Snowy Landscape, Klosters Cavadürli, Silvretta, Switzerland

Snowy Landscape, Klosters Cavadürli, Silvretta, Switzerland Oil on canvas by Clément Castelli depicting Cavadürli in Klosters and the Silvretta. The work captures the atmosphere of high alpine altitudes through a textured application with a palette knife. Technical Information: Period: circa 1910 Provenance: Paris Author: Clément Castelli (1870-1959) Technique: oil on canvas Artwork dimensions: 38 x 55 cm Artwork dimensions with frame: 70 cm x 53 cm Description: The painting depicts the hamlet of Cavadürli, located in the Swiss municipality of Klosters. The composition develops from a foreground dominated by a snowy slope, interrupted on the left by the profile of a dark wooden barn with a gable roof completely covered by snow. A diagonal, trodden track cuts through the snow, guiding the gaze towards the background where the Silvretta mountain range stands out, partially covered in snow and silhouetted against a clear sky with blue-grey tones. The pictorial execution shows application primarily with a palette knife and thick brushstrokes, a technique that lends plastic relief and material thickness to both the rocky walls and the snow volumes. The color palette is based on a cool range of whites, grays, and shades of blue, contrasted by the brown tones of the wooden structure and rosy passages that describe the incidence of sunlight on the peaks. The work is signed in the bottom right. On the back of the canvas, there is a contemporary handwritten inscription identifying the painter and the precise geographical location ("Klosters - Cavadürli - Schweiz"), alongside a circular stamp bearing the painter's name and city again: Paris. The painting is set within a carved wooden frame with continuous leafy scroll motifs, finished with a white and gray lacquer and complemented by gold highlights. Biographical notes on the author: Clément Castelli (Premia, 1870 – Paris, 1959), a naturalized French painter, dedicated his artistic activity to the representation of high-altitude landscapes. Trained in Paris, he regularly exhibited at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Salon des Indépendants. As a member of the Société des Peintres de Montagne, he documented the main French, Swiss, and Italian alpine groups, perfecting a textured style based on the use of the palette knife to convey the consistency of rocks and snow-covered surfaces.