30/10/2001

Finarte held their sale of Old Masters and furniture on the 23rd of October at their Rome premises. The sale was not very strong on the paintings front, scattered as they were among the general household chintz. The main work of the day, Bernardo Strozzi’s Madonna and Child with Infant Saint John only sold at its top-end estimate of $ 35,890 (€ 40,222). The last lot of the sale, Antonio Molinari’s Creso king of Lidia at the fire, an oil on canvas measuring 156 x 224 cm, sold for $ 49,340 (€ 55,290) against an estimate of $ 31,240-40,160 (€ 35,000-45,000), despite some staining to the canvas surface. More spectacular was the price fetched by a heavily chiarascuro oil on canvas entitled the Martyrdom of San Biagio (a 4th century Armenian saint, popular in the south of Italy) measuring 122 x 170 cm and painted by the Neapolitan artist Filippo Vitale, which hammered for a whopping $ 43,470 (€ 48,700) against an estimate of $ 13,890-15,620 (€ 15,000-17,500). Finally, of note was the sale of an unattributed 17th century Roman school, oil on copper measuring 27.5 x 21 cm depicting the Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine. The painting sold for $ 8,920 (€ 10,000) against an estimate of $ 2,230-3,120 (€ 2,500-3,500). (Andrew Moore)