to this one which appeared on the market very recently in the United States. The sanguine in question, a study for a standing male nude seen from behind (sold at Christie's New York on 31 January 2013; 43 x 28.3 cm) displays the same oustanding skill in handling the academic nude as can be seen, possibly at an even higher level, in this study. On the back, Gandolfi has drawn another study which shows equal mastery in its pencil strokes, in its handling of light and in the overall quality of the image.

ÂŁ 2.900 - 3.600

62r

63 CAvALiER Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ARpinO (Arpino, 1568-Rome, 1640)

Allegory of Religion Black and red pencil on paper, 350 x 184 mm This drawing is presented here as an autograph work by the Cavalier D'Arpino on the strength of a stringent comparison with masterpieces by this Roman master which have recently been sold on the English market: King David Accompanied by Three of His Followers (sold at Sotheby's in London 6 July 2005; 35 x 25.8 cm) and A Seated Prophet Holding a Book (sold at Sotheby's in London on 4 July 2012; 22.4 x 18 cm). Both pictures share the intense chiaroscuro handling of colour that imparts such outstanding solidity to the figures.

ÂŁ 2.900 - 3.600 76

64 AURELiAnO miLAni (attr.) (Bologna, 1675-Rome, 1749)

Zenobia and Alexander Black pen on paper, 312 x 210 mm It can be dated between the first and second decade of the 18th century. The drawing reveals the artist's thin and elegant line during the period when he was working in the Gallery of Mirrors at Doria Pamphili Palace in Rome with the Stories of Hercules and the Allegories of the Liberal Arts. It's a preparatory study for an unknown alterpiece elaborated with the criterion of the refusal of pagan idols' cult and consequent martyrdom frequently found in the Roman art of the first quarter of the 18th century.

ÂŁ 1.100 - 1.500

65 AnOnymOUs OF THE 17TH CEnTURy

Battle Pen and watercolour, 84 x 140 mm

ÂŁ 300 - 450

66 sALvATOR ROsA (attr.) (Naplesd, 1615-Rome,1673)

St. Roch Giving Alms Black pen and red pencil on paper, 159 x 155 mm

ÂŁ 1.500 - 1.800

67 FELiCE GiAni (circle) (San Sebastiano Curone, 1758-Rome, 1823)

Three Nude Female Figures with a Putto Stealing their Clothes Sepia ink applied with a pen and watercolour, 247 x 188 mm

ÂŁ 600 - 900

Two works of the twentieth century

68 AmEDEO mODiGLiAni (Livorno, 1884-Paris, 1920)

Portrait of Hanka Zborowska 1917 Pencil on paper Signed on the bottom right side Source: Lèopold Zborowska, 1922 Maria Costanza Asmundo, Palermo Promotion Contemporary Art Institute- V. Anastasi, Catania Private Collection Laura Modigliani Publications Nechtschein. Modigliani. Museum of Montparnasse, Paris 2006, page 165 Certification on photo Legal Archives Amedeo Modigliani, 2008 Certification on photo of Jeanne Modigliani, Paris 9th December 1981 “The work depicts the portrait of Hanka Zborowska who was Leopold Zborowski's wife. Actually, he was a gallerist of Modigliani and the work is exactly the sketch of the most popular portrait oil on canvas painted by the artist from Livorno in the same year”. Extract of the letter attached to the certification of Modigliani Institute of Legal Archives. General sound state condition. Slight creases of the paper along the right edge and one on the right cheek, two small water stains on the bottom left side, small tearing out of the paper on the high right edge.

£ 55.000 - 65.000

69 GinO sEvERini (Cortona, 1883-Paris, 1966)

Composition with musical instruments 1952 Polychrome mosaic, 90 x 35.4 cm Initials on the bottom right side Mosaic planned and created by Gino Severini The work was intended for a wall of the ocean liner Leonardo Da Vinci which was launched in 1958 by the Navigation Company of Genova to replace Andrea Doria ocean liner. The most popular architects of that period were in charge for the planning of the mountings and Giulio Carlo Argan supervised the decorations of the posh living rooms with very popular artists' works of art. The work art was considered too heavy for the initial destination and so it was replaced by a painting. So far, it is still unpublished. Certification on photo of the Artist written in his studio in Paris on 27th April 1965; Certification on photo Archive Severini issued by Romana Severini Brunori.

ÂŁ 45.000 - 55.000