14/09/2001

Semenzato auction house in Venice reopens the Italian season on the 16th of September with a sale of Old Master works. The most important lots carry estimates between $ 50,000-100,000 (€ 55,220-110,440). Among the most noteworthy are an oil on canvas by Giandomenico Cerrini (1609-1681) entitled Guiseppe spiega i sogni dei due carcerati. Once in the collection of New Yorker Victor Spark, it has an estimate of $ 46,700-70,150 (€ 61,640-77,470). Also of note are a tempera on canvas by another Perugian master, Bartolomeo Caporali (1420-1505) entitled Christo portacroce with an estimate of $ 51,440-56,120 (€ 56,800-61,970) and a panel entitled Madonna, Bimbo e San Giovannino by Berardino de’ Conti, a painter of the Milanese school, active between 1480 and 1520, with an estimate of $ 70,150-93,530 (€ 77,470-103,290). An important folio edition by British antiquarian and diplomat to the Court of Naples, William Hamilton, is also available. Entitled Campi Phlegraei it includes illustrations of volcanoes in Sicily and Naples. The sale also includes 59 hand coloured plates by Peter Fabris and a full size map by Joseph Guerra, expected to reach $ 95,000 (€ 99,390). (Elena Balzani)