Gianni Testa - Rome, People's Square

The urban landscape was already a popular subject in the Middle Ages and Modern Ages, but predominantly in an idealized manner. Scenes of city life became typical themes with a more realistic interpretation starting in the 19th century. It's worth remembering how, 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 frenetic pace of the city, its crowds, traffic, and typically bourgeois settings. Gianni Testa, a Roman painter who specialized primarily in the subject of horses, also drew inspiration from views of his hometown in many of his works.

The defining characteristic of Gianni Testa's pictorial language is the frenetic dynamism he expresses especially in his most congenial subject, a group of horses in motion. However, in this beautiful urban view, we can see how he maintains his expressive vehemence even when dealing with a static subject. The pronounced pictorialism that consistently permeates Gianni Testa's work, dismantling forms and reducing them to a synthesis of pure chromatic matter, remains. While in his works of movement, the disintegration of form tends to emphasize the strength and vigor of the subjects, in this case it serves to identify powerful atmospheric vibrations in the space and on the buildings. This interpretation is confirmed by the color palette used in this work. While in his groups of horses in motion, Testa favors fiery hues, in this Roman view, he instead uses a grayscale appropriate for the depiction of a cold, rainy day.

Gianni Testa is an artist born in Rome in 1936, where he still lives and works. Throughout his career, he has participated several times in the Rome Biennale and Quadrennial, and the Milan Triennale. He has exhibited his work in numerous shows in Italy and abroad (Germany, Basel, New York, Philadelphia). He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Vittorio Sgarbi. In 2014, he was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Complesso del Vittoriano in Rome, presented by Claudio Strinati.

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