Sketches, oil on canvas applied to panel, depicting “Apotheosis of Saint Sebastian” and “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” by the painter Andrea Andaldo (Voltri, Genoa 1584 – Genoa 1638). Dimensions: 27 x 19 cm “Among the most distinguished painters of Liguria, Gio. Andrea Ansaldo deserves to be placed, an elegant subject in drawing, founded in perspective, intelligent in foreshortening, expressive in affections, pasty, and sweet in coloring, furnished in short with all those qualities, which complete the perfection of Art.” thus Andrea Ansaldo (Genoa –Voltri 1584 – Genoa 1638) was described by the biographer Raffaello Soprani in the “Lives of Genoese painters, sculptors, and architects” (in this second edition revised, increased, and enriched with notes by Carlo Giuseppe Ratti, Volume one, 1768-1769, p. 200). He had Orazio Cambiaso as his first master &rdquo ; and he made non-ordinary progress in drawing. He then moved on to coloring; and he succeeded very well in it. Indeed, to become more frank and expert in this, he borrowed a painting by Paolo Veronese from a friend: and having obtained it, he copied it so many times that he was finally able to imbue himself with that flavorful handling of colors, for which that Author has distinguished himself” (Ibidem, p.201). Ansaldo's works, with their chromatic vivacity, reflect the influences of contemporary artists present in Genoa, a city in full artistic ferment, from the Flemish Anton Van Dyck (1599-1641) and Rubens (1577-1640) to his compatriot Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644). A painter but also an established fresco artist “He was called by the Adorni Lords to paint some stories in fresco in their villa palace located not far from Voltri” (ibidem, p. 202) and then for Gio. Francesco Brignole in the palace in Piazza degli Embriaci, in the Imperiale villa in Terralba, to name a few, but also for many Genoese ecclesiastical buildings; and it is precisely in the church of the Annunziata del Vastato in Genoa that the magnificent cycle of frescoes painted by Ansaldo between 1635 and 1638 is located. Due to humidity infiltrations, Gregorio de Ferrari was called to restore them “in the year 1705, Ferrari was given the task of restoring it. … With so much study, however, he did not succeed in imitating exactly the composition of Ansaldo, nor even the brush. Wherefore, alas, the manner of Ferrari is perceived, which does not reach, and does not unite well with that of the previous Artist” Roprani, Ratti p. 116 These two small sketches "Apotheosis of Saint Sebastian" and "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" oil on paper applied to panel, probable studies for a cycle of frescoes, depict the elevation towards the sky of Saint Sebastian and the Madonna who, seated on foaming clouds, are pushed upwards by a triumph of cherubs. Andrea Ansaldo, a painter to be discovered, and these two small works, which represent a first thought of the artist, are an excellent start. Highly recommended!!