Portrait Man Pourbus 16/17th Century Paint Oil on canvas Old master Flemish

1580-1630

Carlo Ceresa (San Giovanni Bianco 1609 - Bergamo 1679) attributable Full-length portrait of Giacomo Pesenti Oil on canvas (206 x 121 cm - in frame 212 x 133 cm.) This fascinating portrait, portraying a full-length gentleman and datable to the 17th century, illustrates the stylistic and compositional details typical of the pictorial production of the Lombardy area, Bergamo in particular. This reference is reflected in elements such as the natural light, the sober and austere setting and, above all, the subtle psychological characterisation of the face. We are inclined to identify the hand of portrait painter Carlo Ceresa, one of the most illustrious Bergamasque figure painters of the 17th century, capable of developing a style of intense realism and acute psychological investigation. In his works, and our portrait perfectly reflects his canons, an extraordinary naturalistic imprint, great realism and remarkable essentiality are evident. Those traits of severity, moral rigour and austerity typical of his portraiture find a perfect balance here: never courtly or rhetorical, his portraits are profoundly linked to the concept of counter-reform. Immortalising the main personalities of the time, he established himself as a point of reference for the Bergamasque aristocracy, from the Vertova to the Pesenti to the Secco Suardo. The subject of the portrait is Giacomo Pesenti, here immortalised life-size in a rigorous black suit, his left hand resting on a table, on which is placed the necessities for writing and a manuscript, and his right hand, with a sealed ring on his little finger, abandoned along his side while he holds his gloves. He wears a suit of incredible rigour, dressed as befits a man of his high social standing, while the sharp light focuses on his face, with an intensity that seems to be accentuated by the reflection of the white collar, with its sharp profile. For Ceresa, it is not the richness of the garment that gives value to the person portrayed, it is the need to give feeling and bring out the character of the person, and this he succeeds in marvellously, aided by his ability to capture the essence of the person and return it to us in painting through the face and light used as a strong expressive element. In fact, the image highlights that 'counter-reformed' composure typical of the portraiture of painters active in this area and era, adhering to a verism...

Maria Giovanna Battista Clementi known as La Clementina (Turin, 1692 - Turin, 1761), Attributable to Portrait of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy (Turin 1666 - Moncalieri 1732) king of Sardinia, duke of Savoy, marquis of Saluzzo and duke of Monferrato, prince of Piedmont and count of Aosta, Moriana and Nizza from 1675 to 1720. Oil on oval canvas, 79 x 62 cm., Framed 98 x 82 cm. The portrayed in this fascinating virile portrait is King Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, portrayed in ceremonial armor and red cloak according to the traditional courtly iconography, represented half-length, slightly three-quarter-length, with the towering "courtly" wig, according to the dictates of fashion of the first decades of the century, of French inspiration. In order to represent the power embodied in our austere portrayal, the sovereign is immortalized with the symbolic attributes of the power of the family, identifiable in the ancient crown of the Kingdom of Sardinia, in the scepter with the Mauritian cross and in the necklace of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunziata, established in 1364 by Amedeo VI, as the highest honor of the House of Savoy...

Tiberio Titi (Florence, Italy, 1573 – 1638) Title: Portrait of a Gentleman Medium: Oil on panel Dimensions: Without frame 122 x 91 cm – with frame 162 x 133 x 10 cm Not signed Publ...

Giovanni Maria Butteri (Florence, Italy, 1540 - 1606) Title: Portrait of Francesco I Medium: Oil on panel Dimensions: without frame cm. 47.7 x 39 - with frame cm. 55.2 x 46.5 Not signed Expertise by Carlo Falciani, art historian Fairs: The International Biennial of Antiques in Florence 2024 (BIAF, Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato di Firenze) Publications: From Sacro to Profano, the Giorgio Baratti art collection from Milan, exhibition catalogue curated by Daiva Mitrulevičiūtė, Giovanni Matteo Guidetti and Ileana Maniscalco, (16 February – 27 September 2020), Vilnius, National Museum - Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, pp. 566-569. This valuable portrait, by the painter Giovanni Maria Butteri, an exponent of Mannerism and active mainly in Florence, portrays Francesco I de' Medici (1541 - 1587) eldest son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany...