Andrea Locatelli

(Roma, 1695 - Roma, 1741)

Attributed to

A landscape painter who contributed to the depiction of the Roman countryside as an expression of an ideal of pastoral life, the inspiration for a new culture that differentiated and spread throughout the 18th century in response to the Baroque, considered a source of disorder and bad taste. In keeping with the principles developed within the academic Arcadia, a balance between nature and reason, intellect, and imaginative fantasy is also restored pictorially (ut pictura poesis—Quinto Orazio Flacco). The painting, a product and expression of the times in which the painter lived, features a rare perspective of the Tiber, depicting a locus amoenus, a nature indicative of a peaceful and serene existence, outside of time, aimed at a stable and tranquil quiet. A still image of an idyllic moment captured in its existential temporality. Pictorially, the canvas assumes a balanced register, where the measured spaces are in perfect harmony with the green landscape in a dense yet precise texture. This entire stage design, reminiscent of Dughetti, certainly derives from a common approach, consistent with artists of his time such as Paolo Anesi (Rome 1697-1773) or Paolo Monaldi (Rome 1710-1779). His work is the product of a culture with precise literary and philosophical references to the Arcadian circles of his time." ASORstudio