Period: First half of the 18th century
SOLD This airy "Landscape," an oil painting on canvas measuring 49 x 66 cm without frame and 60 x 80 cm with a period frame, with an opening onto a hilly background, framed between two ancient, twisted trees on the left, one with sparse foliage and the other truncated at the top, and a steep cliff on the right, covered with low tree vegetation, is singularly characterized by the group of figures in the foreground on the right. Near a rock shelf are two soldiers, one standing with helmet, cuirass, red cloak, and spear in his right hand, the other similarly adorned and the spear in his left, sitting with his back to a young afflicted man, his face bowed resting on his left hand. Its inventiveness clearly refers to the figurative repertoire of Salvator Rosa, even with a direct reprise from one of his engravings (from the "Series of Figurines," engraved by "Carolo Rubeo") for the young man, absorbed in his thoughts, generally considered by critics to be a prisoner of the two guards. The landscape taste of the scene also generically refers to Rosa, but with a clearly more advanced representative transcription, whose examination leads us with clear evidence to the name of Andrea Locatelli (Rome 1695 - 1751), for the full confirmation of his typological imprint, combined with the pictorial one, in the drafting of all the landscape parameters, and in particular those of the trees and foliage, as well as the ground vegetation. A finding from which emerges precisely his peculiar chromatism imbued with light, with which he achieves brilliant effects of airiness by means of a suffused pictorialism, in this case well enhanced by the rustling of foliage. The effect achieved is to restore the whole of a romantic and quiet representation at the same time, real but tending to the ideal, thanks to a skilful distribution of space and broad brushstrokes of color. The scene is theatrically composed, through a decorative subdivision of the image and a use of chiaroscuro at the service of emotion, framed by wooded wings, made of trees, shrubs and rocks and the diagonal degradation of the promontories, which delineate the landscape, on which the clear, limpid light of the sky is distributed on the horizon. On the side of the composition, on the proscenium, are the typical "Rosian" figures, immersed in a tonal luminosity, but the visual field is only apparently random, it is an open framing and attentive to the chromatic values of light, to offer a spectacle in balance between ideal and natural, of inspiration and classical poetry. The representation, its composition and the pictorial matter lead us to believe that this painting is the work of a mature artist, with a personal modus, determined through the assimilation of various models prevailing in the Roman area. Therefore, the present "landscape" offers us one of the most explanatory examples of the basic influence exerted by Salvator Rosa on Locatelli, as it is accompanied by a direct figurative confirmation, and pursued also in the representation of the majestic ancient trunks, characterizing the compositions of the Neapolitan master, and destined to appear in Italianizing landscape painting throughout the eighteenth century. However, the vast Rosian influence, deeply introduced in the Roman area especially by Jacob de Heusch, is modernly interpreted by Locatelli, as can be tasted in this canvas, based on a warm chromatism and a brilliant luminosity, enhanced in those details - the three figures, foliage and bark - that are directly hit by the sun's rays, or stand out in backlight against the background of the cloudy sky. The paintings and art objects published here are my exclusive property and consequently are always available to be viewed in person, by appointment, at my exhibition venues located in Sanremo and Brescia. The work, like all our objects, is sold accompanied by a FIMA photographic certificate of authenticity and lawful provenance; this document identifies the object by adding value to the item. We personally handle and organize the packaging and shipping of works of art with insurance worldwide. Dr. Riccardo Moneghini Art Historian