An early pair SOLD to MALTESE NOBILITY classical oils in exceptional early monumental frames.

Sold in Malta to local nobility.

In Malta. LARGE. A pair of colourful , full , busy 18th century oil paintings in carved wood frames, gesso on pine , water gilded real gold leaf. Depicting ever popular [for the art market ] ; armour , helmets/plumes. Movement and much interest . Italian School. This unattributed pair is museum quality suitable for a top end location. Or into a stately home. Frames and oils are in unrestored condition ; the canvases were relined perhaps in the late Victorian era. Unrestored condition. Reasonably tight canvases. Some historical repair to frames and canvases. Worm damage present ,considered /probably inactive. Gilding and gesso damage to frame. Paintwork appears well adhered with even crackle. The crackle has generally not become scalloped or loose /flakey. ————————— *The following opinion is not confirmed by academic consultation;  The subject is more difficult and open to varying interpretation . It is possibly a pair of copies devised from earlier paintings , though I cannot identify a source painting . Perhaps two paintings from a set / suite of related images [ for example like the Hardwick Hall tapestries ] . https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1129463.1 . These paintings similarly could be from a set conceivably of 4 , 6 up to or 8 for example ,or more – like a storybook. I have no definite subject ; but as suppostion ; One painting shows peasant [ non jewelled ] women with club, spear and adze fighting [in punishment] a musician ; a wrecked tree; perhaps aftermath of/from when Sabine women had previously been lured to and abducted from ; [ Neptunus equestris festival with musicians ; Livy ] this scene is probably after this ‘ abduction ‘ ‘rape of Sabine women’ , this picture is possibly therefore Sabines in ‘ revolt ‘ preceding the Sabine reprisal invasion of Rome by Sabine Tatius ; which itself was before the ‘intervention’ / peace of Sabine Women [ as depicted far later by Jacques-Louis David in 1799 ]. The walking knights picture may be after the ‘ intervention ‘ in new Rome , with Titus Tatius [ scarlet cloak ] accompanied by new-peace Sabine women [one ‘moving in’ to Rome with luggage] ,the principal female probably being Hersilia , a reason for peace, being Sabine wife of Roman Romulus and daughter of Sabine Tatius. Roman and Sabine warriors bearing both the rectangular and round shields specifically alluded to in Plutarch 1; 21 . ,these occasions being the last time Romans used round shields. The buildings in the two pictures may be Capitoline and Palatine hills , with Tiber island .