On the afternoon of December 11, at 4:30 PM, the much-anticipated “Old Masters” auction will take place — a flagship event dedicated to the art of the Old Masters from the 15th to the early 19th century. The catalogue includes paintings, panels and drawings from Italian and European schools, spanning the High Renaissance, the Baroque period and the great artistic season of the seventeenth century. Among the most significant works stands out the extraordinary Susanna and the Elders by Mattia Preti (Lot 256), presented as an early work by the master and regarded by scholars as a fundamental piece for understanding the evolution of his Caravaggesque and Bolognese language. The sculptural intensity, dramatic chiaroscuro and emotional tension running through the scene fully convey the narrative power of Preti in the 1640s.

Alongside this masterpiece is The Baptism of Clorinda by Andrea Vaccaro (Lot 258), a signed work confirmed by Prof. Nicola Spinosa, representative of the artist’s classicist phase after 1650, in dialogue with Cavallino and with Neapolitan culture of the time. Also of great charm is The Muse Clio by Alessandro Tiarini (Lot 248), a refined example of his soft, luminous painting, poised between Bolognese classicism and narrative elegance. Adding to these is the precious copper painting by Bernardo Strozzi, the Crucifixion (Lot 271), known as the “Viezzoli Crucifixion”: a rare work in both size and quality, notable for its striking depiction of the sky and for a dramatic intensity tempered by subtle emotional sweetness. The selection is further enriched by Perseus Fighting Phineus and His Companions by Luca Giordano (Lot 257), attributable to the master’s Spanish period, and by the powerful Ecce Homo by Jusepe de Ribera (Lot 246), dating to around 1630–1632, a testament to his full expressive maturity and to the evolution from naturalism to the Venetian-influenced painterly style.