Over time, Maurizio Nobile Fine Art has established itself as a benchmark on the Italian and international art market, specializing in paintings, drawings, and sculpture by Italian masters active from the late 15th century to the first half of the 20th century.

Founded in Bologna in 1987, the strong interest shown by private collectors and public institutions worldwide led to the opening of a Paris location in 2010 and a Milan venue in 2021.

The gallery is a reference point for prestigious international museums such as the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), the Morgan Library & Museum (New York), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York).

It participates in major international fairs, including the Florence International Antiques Biennale (BIAF), Salon du Dessin (Paris), London Art Week (LAW), and TEFAF Maastricht (Works on Paper section).

Maurizio Nobile Fine Art continually seeks works of exceptional quality for acquisition and provides valuations, estimates, and market advisory to its clients. Maurizio Nobile is a member of the Italian Antiquarian Association (AAI) and CINOA.

Erminia e i pastori

Felice Torelli (Verona, 1667 – Bologna, 1748)

Oil on canvas, 199 x 158 cm

Provenance: Rome, Mario Lanfranchi and Anna Moffo collection; New York, Central Pictures Galleries (1962); London, Messers J. Leger & Son collection (1952).

Exhibitions: New York, Finch College Museum of Art, February 27–April 8, 1962, cat. no. 41. Bibliography: I. Graziani, La bottega dei Torelli, Bologna, 2005, pp. 212–213, fig. no. 60 (Felice Torelli); R. Roli, Bolognese Painting 1650–1800. From Cignani to the Gandolfis, Bologna, 1977, p. 113; C. Miller Dwight, Felice Torelli, painter from Bologna, “Bollettino d’Arte,” XLIX, IV, 1964, pp. 62, 66, note 33; Baroque painters of Bologna and neighboring cities, exhibition catalog, New York, Finch College Museum of Art, edited by R. L. Manning, cat. No. 41, given to Ercole Graziani the Younger by Hermann Voss.

Madonna

Carlo Santi (Bologna, 1697 – Rimini, after April 1773)

ca. 1725-1730

Patinated terracotta, 70 x 56 cm

Provenance: Bologna, private collection.

This terracotta oval depicts in high relief, within a carved and gilded wooden frame,
the life-size half-length figure of the Madonna (fig. 1).

The work is part of the tradition of producing terracottas for private devotion that
successfully established itself in Emilia in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Already attributed to the greatest representative of Bolognese sculpture between the 17th and 18th centuries,
Giuseppe Maria Mazza (1653-1741), our Madonna is more appropriately attributed
to the lesser-known Bolognese sculptor Carlo Sarti, known as Rodellone, or Rodolone.