Italian Landscape, Cleto Luzzi 20th Century Oil Italian Countryside Woodland

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Italian Landscape, Cleto Luzzi 20th Century Oil Italian Countryside Woodland

About the Item

Cleto Luzzi (1884-1952) Country road Oil on wood Provenance: Heirs of the Painter Signed lower right: Cleto Luzzi A Roman painter at the court of the King of Siam: Cleto Luzzi belongs to the still-substantial category of artists who lived between the 19th and 20th centuries and from 1929-1932, he had the privilege of becoming the official painter of the King of Siam. Formed in direct contact with late 19th century academic culture, Luzzi studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Rome under the guidance of two exceptional masters: Francesco Jacovacci and Giulio Aristide Sartorio. From the first he received a certain indulgence towards sketching, clearly visible, for example, in the "genre" juvenile paintings and watercolors set in the most affected and Rococo 18th century. From Sartorio, on the other hand, he learned the techniques necessary for the correct execution of monumental decorative art, a field that Luzzi often attended with considerable success. He soon specialized in the decoration of religious buildings in the capital, in 1914 he frescoed the church of San Nicola de 'Prefetti adopting a correct, but not original, classicism. With the same setting he then made numerous altarpieces (for example in San Claudio, in San Giuseppe a Capo le Case, in the church of Santa Maria Margherita Alacoque, near Sant'Eusebio and, again, in the chapel of the Precious Blood at the Verano where in 1940 he painted the Via Crucis). An evident change of register appears instead in the canvases executed in the East (Siam, Cambodia, India, Indochina, Burma). Once moved to Bangkok with the position of director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and court painter (1929), Luzzi seemed like opening up to experimentation. The traditionalist and oleographic tone of the works made at home gave way to a freer language, built on refined chromaticisms and on agile brushstrokes rendered in the divisionist style. With a sometimes very personal approach, sometimes stereotyped on the canons of Orientalism, Luzzi painted temples, local monuments, fascinating naturalistic visions and even exotic "snapshots" of everyday life. If in India he did not give up portraying a casual snake charmer, in Cambodia he was attracted by the ruins of Angkor Wat and, with lyricism and coloristic sensitivity, he created a suggestive view of the temple complex at sunset. The eastern light, of course, played a crucial role for Luzzi's opening to a more intimate and sought-after naturalism; however, the formal data of the aforementioned Angkor Wat (1930), suggest that the artist already in Rome had to meditate on landscape painting, for example by Enrico Coleman and his master Sartorio. Although endowed with a remarkable talent, Cleto Luzzi was soon, unjustly, forgotten. After his death, a series of retrospective exhibitions (organized in 1956 at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome and the Collegio Nazareno, in 1958 at the Circolo di Forestieri in Sorrento) were not enough to keep the painter's name in vogue. The measurement shown is of the painting without frame. Italian Fine Arts Authority must check this item in order to allow its exportation. This process lasts about 60 days.

Creator:
CLETO LUZZI (Author)
Dimensions:
Height: 39.38 in (100 cm)Width: 39.38 in (100 cm)Depth: 0.4 in (1 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Wood,Oiled
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1920-1929
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1920
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Rome, IT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU4882115691361