Gueri da Santomio - Portofino after the storm

Landscape has always been a central focus of artistic research, both as a setting, as a backdrop, and as a subject itself. The naturalistic depiction of landscape has been a major aspiration for artists of every era. Each historical period has offered its own interpretation of landscape, contributing to the evolution of its depiction: first with an exploration of space, through Brunelleschi's perspective in the early Renaissance; then with atmospheric rendering in the sixteenth century; and finally with the depiction of every single vibration of light on objects in Impressionism. Gueri da Santomio's views, however, take on a very specific connotation within the twentieth-century realist/verist pictorial context. Indeed, the subject chosen by Gueri does not so much imply a desire to replicate the sensory data of nature, as to frame a social reality, linked to a popular everyday situation. The landscape view almost merges with the genre scene, precisely because of this sociological character that realist painting assumes.

As previously mentioned, the work fits stylistically within a realist framework. This is evident from the composition itself. Indeed, the episode captured from everyday life is captured on the canvas fleetingly, almost instantaneously, as if the artist had taken a snapshot on the spot. From this perspective, the composition of the work is highly eloquent; the scene is framed with an almost casual, slightly diagonal angle. The artist is not interested in carefully calibrated balance in the composition, but prefers to imbue the scene with an authenticity that can be found in the temporary and unrepeatable nature of the scene. For this reason, Gueri da Santomio, with a decidedly dynamic hatching, helps to capture a precise situation of light and atmosphere. And it is here that we see the full extent of the excellent technical and artistic prowess of a master like Gueri da Santomio. His realist streak, grounded in a decidedly impressionistic and synthetic style, does not prevent him from depicting things with extraordinary naturalism.

Bortolo Guerrino Grendene (the artist's real name) was born in 1915 in San Tomio di Malo. He attended the School of Arts and Crafts in Vicenza and the Brera Academy. His official art debut came in 1947 with a solo exhibition in Vicenza. In the following years, his artistic personality and his predilection for portraits and landscapes, influenced by the Impressionists and Macchiaioli, emerged. He also made a name for himself outside Vicenza, exhibiting in various cities in the Veneto region in a group show and in Rome, receiving excellent reviews. He traveled extensively, producing numerous works, which he exhibited in Italy and abroad. His fame consolidated with the opening of a gallery on Corso Palladio in 1981, where he also exhibited lithographs. In particular, and this gave him the reputation of a 'popular painter', he loved to paint the lesser-known views of Vicenza and its liveliest moments, such as the city markets, and to capture in his portraits the expressive power of the subjects he painted. Gueri died tragically in his studio in 1991 due to a

fire.

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