Francesco Messina - Untitled

The depiction of animals in art has ancient origins, even appearing in primitive cave paintings. For religious reasons, various types of animals appear in the works of various ancient civilizations. It was especially in the Middle Ages, within the International Gothic style, that animal depictions became widespread as true life portraits, both within works of art and in notebooks of drawings and sketches. The presence of animals as subjects in art remained constant until the contemporary era. In this sculpture, artist Francesco Messina focuses his research on the figure of the horse. A noble animal, a symbol of beauty and harmony, the horse has repeatedly been a prominent subject in the history of art. Since the fourteenth century, its presence has always been obligatory in battle scenes or equestrian monuments, and artists have always found it a challenge to represent it with anatomical precision and naturalistic rendering.

Even when his research shifts from the human figure to the subject of the horse, Francesco Messina's principles of sculptural practice remain unchanged, in the sense of an exquisitely classical vision, dictated by principles of naturalistic rendering, harmony, and balance. The representation remains based on a clear exaltation of plastic values, modeled softly and with refined anatomical precision. In the specific case of this model, however, which features a galloping horse, the artist's desire to accentuate the subject's dynamism is evident. The movement, while always natural, is fueled by a composition featuring a strong horizontal thrust, created by the taut line from the horse's tail to its (very elongated) head. The result is a strong sense of movement that, however, does not disrupt the harmonious balance typical of Messina's works.

Francesco Messina was born in Linguaglossa in 1900 and died in Milan in 1995. He was primarily a sculptor. He created important Italian monuments, such as the Stations of the Cross in San Giovanni Rotondo; the RAI Horse; and the Monument to Pius XII in St. Peter's Basilica. His works are held in numerous museums both in Italy and abroad. Critics compare him to Manzù, Sassu, and Marini for his exploration of the human figure, recontextualized according to a contemporary sensibility.

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