Enrico Brandani (Italian, 1914-1979), Noah's Ark with Nuns

Oil on board, signed to verso and with the artist's initial to skewered sheet held aloft by a nun at the lower right, presented in the likely original frame with velvet liner.

Board 27 1/2 x 15 3/4 in.; Frame dimensions 34 1/2 x 22 3/4 in.

Guillaume Campo Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

Enrico Brandani was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1914. He studied at the Higher School of Fine Arts in Cairo, the Royal Institute of Art in Perugia, and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Closely associated with Surrealism, Brandani developed a distinctive body of work characterized by imaginative, often satirical imagery. Many of his compositions incorporate figures and symbols drawn from the Catholic Church, using humor, exaggeration, and the absurd to explore and critique religious authority and convention.

Several small scattered paint flakes; minor surface scratch to lower left and upper right quadrants; no evidence of restoration or retouch visible under UV light; some staining to velvet liner.