Antonello Zecca - Milan, Naviglio Grande

The urban landscape was already a popular subject in the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, but predominantly in an idealized manner. Scenes of city life became typical themes with a more realistic interpretation starting in the 19th century. It is worth remembering that immediately following the realist movements of the 19th century, the Impressionists also placed great emphasis on the everyday, on everyday life, with a certain predilection, however, for the frenzy of the city, the crowds, the traffic, and typically bourgeois settings. In Antonello Zecca's city views, as in the work here, the everyday aspect prevails, the frank and sincere realism of everyday life in a city setting.

Antonello Zecca's style perfectly blends realism with a delicate, impressionistic rendering of sensory details. On the one hand, the artist precisely describes the view in all its details, with a strong sense of urban reality and the everyday life of simple life. On the other, his refined painting technique and diluted color allow him to convey a sense of immediacy to the panel, thanks to rapid brushstrokes charged with atmospheric vibrations. Light thus reverberates across objects, yet without interfering with the precise depiction of reality. The entire view is thus characterized by a clear luminosity that is revealed, by contrast, in the play of shadows. The use of a palette of soft, delicate colors also serves this purpose.

Antonello Zecca (1944) is a Milanese painter and founding member of the Italian Watercolourists Association, he is considered one of the most significant Italian watercolour masters of our time.

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