Italian School Oil, Allegorical Scene, Figures and Putti, Overdoor, Gilt Frame

Beneath a spreading tree, two women embrace at the left, a third sits in crimson and teal beside a sleeping child, and winged putti fly in against a pale gold and blue sky. The subject is not identified: the embracing pair, the seated woman with the child and the putti are each familiar motifs of Baroque allegory, and here they are combined without a text to name them. The long, low format, 46 inches wide by 26 high, is that of an overdoor, painted to sit above a doorway in an Italian house of the eighteenth or nineteenth century. Unsigned, with nothing on the reverse to fix the painter or the date; the Italian attribution rests on style. Oil on canvas, relined, in a deep carved and gilded frame of acanthus leaves. 46 x 26.5 x 2.5 inches framed.

Relined, with an aged varnish that darkens the shadows and the ground beneath the tree, and scattered surface wear; the figures, sky and drapery read clearly. The carved gilt frame has losses to the acanthus at the corners and rubbing to the high points.