The eagerly anticipated Pandolfini Old Master Paintings Auction, the highlight of the 2026 autumn season, will take place on 1 October, coinciding with the Florence Biennale Internazionale dell'Antiquariato. During this prestigious event, Florence once again becomes the international meeting place for collectors, scholars, dealers, and enthusiasts of Old Master paintings, with a particular focus on Italian art.
The carefully curated selection, chosen for its outstanding artistic quality, spans a period from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century and encompasses both sacred and secular subjects by some of the most distinguished masters of their time, including Ludovico Mazzolino, Jacopo Robusti, known as Tintoretto, Johann Liss, Bartolomeo Bettera, Giambattista Tiepolo, and Fra Galgario. A noteworthy mention goes to the presence in the catalog of an unpublished, full of pathos painting by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Il Guercino, depicting a poignant and solitary 'Mater Dolens' almost life-sized, of prestigious and noble provenance.
Landscape painting is represented by an exceptionally colourful and idyllic composition by Paul Brill, depicting the dramatic episode of Theagenes and Chariclea Abducted by Brigands. Among the Caravaggesque painters, a spectacular large-scale canvas by Matthias Stomer, illustrating The Healing of Tobias, stands out as one of the highlights of the sale.
The catalogue also features an important group of figure paintings and a remarkable selection of expressive portraits, both male and female. Among these are a striking and highly characteristic head by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, a remarkably rare Venetian School painting depicting an Oriental Dignitary, and a noble Portrait of a Young Man, an exemplary work by Tintoretto.
As customary, the exhibition will be held in the galleries of our headquarters at Palazzo Ramirez Montalvo from 25 to 30 September, open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We look forward to welcoming visitors to share our passion for Old Master paintings, scholarly research, and the enduring beauty of great works of art.