The one dedicated to Old Master Paintings and Drawings is one of the most important and historical departments within Cambi Auction House.
Internationally recognized as an important point of reference for Italian and foreign collectors, the department of Antique Paintings aims to devote the utmost care and seriousness in the research and enhancement of unpublished or published works, making available to clients a great expertise in the field, matured by our experts and esteemed art historians in years of work in the field and study.
A wide and varied selection of works, both Italian and European in scope, is always presented within the antique painting catalogs, with the quality of the paintings presented, the rarity of the subjects and artists proposed and a good provenance as the essential criteria of choice, thus meeting the demands of even the most demanding collectors and amateurs.
Leafing through the pages of our catalogs, one can find works ranging from the fourteenth century to the late eighteenth century, such as precious paintings with a gold background from the Gothic period, important panels dating back to the Renaissance, and spectacular canvases, the work of some of the most important protagonists of Mannerism and Baroque at the international level, up to the highest peaks of neoclassical production.
In addition to offering advice in the field of painting on different media (such as panel, canvas, copper, glass or stone), the Department of Old Master Paintings also pays special attention to graphic production, offering interesting nuclei of drawings and studies on paper, dating back to different periods and made in black pencil, sanguine, pastel or watercolor.
Moreover, Cambi Auction House has always reserved particular relevance to Genoese pictorial production, exhibiting within the halls of its historic headquarters in Castello MacKenzie some of the masterpieces of the 17th and 18th centuries, among which stand out the names of great artists of the caliber of Luca Cambiaso, Giovanni Battista Paggi, Bernardo Castello, Domenico Fiasella, Bernardo Strozzi, Gregorio De Ferrari, Antonio Tavella, Antonio Travi, Domenico Piola, Gioacchino Assereto and Valerio Castello.
We recall some of the most important examples of ancient paintings adjudicated in our recent sales including Rubens' Dying Seneca, sold for €574,100, the pair of paintings by Panini adjudicated for €393,000, but also Giorgio Vasari'sAllegory of Autumn, a work sold for €150,100. Excellent adjudications were also achieved for antique paintings by Italian painters such as Giovanni Serodine, with his Saint Jerome, adjudicated for €334,100, Sandro Botticelli for his Madonna and Child, sold for €310,000.
In terms of sales, the Department of Old Master Paintings and Drawings closes the year 2023 with sales over 4.1 million. Top lots for 2023 include Jan Brueghel I called of the Velvets (1568 Brussels - 1625 Antwerp) and Joos De Momper the Younger (1564 Antwerp - 1635 Antwerp), attributed to, Winter Landscape with Skaters. Sold for 162,600 euros (estimate: 20,000 to 25,000 euros). Top adjudications also include Maestro di Marradi, Procession of the Magi, oil on panel, 72x55 cm. Sold at: 137,600 euros (Estimate: 20,000 - 25,000 euros) and by Giulio Cesare Procaccini, Holy Family with St. John, oil on canvas. Sold for 122,600 euros (Estimate: 50,000 - 60,000 euros).
Our experts are available to evaluate the paintings in your possession free of charge; contact us for more information.