Landscape Painting in Italy
Many famous works of art have had as their subject the study of landscape, despite the fact that this last pictorial genre took shape autonomously, within Western art, only in the seventeenth century, thanks to the impulse of the Flemish school. In spite of this, there are many Italian masterpieces that, even if they are previous to this last period, document a strong interest in the figurative representation of such topic. In fact, already in the Middle Ages, artists such as Giotto, Simone Martini and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, had set their subjects in contexts in which the landscape, realized in an autonomous way and without any kind of stylization, was closely connected to the episode represented.
Giotto, St. Francis Receives the Stigmata, 1295-99. Fresco, 230 × 270 cm . Assisi: Upper Basilica of Assisi.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Effects of Good Government in the Countryside, 1338 - 1339. Fresco, Siena: Palazzo Pubblico.
However, it was in Flanders, during the fifteenth century, that modern landscape painting developed, aimed at capturing, through a skilful use of light and color, the most minute aspects of nature and the world in general. This lesson was emulated in Italy, during the second half of the fifteenth century, by artists such as Benozzo Gozzoli and Antonello da Messina, whose work inspired many other masters, including Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione and Titian.
Antonello da Messina, Crucifixion, 1475. Oil on panel, 59.7 × 42.5 cm. Antwerp: Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten.
Giorgione, The Tempest, circa 1502. Oil on canvas, 83 × 73 cm :Venice: Galleria dell'Accademia.
Titian, Noli me tangere, 1511 approx. Oil on canvas, 109 × 91 cm. London: National Gallery.
Later, for the evolution of landscape painting in Italy, was also decisive the work of Piero della Francesca, who interested in deepening some stylistic, technical and luminous aspects of Flemish painting, he elaborated linear perspective, producing rigorous perspective landscapes. The scientific observation of the natural datum, instead, was reached thanks to the pictorial investigation of Leonardo da Vinci, who introduced two innovative elements, such as the perception of the atmospheric effect on the distances and the "sfumato".
Piero della Francesca, Baptism of Christ, 1445. Tempera on panel, 167 × 116 cm. London: National Gallery.
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503-1506 approx. Oil on panel, 77 × 53 cm .Paris: Louvre Museum.
In spite of this interest, which also found expression in treatises, landscape painting did not achieve full artistic dignity throughout the 15th century and during the first half of the 16th century. From the second half of the latter century, the further evolution of this genre was due to the encounter, which took place in Italy, between Italian and Flemish artists, which led to the union between Nordic realism and classicism of the Bel paese. However, the decisive contribution to the birth of modern landscape painting was impressed by some French painters, such as Nicolas Poussin, Gaspard Dughet and Claude Gellée, who, transplanted to Rome, were able to raise this genre to sublime artistic subject, in which it shows an idealized reality, solemn and harmonious, where man and nature live together in perfect synthesis. Consequently, it is in this cultural climate of the late seventeenth century, which began to appreciate the landscape painting and the genre scene, although only in the eighteenth century the latter reached an extension and an autonomy never seen before. In fact, during this last period, were added to the classical themes of the seventeenth century, the representation of city views, such as the famous views of Venice by Canaletto, and the strand of the picturesque landscape. At the end of the eighteenth century it came slowly to landscape painting to us best known, or the naturalist, which was the prelude to the romantic, impressionist and macchiaiola.
Nicolas Poussin, A Roman Road, circa 1648. Oil on canvas, 79 x 99.7 cm. London: Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Salvator Rosa, Rocky Landscape with a Hunter and Warriors, circa 1670. Oil on canvas, 142 x 192 cm. Paris: Louvre Museum.
Giuseppe De Nittis, Passing the train, date unknown. Oil on canvas, 31.1 x 37.6 cm. Barletta: Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis.
Giovanni Fattori, Bovines on the cart, circa 1867. Oil on canvas, 46 X 108 cm. Florence: Gallery of Modern Art.
Giuseppe Abbati, Tuscany street or Country road with cypresses, 1863-1865. Oil on canvas, 28 x 38 cm. Florence: Gallery of Modern Art.
Buttafoco Antonino, The Mona Lisa, 2017. Oil on canvas, 70 x 50 cm.
Buttafoco Antonino: The Mona Lisa
Even the works of the artists of Artmajeur have depicted the Italian landscape on many occasions, such as, for example, the canvas of Buttafoco Antonino, which, through a more modern and simplified technique of representation, re-proposes the Mona Lisa of Leonardo da Vinci and his famous aerial view. The latter, both in the work of Leonardo, and in that of Buttafoco, portrays, most likely, the historical region, which extends between Emilia Romagna, Marche and Tuscany, that is Montefeltro, characterized by a strong naturalistic aspect studded with numerous archaeological and historical sites. In the painting of the two artists, the aerial view was created by painting the Valmarecchia in the foreground, while the massif of Mount Carpegna, as far as Senigallia, was reduced in scale and, in some parts, compressed, until it became a sort of topographic map. In spite of this, the aforementioned landscape, which was painted with such scientific rigor as to allow the view to be depicted with great fidelity, represents a document capable of bearing witness to the ancient morphology of Montefeltro. Regarding exclusively the painting realized by Leonardo, in this masterpiece, the use of the sfumato technique has allowed to merge the image of the protagonist with the surrounding environment. In the work of the artist of Artmajeur, however, the Mona Lisa, which has been reproposed with a very personal painting technique, although similar to that of the original, lacks the sfumato. As a consequence, losing that atmosphere of dust, Buttafoco's painting is characterized by a greater clarity and sharpness of details.
Cataldo Motolese, "Bengodi" Maremma, 2018. Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 50 cm.
Cataldo Motolese: "Bengodi" Maremma
Motolese's canvas, Artmajeur's artist, immortalizes the Maremma landscape, which was one of the most depicted subjects of the exponent of the Macchiaioli group, Giovanni Fattori. An example of what has just been stated is the painting of about 1867, entitled Bovines on the cart, which depicts life in the fields of the Maremma, a vast Italian geographical region between Tuscany and Latium. The canvas, distinguished by its rectangular format and the perspective depth of the road, is intended to suggest the vastness of the landscape. The latter is the main subject on the left side of the painting, while the figures, which are placed on the right side, counterbalance, creating a perfect compositional and chromatic balance. The upper half of the canvas was instead destined to the horizon, realized with color backgrounds superimposed in bands. As for the chromaticism of the work, it is the alternation of light and dark to form the structure of the painting, marked by the bright colors of the summer season. All these characteristics generate an atmosphere of concreteness, within which it seems almost possible to perceive the sounds, the warmth of the sun and the smells of the countryside. In addition, the cart pulled by oxen and the peasant, who are at one with the nature of the Maremma, take the observer back to any day's work in the fields, where time seems to be eternally suspended. Therefore, Motolese's painting, which depicts only the lush green nature of the Maremma, ceases to tell us the story of the infinite bond between man and nature, to focus on the mere celebration of the hill of Talamonaccio (Bengodi, Maremma). In fact, this place represents for the artist a place of eternal beauty and mysticism, where man can find harmony and serenity.
Marius Vancea, Imaginary journey, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, 120 x 90 cm.
Marius Vancea: Imaginary journey
The canvas of Vancea, Artmajeur's artist, depicts a country road, a subject dear to Macchiaioli painting. In fact, Giuseppe Abbati, who was an exponent of the latter movement, painted, between 1863 and 1865, Tuscany street or Country road with cypresses. From this same period are also other Italian landscapes painted by the aforementioned Neapolitan artist, such as The walls of San Gimignano and The street of Montughi. With regard to Vancea's work, the topico of the sunny country road, dear to Abbati, is made with a technique partly similar to that of the Macchiaioli, because in the canvas it is evident the juxtaposition of some "spots" of color. In fact, it was precisely this last group of artists, during the 16th century, that distinguished itself for the "macchia" technique, namely to perform a theme by distributing directly on the support the spots of color, originating a vigorous chromatic rendering of strong chiaroscuro contrasts and great expressive originality.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
