Oil on canvas. Signed, dated 1872 and located Parma lower right. It is a large winter landscape of strong scenic impact, which fits well into the scenographic traditionalism typical of the painting of Mentore Silvani, an artist native of Traversetolo (Parma), a landscape painter but also known as a set designer. In the scene, sprinkled with the white of a brief snowfall that creates that typical rarefied and silent winter atmosphere, among bare and dry trees, a dirt road winds through which a wayfarer passes; on the right a ruined building with the washhouse where a woman draws water; in the center a small column on which a sacred image is mounted. Trained in his hometown, Silvani participated in the exhibitions of L'Incoraggiamento in Parma starting in 1864, and it is predominantly in his city that his works are found today (at the Municipality of Parma, the National Gallery, the Paolo Toschi Art School); he also exhibited in Milan (1872) and Florence (1875). Trained as a set designer at the school of Gerolamo Magnani, Silvani held this position in Parma but also in Venice starting in 1871. His pictorial production, which includes predominantly rural landscapes of the Parma countryside, is always characterized by fidelity to the real data. The work proposed here is presented in a contemporary frame.
Frame dimensions (cm):
Height: 149
Width: 238
Depth: 10
Work dimensions (cm):
Height: 125
Width: 214
ARAROT0147772
