Pandolfini Milano to Auction Historic Milanese Collection on November 8

On November 8, 2023, Pandolfini auction house in Milan will sell a historic private collection spanning ancient, modern, and contemporary art, silver, furniture, and decorative objects. The collection, formed in Milan over decades, will be on view at Pandolfini's Via Manzoni location from November 4. The sale includes top lots such as Renato Guttuso's oil on canvas "Le due amiche / Nudi distesi" (1939-40, estimate €25-50,000), Mario Sironi's "Composizione con manichino" (1919) and "Paesaggio urbano" (1920s, estimate €25-40,000), and Fausto Melotti's "I luoghi deputati" (1976-78, estimate €80-120,000). A marble bust of the Virgin by Antonio Canova is estimated at €300-500,000. The auction also features Italian old masters from Gothic to Neoclassical periods, including a Veronese "Madonna dell'Umiltà" from the early 15th century, Giovanni Bottani's "Ulisse e Circe" (1760), and works by Caravaggesque painters Bartolomeo Mendozzi da Leonessa, Bartolomeo Manfredi, and Pietro Paolini. Paolini's "Giovane musicante e ragazzo con cacciagione," unseen since 1971, carries an estimate of €300-500,000. Venetian 18th-century capricci by Marco Ricci and Francesco Guardi reflect Milanese collecting tastes of the 1970s. The 19th-century section includes works by Jacques-Louis David, Telemaco Signorini, Francesco Gioli, Giovanni Fattori, and Luigi Bechi. The auction is organized by Cristina Masturzo, art historian and critic, who teaches at NABA's Master in Contemporary Art Markets.