Pandolfini, an auction with top names: from Piero di Cosimo to Ceruti, Ribera to Moroni

Important auction of antique and 19th-century paintings at Pandolfini ’s in Florence on May 15. Among the proposals are works of particular relevance to the national artistic heritage. The first part of the auction, scheduled at 3 p.m., offers in sequence, in a single catalog, an interesting selection of ancient paintings that with about sixty lots draws a path from the 15th century to the Neoclassical age, and a smaller group of works that for their undoubted relevance have been declared of particular importance for the national artistic heritage.

While the early Renaissance prevails among the latter, with works by Piero di Cosimo (The Progenitors at Work, oil on panel, 51 cm diameter; estimate € 150/250,000), Dosso Dossi(Madonna and Child with Angels, oil on panel, 31x22 cm; estimate € 80/120.000) and Giovanni Buonconsiglio(Christ Carrying the Cross, oil on panel, 64x45 cm; estimate € 150/200,000), the protagonist of the first part of the catalog is undoubtedly the painting of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, albeit with significant forays into earlier ages.

The 15th century is represented by the precious tablets by the Master of the Cloister of the Oranges(St. John the Baptist and St. Anthony Abbot; estimate € 30/50,000), Stefano “piovano” of Sant’Agnese(St. Francis and St. Martin; estimate € 40/60,000) and the Master of the Madonna Lazzaroni(Madonna Enthroned with Child and Angels;€ 15/25.000), while the 16th-century presences include Francesco Signorelli, present with a well-documented predella with Stories of the Virgin (estimate € 30/50,000) and Giovan Battista Moroni, acclaimed protagonist of the recent Milan exhibition: his St. John the Evangelist and St. Paul, very rare works on panel, will be offered with an estimate of € 80/120,000.

Baroque painting is present with the protagonists of different schools: important are the Neapolitan artists in the catalog, from Jusepe Ribera, of whom an unpublished John the Baptist is presented (estimate € 50/70,000), to Bernardo Cavallino, with two Old Testament scenes already catalogued and estimated at € 60/80.000 each; to Antonio De Bellis, with an oil on paper depicting St. Bartholomew (estimate € 8/12,000); to the rare Ambrosiello Russo, a recently rediscovered protagonist of the first half of the still life: he will be in the catalog with a signed Cucina (estimate € 20/30,000). Also present is a Saint Sebastian by Guido Cagnacci (estimate € 40/60,000).

Particularly relevant is the presence of the Lombardy school, in its broadest sense: ranging from Giulio Cesare Procaccini, of whom a rare study of heads in oil on panel is offered (estimate € 40/60,000), to Giacomo Ceruti, protagonist a year ago of the important Brescian exhibition: the Cuoca e il portarolo will be offered with an estimate of € 70/90,000. Slightly further south, Luca Ferrari, a painter from Reggio Emilia who was also active in the Veneto, is in the catalog with the perturbing Magdalene and a St. Demetrius, patron saint of Venice (estimate €25/35,000 and €15/20,000, respectively).

Second appointment, at 5 p.m., with a selection of paintings from the 19th century. On this occasion, works of exceptional quality, created by renowned international and Italian artists, such as Mario Cavaglieri, Oscar Ghiglia, Eugenio Cecconi, Armand Cambon, Angelo Dall’Oca Bianca, Llewelyn Lloyd, Mario Puccini and many others, will go up for auction.

Standing out is Fausto Zonaro’s oil on canvas The Water Lilies of the Valley, the study of which began in 1907 and is now presented in the catalog with an estimate of €70/90,000. The canvas depicts young women dancing gracefully accompanied by music played by children, who in the purity of nudity seem to embody the spirit of nature. Also of great importance is the work Juliet in Selva di Valsugana, an oil on cardboard by Mario Cavaglieri in which the artist’s pictorial material asserts itself in all its intensity. Estimated €60/80,000, the painting depicts Giulietta Catellini De Grossi, vehemently called “Juliette,” the absolute muse of the painter’s art and life. She wears a red and blue patterned dress and a red ribbon in her hair, her head bowed and her eyes downcast, absorbed in reading the small volume she holds in her hands.

Also in the catalog is Woman in Reading by Eugenio Cecconi, a unicum in the artist’s career in that it is a depiction of a female figure in an interior defined in its details-unlike the more frequent subjects such as landscapes or hunting scenes. An intimate and collected dimension is detected in the painting, starting with the casually crossed legs and the dress of singular simplicity. Flanking it are two oils on panel: Primavera in Piazza delle Erbe by Angelo Dall’Oca Bianca (estimate € 70/10,000) and Anita Brunelli nello studio di Fattori by Giovanni Fattori (estimate € 15/25,000).

Of a different kind is the oil on canvas Alzata con testa in gesso e conchiglia by Oscar Ghiglia, in which the “object” becomes the absolute protagonist of the representation, investigated with such emotional and structural lucidity as to instill a sort of reverential awe. Forced by the artist into a close and unmediated vision, still life immediately ceases to be composition to assume the sacred and seraphic aura of an eternal idol.

Also relevant are some paintings depicting seascapes and boats, such as Porto mediceo (estimate € 15/25,000) and Barche al molo (estimate € 9/12,000) by Mario Puccini, as well as paintings by Llewelyn Lloyd Barca all’ormeggio, Isola d’Elba (estimate € 8/12,000) and Barche al porto (estimate € 5/8,000).

Pandolfini, an auction with top names: from Piero di Cosimo to Ceruti, Ribera to Moroni

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