An exhibition of Italian paintings focused on the Fourteenth to Eighteenth centuries is running throughout December at Trafalgar Galleries, St James’s.
The exhibition features several significant paintings spanning the centuries, beginning with a holy group by Niccolo Di Pietro Gerini, circa 1380-1385; a beautiful panel by Vincenzo Catena, which was at one time in the collection of the seventh Marquis of Carpio; and an autographed replica, by Garofalo, of a holy family with a shepherd painted under the influence of Dosso Dossi.
A work to look for is a painting by Giulio Romano depicting the Emperor Claudius on horseback. This painting once belonged to the Gonzaga Family of Mantua and later passed into the collection of Charles I of England. Among the Venetian paintings is a striking portrait of a man in armour by Jacopo Tintoretto from his mature period circa 1560-70. The Sixteenth Century part of the exhibition includes works by Scipione Pulzone, Jacopo and Leandro Bassano and Carlo Antonio Procaccini, working with Jan Brueghel.
An especially intriguing painting in the exhibition is a large version of Titian’s destroyed masterpiece portraying St Peter Martyr, attributed by scholars to Annibale Carracci, which may be the work recorded in a Bolognese collection of the Seventeenth century.
Among Caravaggesque paintings is an important musical scene by Bartolomeo Manfredi and a fascinating depiction of a fortune teller by a newly discovered master now known as the Maestro dei Giocatori. Works by Guercino, Carlo Dolci and Massimo Stanzione are represented among Seventeenth Century works with a high quality Riberesque painting of a rare subject, “Portia,” by Luca Giordano.
The Eighteenth Century is represented with a powerful early work by Sebastiano Ricci depicting Samson returning to his parents, as well as works by Marco Ricci, Vanvitelli, Menescardi, Domenico Becchio, Sebastiano Conca and Giandomenico Tiepolo.
Trafalgar Galleries is at 35 Bury Street, St James’s. For information, 01144 20 7839-6466 or email trafalgargallery@aol.com.
