Italian school; circa 1700. "The Philosophers; Lucan, Seneca, Bias and Eneo". Oil paintings on panels. They show old restorations and repainting. One of the panels is open at the knot in the wood. Signed in the lower right area of the paper Lucano is holding. Giuseppe Buzzi. Size: 70 x 84 cm (x4); 86 x 99 cm (frame, x4). Set of four works which present different philosophers as the main characters in each of the scenes. To portray these characters, the artist has chosen similar compositions, in which the main character is seated with his body slightly turned in three quarters and his face facing the viewer. They are all set in a landscape, sometimes accompanied by architecture to complete the scene. In addition, each philosopher carries a document inscribed with the name of each of them, which is shown directly to the viewer. Despite these similarities, each scene is different, both in the setting in which each character is set and in the personal features of the characters, such as the beard, the type of hair and the clothes, which vary in shape and colour. Studies carried out by Pietro Someda de Marco seem to indicate that Giuseppe Buzzi was born in San Daniele del Friuli in 1683. The same scholar hypothesises that his family originated in the mountains, since in Studena Alta di Pontebba the surname appears frequently since the 17th century. This surname, however, is quite widespread in Lombardy and, moreover, in a family in Viggiù between the 17th and 18th centuries many artists in the field of sculpture and the square were born. From historical reconstructions it seems that Giuseppe Buzzi has always lived in San Daniele, where he married a certain Alda, who died in 1765, with whom he had six children, one of whom, Giovanni Giuseppe, was a priest, while another, Antonio, was a painter and his father's collaborator between 1728 and 1735. Buzzi created numerous altarpieces, frescoes and paintings of all types. Alongside works influenced by the great contemporary Venetian masters, Fra Giannantonio Pellegrini, with whom he had the opportunity to collaborate, Buzzi created others that were provincial in both taste and setting. His first signed work, an altarpiece in the church of Anduins, dates from 1712. In 1717 he painted a picture for the church of S. Daniele in Cavazzo Carnico and in 1721 an altarpiece for the church of S. Rocco, also in Cavazzo. He died in San Daniele del Friuli in 1769. Dimensions 70 x 84 cm (x4); 86 x 99 cm (frame, x4).