Allesandro Battaglia
The Flirtation
1906

About the Item

Allesandro Battaglia (1870-1940, Italian) "The Flirtation" 1906 Watercolor on Paper Signed "A. Battaglia, Roma 1906" Site Size: 30 x 20 inches Framed Size: approx 41 x 33 inches Son of Clelia Bompiani and Ercole Battaglia, he was trained by his grandfather Roberto Bompiani, studied drawing and completed his artistic training with the advice of his mother Clelia and uncle Augusto. Later, although linked to the school of Cesare Maccari and Ludovico Seitz, he followed with interest mainly the realism and the dramatic style of Domenico Morelli, who fascinated him with his skillful and intense colorism. Modest, almost shy but always smiling and available, he was actually, as De Angelis wrote, "a spirit always tending in an indefatigable will to overcome oneself, and to keep always in step with the new trends that were emerging on the horizon of art. " At only thirteen, Battaglia took part in the exhibition of the Roman Society of Cultori and Amateurs of 1883 with a conventional "Portrait of the Sister", taking part in almost all the Italian and foreign exhibitions, including that of Berlin in 1896 where a his watercolor, "Livia", was purchased from the Magdeburg museum, while the great painting "Final Exams" , of a pathetic sentimentality to Toma, was exhibited and sold in Munich. Until the turn of the twentieth century Battaglia's work exhibited the naturalism of Michetti's imprint in numerous paintings of peasants and shepherds as subjects: "Pastorella" of 1893, "La Contadinella" of 1879 and "Le Spigolatrici" of 1887. Later he was interested in divisionism and the luminism of academic origin with works such as "Spring Morning", exhibited at the IV Venice Biennale ( 1901 ) and purchased by the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, and "Contrasti", exhibited in Barcelona in 1902 . In 1904 Battaglia was among the founders, together with Enrico Coleman and Onorato Carlandi, of the Group of " XXV of the Roman Countryside" who intended to return to landscape painting, intended not in an academic sense, but as a recovery from the real landscape. He entered the group with the nickname of "Marine Calf", for his somatic traits, devoting himself to animated scenes of the Roman Agro that he loved deeply and which he portrayed with sentiment and vigor coming out of the studio to gather the inspirations in the shadow of the ruins of the Roman aqueducts and to translate the vibrations it received from the "open air". Landscapes and rural motifs are in fact the most frequented subjects in this period of his production, both on canvas and in watercolor. With "The Harvest", "Threshing" and "Luisella", Battaglia participated in the XXXIV Exhibition of the Roman Watercolorists of 1910 ; "The Springs" were presented at the Roman Exposition of 1911. Even in these works the attempt to constantly update the new artistic tendencies appears to be hampered by a substantially academic formal conception and by the persistent interest in the Morellian work; this is evident also in his latest works, of which the most significant ones, "Convito d'Ombre" , "Ritmo di Secolo", "The Daughter of the Hostess", repeat the usual motifs. Battaglia taught at the Art School of Rome and painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was an Academician of San Luca and a councilor of the Association of Roman Watercolorists; and he won prizes in numerous exhibitions: in Rome in 1893 , in Munich in 1897 and in 1911 , in Senigallia in 1904, in Barcelona in 1910 and in Buenos Aires the following year. He painted both oil and watercolor and his versatility made him treat the landscape equally well (Marina Maccarese , Ponte Mammolo , Capannelle , Roman Campagna ), the genre painting and the figure always with a sentimental inflection ("Le Springs", "The Nest", "The Tour of Rest"), with considerable technical skills, great creative sincerity and above all with absolute freedom, so much so that he compared himself to "a plant that turns where it wants, but to preference, freely towards the soul". Battaglia also illustrated together with Onorato Carlandi , Giulio Aristide Sartorius , Raggio, Napoleone Parisani and Ferrari, The Roman Campaign of Arnaldo Cervesato with an evocative pastel representing Capannelle; in 1904 , together with Carlandi , Ferrari and Augusto Bompiani, he illustrated a souvenir album for President Loubet on a visit to Italy .

Creator:
Allesandro Battaglia (1870 - 1940, Italian)
Creation Year:
1906
Dimensions:
Height: 41 in (104.14 cm)Width: 33 in (83.82 cm)
Medium:
Archival Paper,Watercolor
Movement & Style:
Realist
Period:
1900-1909
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Missouri, MO
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU74732680233
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