Abigail comes before David with a load of gifts, asking forgiveness for the behavior of her husband who did not accept him, and managing to appease his anger. Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari focuses his attention on the dialogue between the two biblical "heroes": what interests him is not so much the story of the episode - the procession with the gifts is glimpsed in the background - as much as the surrender of the affections. The sentimental tone is the hallmark of many representations of the painter, who here is still very close to the naturalism of his teacher Bernardo Strozzi.

The presence of several hands in a single painting - here even three - is not uncommon especially if we consider that in the artistic workshops there were numerous painters, each with their own specialization. The figures, among whom the child on the right playing with a dog, is clearly a portrait of the head - workshop of Fiasella. Unlike the other characters, he looks at us and wears rich clothing that clashes with the rest of the scene. It is probably the very young Giovanni Battista Spinola of the "di San Pietro" branch, named for the possession of a fief in San Pietro in Galatina and owner of one of the richest collections of the seventeenth century.

Biscaino is a very receptive artist and here he shows his skill in capturing and assembling stimuli and suggestions of different sign, recomposing them in a personal and easily recognizable formula. To the purely pictorial lesson, received and conducted in the name of grace and lightness, of his teacher Valerio Castello, he adds the naturalism of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and the Flemings in Genoa, to whom he seems to want to pay homage in the truthful rendering of the grapes .

The work was part of the collection of the Linguistic Academy of Fine Arts, where a scholar, Federico Alizeri, saw it around the mid-nineteenth century. The picture gallery of the school has a formative function, that is, his works are seen, copied and studied by the pupils. For this reason it includes testimonies of the most representative Genoese artists of every era. Therefore, the fact that he owned this work is proof of how landscapes are by no means a "minor" genre.

Among the "whimsical" painters, Grechetto certainly occupies a particular position. He is a complex artist, extremely versatile, skilled in the art of engraving as well as painting. His paintings often depict cattle and it is common to find in his canvases, in the foreground, pots and kitchenware while the characters are relegated to the background. Yet, this painting testifies that she also excelled in the representation of figures, as evidenced by the beautiful Rachel caught smiling at Jacob, who has just helped her to uncover a well in order to be able to water the flock.

The affectionate gesture between the goddess of beauty and the god of love has been immortalized by Paggi on several occasions. The sensual theme and the format suitable for even the smallest living rooms made this type of paintings particularly popular with collectors of the time. The evidence shown here dates back to the years following a long stay in Tuscany, where the painter - an aristocrat by birth - had found refuge following an accusation of murder, which ancient sources say is unfounded. When the artist finally returns to his homeland it is thanks to the intercession of Prince Giovanni Andrea Doria, his great admirer and heir of the famous Andrea.

An enigmatic set of animals is immortalized among flowers and fruits in the corner of an elegant garden. Although portrayed with finesse of realistic detail, the scene has nothing natural or usual about it. It must therefore allude to a story or hide a meaning, which we may be able to grasp. In fact, animals were often inserted into paintings as a symbol of something else. We could read this fascinating representation as an Allegory of lust: lust, embodied by the monkey, moved by pride, symbolized by the peacock, can dangerously overwhelm fidelity, that is, the dog.

That Van Dyck was one of the best portrait painters of all time is well known and above all the Genoese nobles knew it well. This canvas, however, tells us that even in works of a sacred nature he excelled and was equally requested by the pretentious local clientele. The canvas, from its realization to today, has changed numerous owners and passed "from house to house" as a result of weddings, inheritances, purchases, all passages documented with one constant: the great economic value for the celebrities of its author and for the extraordinary quality of the work.

Splendid work of the maturity of Valerio Castello is a typical expression of his joyful pictorial universe that heralds the Rococo. The allegory of Liberality - recognizable by the cornucopia, the fruits and the golds - was once preserved in the Doria di Montaldeo collection together with an Allegory of Charity, another virtue that is opposed to avarice. The mixtilinear format of the painting is not original, but it is evidently due to an eighteenth-century intervention that transformed it into a graceful superimposed baroque style. The girl's hair cut in the upper part reveals the reduction of the surface of the canvas.

An eloquent gesture and a fully Baroque theatricality characterize this splendid canvas, considered one of the best proofs of Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari. The Assyrian queen Semiramide, warned by a soldier of the Babylonian insurrection, leaves the toilet she is intent on to rush to quell the revolt. The choice of such a particular episode probably dates back to the will of the client, perhaps to be recognized in Doge Alessandro Spinola di Luccioli, who could add to the republican ideals and interests for Latin texts the desire to highlight female heroism, in homage to his daughter, to whom he bequeathed the building in Strada Nuova.