18th Century, Baroque Austran Painting by August Querfurt

Giovanni Michele Graneri (Italy, Turin 1708-1762) Bambocciata (Farmers dancing in front of the inn) The painting, made in oil on canvas, depicts a moment of celebration where some p...

Painting by Pietro Domenico Ollivero. "Manio Annio Curio Dentato receives the ambassadors of the Samnites", around 1740 The work in question depicts the scene of and was made by the famous italian painter Pietro Domenico Ollivero. The oval canvas shows on the back the card of the Galleria Caretto in Turin (Italy) with the authentic 1965 Giorgio Caretto. The work was also published in "I Piaceri e le grazie" by Arabella Cifani and Franco Monetti in 1993. The subject refers to the history of Rome and an episode narrated by the historian Valerio Massimo. Manius Curius Dentatus (330 BC - 270 BC), one of the great Romans of the 3rd century B.C. was a consul in ancient Rome, known for ending the Samnite Wars. Elected consul in 290 BC. along with Publio Cornelio Rufino, in the same year he fought and won the Third War against the Samnites and their allies, thus ending a conflict that had lasted for 49 years. He definitively subdued the Sabines and the Greek army of Pyrrhus in the battle of Benevento. He represented the ideal prototype of ancient Roman for the generations that followed in that he avoided public honours; Cato the censor, who collected his sayings, placed him among the great figures of universal history. For centuries after his death (in 270 B.C. while overseeing the construction of the second aqueduct in Rome) his military exploits were recounted and his moral rectitude was praised as an example for all the Romans. Ollivero, in the cultured choice of the episode, illustrates the moment when Manio Curio Dentato is found in his home, characterized by Roman walls, sitting by the fire, on a rustic bench while eating his meal in a "ligneo catillo" (wooden basin...

Francesco Simonini (Parma, 16 June 1686 - Parma, 1766) “The rest of the soldiers” and “The march of soldiers” oil on canvas cm 40 x 58 and 40 x 60 ; frame: h 52,5 x W 70,5 x D 6 an...

Gaetano Ottani (1720 - 1724 / 1801) Pair of paintings depicting landscapes with ruins and figures Measurements: canvas cm W 82 x H 66; with frames cm W 98 x H 82 x d 6 The two valuable paintings, made in oil on canvas, depict landscapes with architectural whims animated by some figures. The architectural whim, an artistic genre that has made its way in Italian painting since the seventeenth century, is characterized by the representation of fantastic architectures or inventions of perspective type, sometimes combined with elements drawn freely from reality. In the works we observe large arches, colonnades and friezes fallen into disrepair, placed in perspective in order to create a greater depth, are inhabited by spontaneous vegetation that partly covers the top. Around other architectural elements of classic taste, such as sarcophagi and vases, move and balance the composition. Greenery dyes the ground, which fades on the horizon into plains with some small and distant buildings, while some rocky mountains are lost far away, creating a scenic backdrop that emphasizes and amplifies the effect of the perspective escape line of buildings. Some figures of gentlemen who entertain in speeches, accompanied by a dog, other travellers and characters from rural life enliven the composition. It highlights a remarkable pictorial quality with which the artist traces the characters and the ruins and a bright and well-balanced color, played on delicate tones and in harmony with each other. Stylistically the works are certainly attributable to the Italian painter Gaetano Ottani (Italy, Bologna, 1708 - Turin, 1801). Gaetano Ottani was born in Bologna in 1708. Unfortunately, the artist still lacks a monographic study. The date of death by many still erroneously indicated in 1808 is instead 14 January 1801 when the artist was 92 years old. He was therefore born in 1708, and not in 1720-24 as many report (for the recording of the act of death to the Municipality of Turin, cf. Historical Archives of the Municipality of Turin, Rubrics of the Acts of Death, vol. 37: Thursday, January 15, 1801 "Gaetano Ottani - 92 - old age - S. Filippo" is preserved among the documents of the parish of San Filippo di Torino). Ottani studied at the Accademia Clementina. He had a complex career as a set designer, as a painter and as a tenor, much appreciated in Italy. He devoted himself mainly to easel painting, and in particular to the genre of caprice, often with views of ruins and fantasy marinas full of details, night visions on colonnades. He first took as an example Pietro Paltronieri, the Mirandolese; to the maturation of the style, he had to concur the study of known artists in the journeys undertaken as an opera singer. He was very influenced by the great scenographer Ferdinando Galli Bibiena. Tenor, and therefore in the system of the voices of the drama for music of the mid-eighteenth century predestined to the parts of ruler and parent, he always sang only in “opera seria”. Diego Tufarelli, impresario at S. Carlo in those years, had hired Ottani considering him the tenor...

A late 18th century French painting depicting a romantic couple in a pastoral setting. Oil on canvas. Unsigned. Original gilded wood frame. Small repair to canvas in the upper left c...

A 1700`s painting of Joseph with the Child Jesus on his lap, a rare Baroque motif of paternal love. Oil on wood Frame: 47x54 cm Without frame: 27x34 cm

This signed 18th Century painting showcases a beautiful scene of a loving man and woman and their loyal canine companion gathered around a charming fountain, executed in the Baroque ...

A light-brown, green antique Austrian Baroque oil on canvas painting by Franz Xaver Hornöck in a hand crafted original black, partly gilded wooden frame, in good condition. The vinta...