Orneore Metelli
Orneore Metelli was born to a bourgeois family in Terni. Like his father, he worked as a shoemaker for most of his life, for which he received a variety of regional and national prizes. In those years, the Metelli shoe factory was known for high-quality, handcrafted shoes, and counted nobles, high-bourgeois, officers and prelates among its customers who considered Metelli a guarantee for flawless shoemaking excellence.
Metelli was also a keen musician. He played first euphonium in the municipal brass band, followed by first trombone in the Verdi Theatre orchestra. However, due to a heart condition that developed as he got older, he was forbidden to drink wine or to exhaust himself playing his instruments. This renunciation affected him a great deal, but he decided to direct his creative abilities towards painting, which he had taken up as a pastime in 1922. He was evidently not very proud of his work as he more or less kept it hidden.
In 1936, he met a young sculptor from Terni – Aurelio De Felice – who was struck by the shoemaker’s originality and inventiveness, and promised to "make him famous". In the following years, the friendship and esteem between the two grew and, each time they met, Metelli gave his paintings to his friend, reminding him in jest of his promise. Metelli died in Terni on November 26, 1938.
Throughout his life, he had no relationship with critics, gallery owners or art experts but his friend De Felice, keeping the promise he made in 1936, began to show Metelli’s work in order to gage the reaction of the public.
The first unofficial test took place in 1942 at the Palazzo Carrara, during the retrospective exhibition organised by Ugo Castellani and Aurelio De Felice in Terni. The following exhibition in 1945 at the Galleria del Secolo in Via Veneto, Rome, was a great success, even if it was limited. An exhibition the following year, again in Rome, although not much appreciated by the public, attracted the unexpected attention of the press thanks to a competition for the best review, won by the poet Libero de Libero.
The competition brought an avalanche of articles, and the name Metelli became known internationally for the first time. In 1947, Kunsthalle Bern, followed by other Swiss cities, requested Metelli’s works for a posthumous exhibition.
The Swiss exhibitions were a success with the public and critics alike, and the Italian art press launched his name among those of the great artists.
On June 16, 1946, the journalist Zavattini wrote in the Roman newspaper "Il Minuto":
"Metelli always sublimates the thing, the person, the event, his own signature, with the style of memory, being one who remembers more than he sees and, even more precisely, who sees in order to remember."
His style is based on a vision of the world in which reality seems to be a scene in a theatre; Metelli himself wrote:
"... it seemed to me that the whole city was a marvellous, unseen stage, painted and bright, and full of a thousand forms and a thousand appearances and actions of that time similar to those performed in theatres."
The local history scholar Pompeo De Angelis, author of a mini-biography published in 1997, defines him as "progressive but sad", a "painter full of ideas".
The Terni State Art Institute and the city's municipal art gallery are named after him.
Metelli was also a keen musician. He played first euphonium in the municipal brass band, followed by first trombone in the Verdi Theatre orchestra. However, due to a heart condition that developed as he got older, he was forbidden to drink wine or to exhaust himself playing his instruments. This renunciation affected him a great deal, but he decided to direct his creative abilities towards painting, which he had taken up as a pastime in 1922. He was evidently not very proud of his work as he more or less kept it hidden.
In 1936, he met a young sculptor from Terni – Aurelio De Felice – who was struck by the shoemaker’s originality and inventiveness, and promised to "make him famous". In the following years, the friendship and esteem between the two grew and, each time they met, Metelli gave his paintings to his friend, reminding him in jest of his promise. Metelli died in Terni on November 26, 1938.
Throughout his life, he had no relationship with critics, gallery owners or art experts but his friend De Felice, keeping the promise he made in 1936, began to show Metelli’s work in order to gage the reaction of the public.
The first unofficial test took place in 1942 at the Palazzo Carrara, during the retrospective exhibition organised by Ugo Castellani and Aurelio De Felice in Terni. The following exhibition in 1945 at the Galleria del Secolo in Via Veneto, Rome, was a great success, even if it was limited. An exhibition the following year, again in Rome, although not much appreciated by the public, attracted the unexpected attention of the press thanks to a competition for the best review, won by the poet Libero de Libero.
The competition brought an avalanche of articles, and the name Metelli became known internationally for the first time. In 1947, Kunsthalle Bern, followed by other Swiss cities, requested Metelli’s works for a posthumous exhibition.
The Swiss exhibitions were a success with the public and critics alike, and the Italian art press launched his name among those of the great artists.
On June 16, 1946, the journalist Zavattini wrote in the Roman newspaper "Il Minuto":
"Metelli always sublimates the thing, the person, the event, his own signature, with the style of memory, being one who remembers more than he sees and, even more precisely, who sees in order to remember."
His style is based on a vision of the world in which reality seems to be a scene in a theatre; Metelli himself wrote:
"... it seemed to me that the whole city was a marvellous, unseen stage, painted and bright, and full of a thousand forms and a thousand appearances and actions of that time similar to those performed in theatres."
The local history scholar Pompeo De Angelis, author of a mini-biography published in 1997, defines him as "progressive but sad", a "painter full of ideas".
The Terni State Art Institute and the city's municipal art gallery are named after him.
Giandomenico Tiepolo
Portrait of a gentleman - Huile sur toile 41x33,8 cm - XVIIIè siécle
The subject refers to an engraving that forms part of a collection entitled "Raccolta di Teste (Collection of Heads)" The idea of recording a collection of "character" heads finds its inspiration in Giandomenico, who wanted to pay homage and emulate the two-hundred series of Heads engraved by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, the Genoese artist and scientist, who was an innovator in the field of engraving who was particularly admired by Tiepolo. Giandomenico began to engrave the initial core of twenty-seven heads between 1757 and 1762. Later, after the death of his father (1770) on his return from Spain, he resumed the theme of oriental faces and expanded his collection, from which the Catalogue features sixty etchings. Amongst the Heads there is also his own self-portrait and a portrait of his father Giambattista, collected by Teodoro Correr, along with the counter-part prints, obtained by using the sheets with the ink still wet as a matrix. In this type of print, the image looks exactly like the one engraved on the plate, which facilitates its reading.
Etching and engraving 170 x 122 mm
The subject refers to an engraving that forms part of a collection entitled "Raccolta di Teste (Collection of Heads)" The idea of recording a collection of "character" heads finds its inspiration in Giandomenico, who wanted to pay homage and emulate the two-hundred series of Heads engraved by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, the Genoese artist and scientist, who was an innovator in the field of engraving who was particularly admired by Tiepolo. Giandomenico began to engrave the initial core of twenty-seven heads between 1757 and 1762. Later, after the death of his father (1770) on his return from Spain, he resumed the theme of oriental faces and expanded his collection, from which the Catalogue features sixty etchings. Amongst the Heads there is also his own self-portrait and a portrait of his father Giambattista, collected by Teodoro Correr, along with the counter-part prints, obtained by using the sheets with the ink still wet as a matrix. In this type of print, the image looks exactly like the one engraved on the plate, which facilitates its reading.
Etching and engraving 170 x 122 mm
Alessandro Marchesini
(Verona 30 April 1664 - 27 January 1738)
The son of Francis,, a marble engraver and architect, and Elisabetta Bottacin, he was born in Verona in the district of San Michele alla Porta, and baptized on 6 May in the Chiesa dei Ss. Apostoli, with the name of Alexander Jacobus . Guided towards painting by his brother Marco, he was a very young pupil of Biagio Falcieri and Felice Cignani, and was sent to Bologna at the age of 17 to continue his studies under the guidance of Carlo Cignani.
His first commission in 1687 was of the Chiesa di San Domenico in Verona which had suffered damage due to a fire, Marchesini having the task of frescoing the ceiling with scenes from San Domenico and Santa Caterina da Siena and it was here that his Venetian-Emilian style became evident, which then took on the name of Bolognesising.
For Marchesini, the last years of the seventeenth century were full of commissions, for both churches and palaces, but it was exactly in these years that he and his family moved to Venice, after creating the painting Galatea, which had been criticized, the his work judged as just the painting of women; it was in Venice that he met a different client, this meeting with Stefano Conti, an important art collector in 1705 leading him to change the direction of his work. He began to produce many paintings for the foreign market, particularly Germany and for collectors of mythological subjects in a small format.
There is a documented and intense epistolary relationship between the Marchesini and the Conti, and in 1707 it seems that there were 11 paintings in the Conti gallery; contact was then lost and resumed in later years. In this correspondence, there remains a letter addressed to him from the collector as a recommendation for two young painters; one, about Giovanni Antonio Canal reads: Antonio Canal universally stuns everyone who admires his works, because he sees light within the sun , dated July 1725 the other being Marco Ricci. In the early 1700s he was art master for the young Veronese painter Carlo Salis. His return to Verona took place in 1737 to the house that had been the home of the painter Odoardo Perini.
The work on display there represents a biblical scene showing tangencies with the two works by Marchesini which have been preserved in the Molinari Pradelli collection.
The son of Francis,, a marble engraver and architect, and Elisabetta Bottacin, he was born in Verona in the district of San Michele alla Porta, and baptized on 6 May in the Chiesa dei Ss. Apostoli, with the name of Alexander Jacobus . Guided towards painting by his brother Marco, he was a very young pupil of Biagio Falcieri and Felice Cignani, and was sent to Bologna at the age of 17 to continue his studies under the guidance of Carlo Cignani.
His first commission in 1687 was of the Chiesa di San Domenico in Verona which had suffered damage due to a fire, Marchesini having the task of frescoing the ceiling with scenes from San Domenico and Santa Caterina da Siena and it was here that his Venetian-Emilian style became evident, which then took on the name of Bolognesising.
For Marchesini, the last years of the seventeenth century were full of commissions, for both churches and palaces, but it was exactly in these years that he and his family moved to Venice, after creating the painting Galatea, which had been criticized, the his work judged as just the painting of women; it was in Venice that he met a different client, this meeting with Stefano Conti, an important art collector in 1705 leading him to change the direction of his work. He began to produce many paintings for the foreign market, particularly Germany and for collectors of mythological subjects in a small format.
There is a documented and intense epistolary relationship between the Marchesini and the Conti, and in 1707 it seems that there were 11 paintings in the Conti gallery; contact was then lost and resumed in later years. In this correspondence, there remains a letter addressed to him from the collector as a recommendation for two young painters; one, about Giovanni Antonio Canal reads: Antonio Canal universally stuns everyone who admires his works, because he sees light within the sun , dated July 1725 the other being Marco Ricci. In the early 1700s he was art master for the young Veronese painter Carlo Salis. His return to Verona took place in 1737 to the house that had been the home of the painter Odoardo Perini.
The work on display there represents a biblical scene showing tangencies with the two works by Marchesini which have been preserved in the Molinari Pradelli collection.
Author currently in the study phase- Gentillefemme
Oil on canvas 106x77
First half of XIX century
First half of XIX century
Antonio Tibaldi
Antonio Tibaldi (Rome 1635-documented in Rome until 1675)
STILL LIFE WITH BOOKS AND SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS oil on canvas, 98 x 135 cm
Biography
Antonio Tibaldi was a pupil of Francesco Noletti, called 'Il Maltese' (1611-1654) from whom he learned the complex iconographic repertoire, composed of elegant carpets, curtains, silverware, musical instruments and many other precious and sought-after objects; this type of still life was brought to Rome by the painter Benedetto Fioravanti, who was confused with Noletti for a long time. The painting also includes a globe, an armillary sphere and several measuring instruments, like compass sets. This is probably a study of a mathematician, because on the table, there are also several books, amongst which in the foreground, is a book by Apollonius Pergeus, a Greek mathematician who lived between the end of the third and the beginning of the second century BC.
STILL LIFE WITH BOOKS AND SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS oil on canvas, 98 x 135 cm
Biography
Antonio Tibaldi was a pupil of Francesco Noletti, called 'Il Maltese' (1611-1654) from whom he learned the complex iconographic repertoire, composed of elegant carpets, curtains, silverware, musical instruments and many other precious and sought-after objects; this type of still life was brought to Rome by the painter Benedetto Fioravanti, who was confused with Noletti for a long time. The painting also includes a globe, an armillary sphere and several measuring instruments, like compass sets. This is probably a study of a mathematician, because on the table, there are also several books, amongst which in the foreground, is a book by Apollonius Pergeus, a Greek mathematician who lived between the end of the third and the beginning of the second century BC.
Elijha and the Angel
OIL ON CANVAS
104 X 144
17TH CENTURY
The prophet Elijah is one of the most important figures in theOld Testament; his deeds are narrated in the two "Books of Kings" in the Bible.
The last of the faithful to the God of Abraham, Elijah challenged and won over the prophets of the god Baal on Mount Carmel: here, after they had failed, he demonstrated the power of God by lighting a pyre of green and wet wood through prayer. Then, at the Kison creek, he slaughtered all 450 priests of Baal. Elijah escaped to Mount Horeb, where an angel gave him food, and he spoke with God.
Thus, in the desert - the desert of his heart more than that of sand - God sent Elijah an angel to feed him. The command is absolute: "Get up and eat, you are not here to die. Stand up and eat, get up, listen to my word, feed on my word, and walk." The profession of faith of Israel "Listen to Israel, the Lord is our God" is what is asked of Elijah in the desert of his life. Elijah must listen. With the strength of that food, he will walk 40 days and 40 nights until he reaches the mountain of God: Mount Horeb. He will retrace the journey of Moses and the people in the desert, the journey of salvation, to the promised land.
104 X 144
17TH CENTURY
The prophet Elijah is one of the most important figures in theOld Testament; his deeds are narrated in the two "Books of Kings" in the Bible.
The last of the faithful to the God of Abraham, Elijah challenged and won over the prophets of the god Baal on Mount Carmel: here, after they had failed, he demonstrated the power of God by lighting a pyre of green and wet wood through prayer. Then, at the Kison creek, he slaughtered all 450 priests of Baal. Elijah escaped to Mount Horeb, where an angel gave him food, and he spoke with God.
Thus, in the desert - the desert of his heart more than that of sand - God sent Elijah an angel to feed him. The command is absolute: "Get up and eat, you are not here to die. Stand up and eat, get up, listen to my word, feed on my word, and walk." The profession of faith of Israel "Listen to Israel, the Lord is our God" is what is asked of Elijah in the desert of his life. Elijah must listen. With the strength of that food, he will walk 40 days and 40 nights until he reaches the mountain of God: Mount Horeb. He will retrace the journey of Moses and the people in the desert, the journey of salvation, to the promised land.
The Creation of Eve
OIL ON CANVAS
124 X 81
17TH CENTURY
The story of Adam and Eve is taken from the Book of Genesis. The Lord God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; because she was taken out of man.”
For this reason, a man will leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
124 X 81
17TH CENTURY
The story of Adam and Eve is taken from the Book of Genesis. The Lord God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; because she was taken out of man.”
For this reason, a man will leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Two Roman armchairs from the 18th century
This splendid pair of armchairs from the Roman area corresponds to the 1750s / 1760s.
The curved legs and volute-shaped armrests of these pieces arise from uncommon workmanship: to start with, because of their frame made entirely of walnut, a hardwood that was reserved for the most important furnishings due to its "hardness", which allowed carvers to produce more refinements than with other woods.
Furthermore, the structure is entirely gilded with shiny and veiled fine gold, a technique that conveyed a special effect of brightness and opacity on antique golden furnishings.
The gilding is in excellent condition, with slight wear on the most exposed parts such as the armrests.
Finally, the back of the armchairs features an ochre-coloured lacquer, a typical finish in 18th century furnishings.
The upholstery of the seats and the back is a noble damask with red background.
This pair of armchairs is particularly prestigious, as evidenced by similar pieces found in numerous palaces and antique furniture collections.
The curved legs and volute-shaped armrests of these pieces arise from uncommon workmanship: to start with, because of their frame made entirely of walnut, a hardwood that was reserved for the most important furnishings due to its "hardness", which allowed carvers to produce more refinements than with other woods.
Furthermore, the structure is entirely gilded with shiny and veiled fine gold, a technique that conveyed a special effect of brightness and opacity on antique golden furnishings.
The gilding is in excellent condition, with slight wear on the most exposed parts such as the armrests.
Finally, the back of the armchairs features an ochre-coloured lacquer, a typical finish in 18th century furnishings.
The upholstery of the seats and the back is a noble damask with red background.
This pair of armchairs is particularly prestigious, as evidenced by similar pieces found in numerous palaces and antique furniture collections.
Jakob van Oost
Initially in 1992, the renowned French art historian Didier Bodart, an expert in Flemish art, attributed this painting to the painter Jan de Bray from Harlem. From more recent studies carried out by the Dutch company RKD, which is one of the leading research and documentation institutes in the world and specialises in Flemish painting, it appears it should have been attributed to Jacok Van Oost Il Vecchio (Bruge 1603-1671)
Biography
Jakob van Oost (around 1600 in Bruges , † around 1671 in Bruges) was a Flemish painter of the Baroque in Bruges. His work includes historical paintings and portraits .
On 19 January 1619, Jakob van Oost was enrolled as an apprentice to his brother Franz van Oost (1618 Masons in Bruges, † 1625) at the Guild of painters of Bruges. His early works include copies of the paintings by Jan van Eyck and Peter Paul Rubens , which were considered as originals by many in 1857. In 1621 he was appointed as an independent art master. During his time in Italy in the 1920s he studied the works of Annibale Carracci who was influenced by Caravaggio. After his return in 1630, he was a much sought-after artist for portraits, historic paintings and altarpieces. In 1633 he was elected head of the guild. Amongst his pupils were also his sons Jacob van Oost the Younger and Willem van Oost, who continued his father's school. After his copies, Ruben had achieved his own style, with a overall dark and tonal setting. His last work from 1660 is composed of works with blackish tones. His paintings can be found in religious institutions and collections in Bruges, as well as in privately owned collections in Belgium and in the following museums in Bergues , Berlin , Brussels , Caen , Dijon , Dunkirk , Leningrad , Lille , London , Lyon , New York City, Paris, Tournai , Valenciennes and Vienna .
Biography
Jakob van Oost (around 1600 in Bruges , † around 1671 in Bruges) was a Flemish painter of the Baroque in Bruges. His work includes historical paintings and portraits .
On 19 January 1619, Jakob van Oost was enrolled as an apprentice to his brother Franz van Oost (1618 Masons in Bruges, † 1625) at the Guild of painters of Bruges. His early works include copies of the paintings by Jan van Eyck and Peter Paul Rubens , which were considered as originals by many in 1857. In 1621 he was appointed as an independent art master. During his time in Italy in the 1920s he studied the works of Annibale Carracci who was influenced by Caravaggio. After his return in 1630, he was a much sought-after artist for portraits, historic paintings and altarpieces. In 1633 he was elected head of the guild. Amongst his pupils were also his sons Jacob van Oost the Younger and Willem van Oost, who continued his father's school. After his copies, Ruben had achieved his own style, with a overall dark and tonal setting. His last work from 1660 is composed of works with blackish tones. His paintings can be found in religious institutions and collections in Bruges, as well as in privately owned collections in Belgium and in the following museums in Bergues , Berlin , Brussels , Caen , Dijon , Dunkirk , Leningrad , Lille , London , Lyon , New York City, Paris, Tournai , Valenciennes and Vienna .
Family portrait, Oil on canvas, 154 x 215 cm
17th century
The subject represented
This vast composition shows a couple with his four children, the mother of the young woman and on the left a grandmother, associating several generations in the same scene that takes place in the foreground of the terrace of a park. The couple surrounds the grandmother, who seems to be the real head of the family. The young woman is sitting on the left with the youngest child on her knees; her husband, on the right, plays the theorbo: on the right are the two oldest girls, one sumptuously dressed, the other accompanying her father with the help of a tambourine. The costumes allow us to date this work between 1650 and 1660. The interpretation of this type of theme in 17th century Dutch painting as a conversation piece was appropriately analysed by Mario Praz in his remarkable essay, the "Conversation Piece".
"The absence of reference to a heroic ideal in the sense of Machiavellian virtue is at the root of the fact that portrait painters did not propose an ideal model of quality. Moreover, as these models remained anchored in-corpore in the painting, which gave them life, their features kept the freedom of non-compliance with the classic or warrior paradigm. It must be remembered that most of them were essentially bourgeois. So, while in Italy they were used to portraying the aristocracy in portraiture, in Holland, on the other hand, they were amazed by the bourgeois Conversation Piece portrait, whose characters almost seemed to invite the spectator to take part in their domestic joys".
Among his group portraits that justify the return of this painting to the master of Haarlem are the painter Abraham Casteleyn and his wife Margarita van Backen (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) and the governors of the guild of St. Luke of Haarlem in 1675). This drawing depicting a Family Portrait (Santa Fe, N.M. Fine Arts Museum) has a very similar interpretation. Among other portraits that can be likened to the figures of this family portrait include, among others, the Portrait of a Man in the Jaquemart André Museum in Paris and the Portrait of a Man in the National Museum in Poznan.
17th century
The subject represented
This vast composition shows a couple with his four children, the mother of the young woman and on the left a grandmother, associating several generations in the same scene that takes place in the foreground of the terrace of a park. The couple surrounds the grandmother, who seems to be the real head of the family. The young woman is sitting on the left with the youngest child on her knees; her husband, on the right, plays the theorbo: on the right are the two oldest girls, one sumptuously dressed, the other accompanying her father with the help of a tambourine. The costumes allow us to date this work between 1650 and 1660. The interpretation of this type of theme in 17th century Dutch painting as a conversation piece was appropriately analysed by Mario Praz in his remarkable essay, the "Conversation Piece".
"The absence of reference to a heroic ideal in the sense of Machiavellian virtue is at the root of the fact that portrait painters did not propose an ideal model of quality. Moreover, as these models remained anchored in-corpore in the painting, which gave them life, their features kept the freedom of non-compliance with the classic or warrior paradigm. It must be remembered that most of them were essentially bourgeois. So, while in Italy they were used to portraying the aristocracy in portraiture, in Holland, on the other hand, they were amazed by the bourgeois Conversation Piece portrait, whose characters almost seemed to invite the spectator to take part in their domestic joys".
Among his group portraits that justify the return of this painting to the master of Haarlem are the painter Abraham Casteleyn and his wife Margarita van Backen (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) and the governors of the guild of St. Luke of Haarlem in 1675). This drawing depicting a Family Portrait (Santa Fe, N.M. Fine Arts Museum) has a very similar interpretation. Among other portraits that can be likened to the figures of this family portrait include, among others, the Portrait of a Man in the Jaquemart André Museum in Paris and the Portrait of a Man in the National Museum in Poznan.
Venetian mirror - Permanent Exhibition
Venetian mirror in carved and gilded wood, Louis XV period
The pine mirror is in an excellent state of preservation, with an overhanging cornice of exquisite workmanship, carved with the typical Venetian 'pagoda' with two stylized female figures.
The mirror frame displays the characteristic Venetian motif, with floral carvings in the corners and in the centres, smooth, moulded fretwork, and a dot peen engraved background.
The mirror glass is contemporary.
The pine mirror is in an excellent state of preservation, with an overhanging cornice of exquisite workmanship, carved with the typical Venetian 'pagoda' with two stylized female figures.
The mirror frame displays the characteristic Venetian motif, with floral carvings in the corners and in the centres, smooth, moulded fretwork, and a dot peen engraved background.
The mirror glass is contemporary.
Table from the mid-Louis XVI period - Permanent Exhibition
Exquisite workmanship, probably manufactured in the Lombardy/Emilia area, finely veneered in walnut, with marquetry/stringing inlays; rosettes and plant motifs in the corners and the centres of the side panels.
The rosettes and decorations are inlaid in maple, while the stringing that frames the top, sides and cassette is inlaid in pink ebony, enclosed by boxwood stringing.
The table, which is in a good state of preservation, is supported by four beautiful walnut legs, finely fluted, typical of the Louis XVI period.
The wood is finished in a typical shellac-based 'spirit' varnish.
The rosettes and decorations are inlaid in maple, while the stringing that frames the top, sides and cassette is inlaid in pink ebony, enclosed by boxwood stringing.
The table, which is in a good state of preservation, is supported by four beautiful walnut legs, finely fluted, typical of the Louis XVI period.
The wood is finished in a typical shellac-based 'spirit' varnish.
Del Piombo - Permanent Exhibition
The artist highlights the political and cultural role of Ferry Carondolet, paradoxically moving him from the centre of the scene, leaving him at the work table covered with a rug, perhaps Turkish.
The painting depicts the imperial ambassador in Rome, in his studio, framed by an ancient colonnade and a serene countryside behind the businesslike secretary busy writing letters taken down from dictation. The key to reading this piece is the Latin motto written on the classical entablature, "NOSCE OPPORTUNITATEM", that derives from a poem by Cicero, "Tempus actionis opportunum appellatur occasio" (The appropriate time of action is called an occasion) (De Officiis 142). Revised in the light of the NOSCE TEMPUS by Erasmus, intimate friend of Ferry, the motto suggests a diplomatic virtue: to discern the right time for every action, juggling between imperial chancellery and the papal curia.
The original (oil on table 112x87 cm) is located in Madrid in the Thyssen Bornemiza collection
Gratitude goes to Peter Konigfeld for confirming the authorship of the above-mentioned painting. Isaac Fisches is the author of the copy and is included together with Johann Heiss and Johann Georg Bergmuller as the most important representative of the Augsburg Baroque. Between 1660 and 1674 Fisches was active as a painter for churches and as a portraitist for the counts of Maniago in Friuli, before obtaining the title of Master in Augsburg in 1676. In the 80's of the 17th century, Fisches made numerous paintings depicting mythological subjects.
Sebastiano Luciani, also known as Sebastiano del Piombo
(Venice 1485 Rome -1547) Copy of Isaac Fisches from the 17th century
Portrait of diplomat, Ferry Carondolet, and of his two secretaries
Oil on canvas, relined, restored. With Baroque pine-wood frame with Flemish listel 115 x 91 cm
The painting depicts the imperial ambassador in Rome, in his studio, framed by an ancient colonnade and a serene countryside behind the businesslike secretary busy writing letters taken down from dictation. The key to reading this piece is the Latin motto written on the classical entablature, "NOSCE OPPORTUNITATEM", that derives from a poem by Cicero, "Tempus actionis opportunum appellatur occasio" (The appropriate time of action is called an occasion) (De Officiis 142). Revised in the light of the NOSCE TEMPUS by Erasmus, intimate friend of Ferry, the motto suggests a diplomatic virtue: to discern the right time for every action, juggling between imperial chancellery and the papal curia.
The original (oil on table 112x87 cm) is located in Madrid in the Thyssen Bornemiza collection
Gratitude goes to Peter Konigfeld for confirming the authorship of the above-mentioned painting. Isaac Fisches is the author of the copy and is included together with Johann Heiss and Johann Georg Bergmuller as the most important representative of the Augsburg Baroque. Between 1660 and 1674 Fisches was active as a painter for churches and as a portraitist for the counts of Maniago in Friuli, before obtaining the title of Master in Augsburg in 1676. In the 80's of the 17th century, Fisches made numerous paintings depicting mythological subjects.
Sebastiano Luciani, also known as Sebastiano del Piombo
(Venice 1485 Rome -1547) Copy of Isaac Fisches from the 17th century
Portrait of diplomat, Ferry Carondolet, and of his two secretaries
Oil on canvas, relined, restored. With Baroque pine-wood frame with Flemish listel 115 x 91 cm
Giacomo Del Po - Permanent Exhibition
He was born in Rome in 1652 and died in Naples on 15 November 1726); he was a painter and engraver of the late baroque period.Giacomo completed his first education with his father Pietro in Rome, where he became a member of the Accademia of San Luca in 1674, and where as told by De Dominici attended the Poussin, to then move in 1683 to Naples, where he lived stably except for stays in Rome and perhaps in Florence. In the city of Naples, where initially he circled around the Marquis Del Carpio - as N. Spinosa writes (Neapolitan painting of the eighteenth century from Baroque to Rococo, Electa Naples ed. Naples 1986) in his introduction to the artist, with a discreet selection of his works and the specific bibliography - in the last decade he approached the pretentious ways of Solimena of those years, but relieved his compositions with his own stylistic figure, marked by fluctuating shapes of lively sophistication and unmistakable physiognomies.
All paintings of extraordinary decorative effect, such as frescoes of the Palace of the Marquis of Positano, Santa Teresa degli Studi, the Palace of Maddaloni, San Gregorio Armeno, San Domenico Maggiore, Santa Caterina a Formiello, Palace of Casamassima, and many others. Of the last period, where the Del Po brought his compositive solutions to a more and more brightened light - so to have supposed a cognition of works by S. Ricci, in Rome or Florence - painted canvases, commissioned by Eugene of Savoy, for the ceilings of three Belvedere halls in Vienna (1723).
Giacomo da Po was a painter who was able to develop with a lively personality a basic late Cortonese matrix, with exhibit dynamism and light leaven pictorial, always with singular typologies in its countless inventive, pictured though always with a compositional balance, assimilated clearly in the light of the classical principles imposed in Rome by the headmaster Maratti.
Examining his catalog, highly varied for subjects - he transcribed in painting also episodes of famous poems such as Milton's Lost Paradise, or of the Eneide, in parallel with profane scenes such as decorations of palatial ceilings - and always characterized by a figurative impression of neomanieristic taste, which draws perhaps in the sixteenth century with effects reminiscent of Genoese Gregorio De Ferrari, and who probably also took advantage of his knowledge of foreign sources, especially flemings, certainly useful in Naples.
The theme portrayed
The origin and title of this singular representation (oil painting on the canvas, cm 55 x 89), is unknown, portraying the "Diana and Endimione" fable in a small oval space at the top centre, with on top a scroll and under a masquerade and surrounded by various other figures, such as floral garlands and two carpets hanging on a rod dividing the scene in half into two sections, one on the top and the another lower. However, it is believed that the intent of the author of this original subject was to represent a "Allegory of the Hunt", to which it alludes to the presence of Diana, the Selene or Moon of the Greeks, often identified as Diana the hunter, apparently referring to the two women in the act of shooting an arrow from their bows, with two dogs at their sides, clearly hunting dogs, guided by two
young people one with a shotgun on his shoulder. Other dogs are depicted below while
in the four corners of the representation, at the top you can observe two hunters shooting
with their long guns, and on the bottom two half-naked young women seated. The different
allusion to hunting in fact justifies the proper relevance of this title.
All paintings of extraordinary decorative effect, such as frescoes of the Palace of the Marquis of Positano, Santa Teresa degli Studi, the Palace of Maddaloni, San Gregorio Armeno, San Domenico Maggiore, Santa Caterina a Formiello, Palace of Casamassima, and many others. Of the last period, where the Del Po brought his compositive solutions to a more and more brightened light - so to have supposed a cognition of works by S. Ricci, in Rome or Florence - painted canvases, commissioned by Eugene of Savoy, for the ceilings of three Belvedere halls in Vienna (1723).
Giacomo da Po was a painter who was able to develop with a lively personality a basic late Cortonese matrix, with exhibit dynamism and light leaven pictorial, always with singular typologies in its countless inventive, pictured though always with a compositional balance, assimilated clearly in the light of the classical principles imposed in Rome by the headmaster Maratti.
Examining his catalog, highly varied for subjects - he transcribed in painting also episodes of famous poems such as Milton's Lost Paradise, or of the Eneide, in parallel with profane scenes such as decorations of palatial ceilings - and always characterized by a figurative impression of neomanieristic taste, which draws perhaps in the sixteenth century with effects reminiscent of Genoese Gregorio De Ferrari, and who probably also took advantage of his knowledge of foreign sources, especially flemings, certainly useful in Naples.
The theme portrayed
The origin and title of this singular representation (oil painting on the canvas, cm 55 x 89), is unknown, portraying the "Diana and Endimione" fable in a small oval space at the top centre, with on top a scroll and under a masquerade and surrounded by various other figures, such as floral garlands and two carpets hanging on a rod dividing the scene in half into two sections, one on the top and the another lower. However, it is believed that the intent of the author of this original subject was to represent a "Allegory of the Hunt", to which it alludes to the presence of Diana, the Selene or Moon of the Greeks, often identified as Diana the hunter, apparently referring to the two women in the act of shooting an arrow from their bows, with two dogs at their sides, clearly hunting dogs, guided by two
young people one with a shotgun on his shoulder. Other dogs are depicted below while
in the four corners of the representation, at the top you can observe two hunters shooting
with their long guns, and on the bottom two half-naked young women seated. The different
allusion to hunting in fact justifies the proper relevance of this title.
The Silvers - Permanent Exhibition
PITCHER, LONDON, 1773, SILVERSMITH CHARLES WRIGHT
PAIR OF ALTAR CARDS, PADUA, 1780, SILVERSMITH ANZOLO SCARABELLO, ASSAYER MARC'ANTONIO BELLOTTO
COFFEE MAKER, VENETA REPUBLIC, SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY
COFFEE MAKER, TURIN, 1760, SILVERSMITH DEGIOANNI GIUSEPPE OR DURANDO GIACOMO MARIA
PUERPERA CUP, TURIN, 1820, SILVERSMITH CARLO BALBINO
SUGAR BOWL, MILAN, 1860
PAIR OF ALTAR CARDS, PADUA, 1780, SILVERSMITH ANZOLO SCARABELLO, ASSAYER MARC'ANTONIO BELLOTTO
COFFEE MAKER, VENETA REPUBLIC, SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII CENTURY
COFFEE MAKER, TURIN, 1760, SILVERSMITH DEGIOANNI GIUSEPPE OR DURANDO GIACOMO MARIA
PUERPERA CUP, TURIN, 1820, SILVERSMITH CARLO BALBINO
SUGAR BOWL, MILAN, 1860
Console table - Permanent Exhibition
The console is carved and gilded in fine gold, mid-18th century.
Place of origin – Central Italy ( Rome).
Both in regards to the legs and the part beneath the table top the console is finely carved with ornamental floral and plant motifs. The piece is in perfect condition both structurally and in what concerns the gilding, being perfectly coeval and well conserved, hereby inducing one to suppose that it has spent many years in an aristocratic home.
The console top, itself antique and coeval, is constructed, according to the tradition of the period, on a base of plain stone subsequently plated with “ Sienna Brocatello”.
( the most marked and highly valued veining to be found in yellow Sienna marble ) .
The Brocatello, once extracted, was “sliced”, positioned on the plain stone base and then plated to it.
This type of workmanship, being extremely expensive and laborious , both on account of the costly materials and time required for realization, was used exclusively for the most beautiful and precious furniture tops.
Place of origin – Central Italy ( Rome).
Both in regards to the legs and the part beneath the table top the console is finely carved with ornamental floral and plant motifs. The piece is in perfect condition both structurally and in what concerns the gilding, being perfectly coeval and well conserved, hereby inducing one to suppose that it has spent many years in an aristocratic home.
The console top, itself antique and coeval, is constructed, according to the tradition of the period, on a base of plain stone subsequently plated with “ Sienna Brocatello”.
( the most marked and highly valued veining to be found in yellow Sienna marble ) .
The Brocatello, once extracted, was “sliced”, positioned on the plain stone base and then plated to it.
This type of workmanship, being extremely expensive and laborious , both on account of the costly materials and time required for realization, was used exclusively for the most beautiful and precious furniture tops.
Pietro Antonio Novelli - Permanent Exhibition
Painter engraver and Italian poet he was born in Venice on the 7th September 1729 and died on 14th January 1804. He was the son of Francesco, a Treviso nobleman and of Caterina Pedrini. His father died and he had as his tutor Fr Pietro Antornio Toni who introduced him to painting but also to literature and harpsichord studies. He modelled himself on the great Venetian tradition , old masters such as Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta and Gaspare Diziani. In 1773 he stayed in Bologna and in 1779 in Rome, where contacts with neoclassicism made his style more composite but probably less imaginative. In the numerous frescoes and altarpieces there are also elements of the Venetian rococo, influenced by his frequenting Jacopo Amigoni. He painted works depicting the Saints Peter and Paul and the Holy Trinity for the Arcipretal Church of Levada of Piombino Dese as well as illustrating the Goldonian comedies edited by Zatta
( 1788-95). He also experimented with panegyrical and dialectical poetry while his autobiographical memories and pictorial letters are in prose form.
( 1788-95). He also experimented with panegyrical and dialectical poetry while his autobiographical memories and pictorial letters are in prose form.
History and origin of the painting
The works of the old masters mainly come from the Tacconi-Ottelio family collection. The Ottelio of Udine family – originally from Bassano, was moved to Udine shortly after 1500 by Alvise of Zuanne. In 1609 it was formally united to that noble council and obtained in 1703 from the Venetian Republic, ruling Doge Alvise Mocenigo, the title of Count as a reward for merit acquired in public service. His nobility and noble title were confirmed by sovereign decrees in 1820 and 1829…- coat of arms: cross section in red and gold, with an acorn bearing oak, planted on top of a three green peak mountain, moving from the peak and crossing over the division with a blue sash bearing the word OTELLIO written in black Roman capital letters crossing over all. Crest: a life sized cock. The Republic of Venice had conceded the title of Count to Alvise. With the termination of the power of the Provveditori over the Feudi, on 23rd August 1705, it had ordered the inscription in the Aureo book of the genuine title holders together with their children,Camillo Nicolò, Ludovico with his son Alvise and Marcantonio, the nobility was then confirmed by the Austrian Emperor.
The theme portrayed: The myth of Andromeda and Perseus
Andromeda’s misfortunes began on the day her mother claimed to be more beautiful than the Nereids , a group of particularly seductive marine nymphs. These, offended, decided that Cassiopeia’s vanity had exceeded all limits and asked Poseidon, the god of the sea, to give her a lesson. For a punishment, Poseidon sent a terrible monster (some even say a flood) to raid the coasts of King Cefeo’s territory. Astonished at the devastation, with his subjects demanding his reaction, the besieged Cefeo turned to the Ammon Oracle to find a solution. He was told that to silence the monster he had to sacrifice his virgin daughter: Andromeda. So here, then, the innocent Andromeda was chained to a rocky coast to expiate the sins of her mother, who from the shore watched remorse fully. According to the legend, this event occurred on the Mediterranean coast, at Joppa (Jaffa), modern Tel Aviv. As Andromeda was chained to the cliff beaten by the swirling waves , white with terror and in tears on account of her imminent end Perseus, the hero, turned up fresh from having decapitated Medusa the Gorgon. His heart seized by the sight of that fragile beauty in the grip of anguish. Perseus asked her her name and why she was chained there. Andromeda, completely different from her vain mother , at first, on account of her shyness, did not even reply. Even though she was awaiting a horrible death in the foaming jaws of the monster she would have preferred, to modestly hide her face in her hands if they had not been chained to the rock. Perseus continued to question her. In the end, fearing that her silence could be interpreted as an admission of guilt, she told him her story which she suddenly interrupted screaming out in terror at the sight of the monster moving in the waves and moving towards her. Pausing a moment to ask Andromeda’s parents to give him the hand of the girl in marriage, Perseus threw himself against the monster, killed him with his sword, released the enraptured Andromeda and made her his bride.
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Who:
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Pieter Mulier- Permanent Exhibition
Nicknamed The Storm or Cavalier Storm he was a Dutch painter who was born in Harlem in 1637 and who died in Milan in 1701. He was the best landscape painter in northern Italy between 1670 and 1700, representing the link between the Roman landscape painting of the seventeenth century and that of the Venetian of the following century. Famous were his paintings of marine storms (Burrasca, Roma, Galleria Doria Pamphili, Landscape in the Storm, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie.
He was apprenticed to his father; he arrived in Italy in 1656, first in Rome, where he frescoed a reception room in Palazzo Colonna, then in Genoa (1668) . He was sought for his ability to depict ships in rough sea (hence his nickname). He was imprisoned from 1676 to 1684, accused of murdering his wife. He continued to work during the years of his imprisonment, incorporating pastoral and religious themes into his painting, where the natural element plays a key role. Later he was in Milan, then in Venice ( 1687) and in the Lombardy areas of the Serenissima, finally returning to Milan where he died.
History and origin of the painting
The works of the old masters mainly come from the Tacconi-Ottelio family collection. The Ottelio of Udine family – originally from Bassano, was moved to Udine shortly after 1500 by Alvise of Zuanne. In 1609 it was formally united to that noble council and obtained in 1703 from the Venetian Republic, ruling Doge Alvise Mocenigo, the title of Count as a reward for merit acquired in public service. His nobility and noble title were confirmed by sovereign decrees in 1820 and 1829…- coat of arms: cross section in red and gold, with an acorn bearing oak, planted on top of a three green peak mountain, moving from the peak and crossing over the division with a blue sash bearing the word OTELLIO written in black Roman capital letters crossing over all. Crest: a life sized cock. The Republic of Venice had conceded the title of Count to Alvise. With the termination of the power of the Provveditori over the Feudi, on 23rd August 1705, it had ordered the inscription in the Aureo book of the genuine title holders together with their children, Camillo Nicolò, Ludovico with his son Alvise and Marcantonio, the nobility was then confirmed by the Austrian Emperor.
He was apprenticed to his father; he arrived in Italy in 1656, first in Rome, where he frescoed a reception room in Palazzo Colonna, then in Genoa (1668) . He was sought for his ability to depict ships in rough sea (hence his nickname). He was imprisoned from 1676 to 1684, accused of murdering his wife. He continued to work during the years of his imprisonment, incorporating pastoral and religious themes into his painting, where the natural element plays a key role. Later he was in Milan, then in Venice ( 1687) and in the Lombardy areas of the Serenissima, finally returning to Milan where he died.
History and origin of the painting
The works of the old masters mainly come from the Tacconi-Ottelio family collection. The Ottelio of Udine family – originally from Bassano, was moved to Udine shortly after 1500 by Alvise of Zuanne. In 1609 it was formally united to that noble council and obtained in 1703 from the Venetian Republic, ruling Doge Alvise Mocenigo, the title of Count as a reward for merit acquired in public service. His nobility and noble title were confirmed by sovereign decrees in 1820 and 1829…- coat of arms: cross section in red and gold, with an acorn bearing oak, planted on top of a three green peak mountain, moving from the peak and crossing over the division with a blue sash bearing the word OTELLIO written in black Roman capital letters crossing over all. Crest: a life sized cock. The Republic of Venice had conceded the title of Count to Alvise. With the termination of the power of the Provveditori over the Feudi, on 23rd August 1705, it had ordered the inscription in the Aureo book of the genuine title holders together with their children, Camillo Nicolò, Ludovico with his son Alvise and Marcantonio, the nobility was then confirmed by the Austrian Emperor.
The landscape
It is a river landscape executed according to the canons of Dutch painting which were inspired by the classical landscape painting introduced and popularized by the French artists Claude Lorrain and Gaspar Dughet in Rome. The legacy of that lesson can be discerned in his canvases in which luxuriant nature dominates and predominates over human presence. Figures and animals are minor features when compared with the heroic aspect. The heroic aspect of the sky, forests, mountains, waterways, is also amplified by the size of the painting that is of a certain impressiveness. We can recognize a certain stylistic coherence not so much in the painting of nature but rather in the figures of women and animals, where the artist displays his capacity for detail rendering it life like and pictorially rich. Furthermore the Dutch artist must be recognized as having an undoubtable stylistic consistency in his dealing with a greatly successful formula, in which he skillfully mixes the lessons of classical landscape with his personal northern taste for the effects of light both spectacular and emotional.
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Who:
Pieter Mulier When: From June in permanent exhibition Where: Les Galeries Marval Antique & Contemporary Art Passage Marval 1 - 2000 Neuchâtel |