Landscape Painting Show in Seravezza
Last evening my wife and I, along with our plein
air painter friends Maddine and Joe of Etruscan
Places, visited the show of 19th century landscape paintings in
Seravezza, above Forte dei Marmi:
The place, first of all, was a happy find: a palazzo/villa
built by Cosimo I de’ Medici as an outpost above Lucca where he could keep an
eye on his marble quarries. Recently restored, the palazzo provided a lovely
setting for the show of Tuscan landscape painters who, influenced by Barbizon
realism, re-approached the local landscape with gimlet eye.
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| Palazzo Mediceo in Seravezza |
These
were, admittedly studio works and not done en plein air, but they smacked of a
freshness and clarity of vision honed in the clear light of the marble
mountains around Carrara. Corot’s studio work always disappoints after
appreciating his open air painting, but these artists probably (there were no
plein airs to compare them to) exceeded themselves in the studio, retaining the
freshness of observation but combining it with calculated effects of reflected
light, chiaroscuro, and a rich, albeit controlled, palette.
If you find yourself in this part of Italy this
summer, take a break after the beach and visit the show, open evenings from 5pm
to midnight. Wednesday evenings, apparently, aperitifs are offered on the grounds....
