On May 28, Finarte’s Rome office hosts the sale of nearly 300 lots of Old Master Paintings and Drawings. At the center is an important nucleus of 18th-century Veneto art, along with antique drawings and works from private collections.
Scheduled by Finarte on May 28, at its Rome headquarters at via Quattro Novembre 114, is a major auction of Old Master Paintings and Drawings of nearly three hundred lots articulated in two rounds and built around a nucleus of works that puts back into circulation paintings that have long remained in private collections, often within the same families, along with works that have never appeared on the market and collecting nuclei characterized by an internal consistency of taste and selection.With particular attention to the 18th century and its Venetian declinations, but also with openings to Lombard, Neapolitan and Caravaggesque circles.
Among the central pieces in the sale is an unpublished work by Cristoforo Unterperger, entitled Apollo delivers Aesculapius to the centaur Chiron (lot 281, estimate 12,000 to 18,000 euros). The painting is referred to as an important testimony of Roman collecting in the late 18th century and was a preparatory model for the final version preserved in Palazzo Altieri in Rome, the headquarters of the ABI. The work was also chosen as the cover image of the catalog, an element that emphasizes its centrality within the exhibition itinerary.
Next to this nucleus is the Portrait of the Thiene Family by Abbot Pietro Bini (lot 282, estimate 15,000 to 20,000 euros), already known to scholars but presented for the first time in an auction context. The painting comes from a historic villa in Asolo and has been handed down for generations within the same family. The iconographic analysis conducted on the work identified a series of symbolic elements that refer to the Serenissima, heraldic culture and figurative codes typical of the 18th century, including details related to the language of the fan and a miniature view of Vicenza in the background. The work is thus read as a familiar narrative device, in which the celebratory dimension is intertwined with the memorial one.
Both paintings are the focus of a lecture entitled Two rediscovered masterpieces of the 18th century: Cristoforo Unterperger and Abbot Pietro Bini compared, scheduled for May 21 during the preview. The meeting is structured according to a format that combines art-historical insights, diagnostic analysis, staged readings and moments of theatrical narration, with the aim of restoring the material and cultural context of the works.
A significant part of the auction is represented by a nucleus of works (lots 149-203) from a Lombard mansion that belonged to a collector specializing in Venetian art. This section defines a coherent path through 18th-century Venetian painting and graphics, highlighting a collection built according to criteria of rigor and aesthetic continuity. Within this group emerges Giambattista Piazzetta ’s San Girolamo (lot 202, estimate €40,000-60,000), declared in 1986 to be of artistic and historical interest by the Ministry of Cultural and Environmental Heritage.
The Veneto core also includes a pair of paintings by Gaspare Diziani (lot 197, estimate 7,000 to 10,000 euros), a Landscape by Francesco Zuccarelli (lot 199, estimate 5,000 to 8,000 euros) and a large canvas by Giuseppe Zais (lot 198, estimate 3,000 to 6,000 euros). These are joined by Pier Francesco Mola’s Rest during the Flight into Egypt (lot 203, estimate 12,000 – 18,000 euros), which offers an intimist reading of the sacred subject, consistent with the trends of 18th-century collecting.
Special attention is also paid to the graphic section, consisting of nearly fifty drawings. In this corpus appear again Francesco Zuccarelli with a Rest during the Flight into Egypt (lot 172, estimate 1,800 to 3,000 euros) and Giuseppe Zais with two Landscapes (lots 153 and 154, estimate 600 to 800 euros each). The selection also includes a God the Father by Francesco Fontebasso (lot 162, estimate 600 – 800 euros), a Study of Heads attributed to Giambattista Pittoni (lot 164, estimate 800 – 1,200 euros) and a Miracle Scene attributed to Daniele Crespi (lot 173, estimate 1,000 – 2,000 euros). The corpus is also presented as one of the most significant components of the sale because of its accessibility and the role that drawing plays as a tool of study and invention, capable of returning a direct dimension of the creative process.
The catalog also includes works from other private collections, including anAdoration of the Magi attributed to Antonio Balestra (lot 276, estimate 7,000 – 10,000 euros) and St. Gregory the Great by the so-called Maestro della Madonna del Parto (lot 278, estimate 5.000 – 8,000 euros), identified as part of a dismembered polyptych, the fragments of which are now distributed between the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice and a Serbian Orthodox church in Mostar.
Within the Lombard section are a panel by Callisto Piazza with Christ at the Column (lot 279, estimate 20,000 to 30,000 euros), a Madonna and Child with St. John between Saints Peter and Paul by Carlo Urbino (lot 210, estimate 7.000 – 10,000 euros) and a work by Giuseppe Nuvolone withJacob is reconciled with Laban (lot 275, estimate 5,000 – 8,000 euros). The Caravaggesque section includes a Bacchus by a northern author active in Italy in the first half of the 17th century (lot 280, estimate 8,000 to 12,000 euros) and an anonymous Ecce Homo that echoes an invention by Caravaggio (lot 222, estimate 12,000 to 18,000 euros).
The Neapolitan school is represented by a Study of a Male Nude by Corrado Giaquinto (lot 269, estimate 6,000 – 8.000 euros), two previously unpublished canvases by Francesco De Mura with St. Peter and St. Paul (lots 223 and 224, estimated 4,000 to 6,000 euros each) and Elena Recco’s Trionfo di pescato (lot 256, estimated 5,000 to 8,000 euros). Completing the segment is a still life by Andrea Benedetti (lot 239, estimate 8,000 – 12,000 euros).
“The May 28, 2026 auction promises to be a special occasion,” comments Valentina Ciancio, head of Finarte’s Department of Old Master Paintings and Drawings, on the sidelines of the sale’s catalog, which she edited together with Adele Coggiola and Giulia Leonardi. “The catalog offers more experienced collectors unpublished paintings from a lesser-known but highly valuable 18th century as well as presenting at auction a rich selection of graphics that are also interesting from an economic point of view for those who wish to approach the art of the Old Masters for the first time. In fact, the fascination of drawing, used by artists as a phase of study and experimentation with respect to the finished work, maintains the freshness and immediacy of the artist’s creativity.”
The sale takes place with exhibition from May 21 to 23 and May 25 to 27, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The auction is scheduled for Thursday, May 28, with a first round devoted to antique paintings (lots 1-136) at 11 a.m. and a second round devoted to antique paintings and drawings (lots 137-290) at 3 p.m., also at Finarte’s headquarters at 114 Via Quattro Novembre in Rome. On May 21 at 6:30 p.m. there will also be an in-depth conference dedicated to the two rediscovered eighteenth-century masterpieces, with an introduction by Riccardo Lattuada and readings of texts by Alessandra Uguccioni interpreted by Valerio Ricci.
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| At Finarte a major auction of Old Master Paintings and Drawings, with a focus on the eighteenth century Veneto |
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