It is no exaggeration to say that Guido Carmignani (1838-1909) is not exactly a household name, although this Parma-born Italian painter is certainly well represented in the museum of his native town. He trained initially under the tutelage of his father, Giulio, who had some success as a landscape painter. He then continued his studies in Paris where he became captivated by the art of Jean-Léon Gérôme and the landscape art of Corot. He taught landscape painting at the Parma Academy from 1862 and was appointed professor of landscape painting at the Brera Academy in Milan in 1877. Giovanni Segantini was one of his pupils there.
What makes our little oil sketch so charming is the very simple colour balance that the artist has opted for, in which one can detect, unsurprisingly, the influence of Corot. The painter has tried to handle the paint brush in an effortless style, whilst at the same time ensuring that telling detail is depicted as precisely as possible, mainly through the interplay of colour.
A ship mill is essentially a type of barge propelled by a big water wheel (just visible through the opening at the back). These boats were almost always places of work, and the man in the picture (most likely the skipper) is seen casually resting against a stack of bales, presumably containing flour or grain, although it seems that this might have been only part of his cargo. Various tools are visible in the painting, including rope and shovels. According to the inscription on the back (and in accordance with the title of the larger painting in the Lombardi museum in Parma), the scene here represented was located near the Sacca di Goro lagoon in the southern part of the river Po delta, which flows eastwards across much of northern Italy.
The way in which the skipper has struck a pose is charming: he is affecting a relaxed attitude, although the way in which he is leaning seems awkwardly askew. One wonders how much rest the man would have got reposing in that position! The colour scheme is dominated by the ochre brown of the ship mill, which makes the slivers of blue used to denote the sky (also peeping through the portholes) particularly revealing.
All in all, this is an oil sketch that is typically 19th century for its loosely painted colours depicting a slice of ordinary reality.
A final word should be said on provenance. The painting comes from the collection of the Parma-based architect Glauco Lombardi, who contributed much to the study of 19th century Parma and founded the eponymous Museo Glauco Lombardi there, which opened in 1961. In the museum's collection there is a larger painting of which our oil study was clearly the preliminary sketch [1].
__________________________
1. Guido Carmignani (1838-1909), Intimo de un mulino sul po, 1857, oil on carton, 34 x 45 cm, Museo Glauco Lombardi, Parma.
What makes our little oil sketch so charming is the very simple colour balance that the artist has opted for, in which one can detect, unsurprisingly, the influence of Corot. The painter has tried to handle the paint brush in an effortless style, whilst at the same time ensuring that telling detail is depicted as precisely as possible, mainly through the interplay of colour.
A ship mill is essentially a type of barge propelled by a big water wheel (just visible through the opening at the back). These boats were almost always places of work, and the man in the picture (most likely the skipper) is seen casually resting against a stack of bales, presumably containing flour or grain, although it seems that this might have been only part of his cargo. Various tools are visible in the painting, including rope and shovels. According to the inscription on the back (and in accordance with the title of the larger painting in the Lombardi museum in Parma), the scene here represented was located near the Sacca di Goro lagoon in the southern part of the river Po delta, which flows eastwards across much of northern Italy.
The way in which the skipper has struck a pose is charming: he is affecting a relaxed attitude, although the way in which he is leaning seems awkwardly askew. One wonders how much rest the man would have got reposing in that position! The colour scheme is dominated by the ochre brown of the ship mill, which makes the slivers of blue used to denote the sky (also peeping through the portholes) particularly revealing.
All in all, this is an oil sketch that is typically 19th century for its loosely painted colours depicting a slice of ordinary reality.
A final word should be said on provenance. The painting comes from the collection of the Parma-based architect Glauco Lombardi, who contributed much to the study of 19th century Parma and founded the eponymous Museo Glauco Lombardi there, which opened in 1961. In the museum's collection there is a larger painting of which our oil study was clearly the preliminary sketch [1].
__________________________
1. Guido Carmignani (1838-1909), Intimo de un mulino sul po, 1857, oil on carton, 34 x 45 cm, Museo Glauco Lombardi, Parma.
Man resting on a ship mill, 1856
Signed lower left: Carmignani.
Oil on paper laid down on card
24 x 32 cm
Attached to the verso is a handwritten label: Marzo 1856, Mulino Natante, sul po a Sacca/Soggetto del pittore Guido Carmignani/(Collezione Glauco Lombardi)
Attached to the verso is a handwritten label: Marzo 1856, Mulino Natante, sul po a Sacca/Soggetto del pittore Guido Carmignani/(Collezione Glauco Lombardi)
Provenance
Collection Glauco Lombardi (1881-1970), Parma, Italy;Private collection, France.
Exhibitions
This painting is the preliminary sketch of a larger painting exhibited in the Museo Glauco Lombardi, Parma, Italy.
It is no exaggeration to say that Guido Carmignani (1838-1909) is not exactly a household name, although this Parma-born Italian painter is certainly well represented in the museum of his native town. He trained initially under the tutelage of his father, Giulio, who had some success as a landscape painter. He then continued his studies in Paris where he became captivated by the art of Jean-Léon Gérôme and the landscape art of Corot. He taught landscape painting at the Parma Academy from 1862 and was appointed professor of landscape painting at the Brera Academy in Milan in 1877. Giovanni Segantini was one of his pupils there.
What makes our little oil sketch so charming is the very simple colour balance that the artist has opted for, in which one can detect, unsurprisingly, the influence of Corot. The painter has tried to handle the paint brush in an effortless style, whilst at the same time ensuring that telling detail is depicted as precisely as possible, mainly through the interplay of colour.
A ship mill is essentially a type of barge propelled by a big water wheel (just visible through the opening at the back). These boats were almost always places of work, and the man in the picture (most likely the skipper) is seen casually resting against a stack of bales, presumably containing flour or grain, although it seems that this might have been only part of his cargo. Various tools are visible in the painting, including rope and shovels. According to the inscription on the back (and in accordance with the title of the larger painting in the Lombardi museum in Parma), the scene here represented was located near the Sacca di Goro lagoon in the southern part of the river Po delta, which flows eastwards across much of northern Italy.
The way in which the skipper has struck a pose is charming: he is affecting a relaxed attitude, although the way in which he is leaning seems awkwardly askew. One wonders how much rest the man would have got reposing in that position! The colour scheme is dominated by the ochre brown of the ship mill, which makes the slivers of blue used to denote the sky (also peeping through the portholes) particularly revealing.
All in all, this is an oil sketch that is typically 19th century for its loosely painted colours depicting a slice of ordinary reality.
A final word should be said on provenance. The painting comes from the collection of the Parma-based architect Glauco Lombardi, who contributed much to the study of 19th century Parma and founded the eponymous Museo Glauco Lombardi there, which opened in 1961. In the museum's collection there is a larger painting of which our oil study was clearly the preliminary sketch [1].
__________________________
1. Guido Carmignani (1838-1909), Intimo de un mulino sul po, 1857, oil on carton, 34 x 45 cm, Museo Glauco Lombardi, Parma.
What makes our little oil sketch so charming is the very simple colour balance that the artist has opted for, in which one can detect, unsurprisingly, the influence of Corot. The painter has tried to handle the paint brush in an effortless style, whilst at the same time ensuring that telling detail is depicted as precisely as possible, mainly through the interplay of colour.
A ship mill is essentially a type of barge propelled by a big water wheel (just visible through the opening at the back). These boats were almost always places of work, and the man in the picture (most likely the skipper) is seen casually resting against a stack of bales, presumably containing flour or grain, although it seems that this might have been only part of his cargo. Various tools are visible in the painting, including rope and shovels. According to the inscription on the back (and in accordance with the title of the larger painting in the Lombardi museum in Parma), the scene here represented was located near the Sacca di Goro lagoon in the southern part of the river Po delta, which flows eastwards across much of northern Italy.
The way in which the skipper has struck a pose is charming: he is affecting a relaxed attitude, although the way in which he is leaning seems awkwardly askew. One wonders how much rest the man would have got reposing in that position! The colour scheme is dominated by the ochre brown of the ship mill, which makes the slivers of blue used to denote the sky (also peeping through the portholes) particularly revealing.
All in all, this is an oil sketch that is typically 19th century for its loosely painted colours depicting a slice of ordinary reality.
A final word should be said on provenance. The painting comes from the collection of the Parma-based architect Glauco Lombardi, who contributed much to the study of 19th century Parma and founded the eponymous Museo Glauco Lombardi there, which opened in 1961. In the museum's collection there is a larger painting of which our oil study was clearly the preliminary sketch [1].
__________________________
1. Guido Carmignani (1838-1909), Intimo de un mulino sul po, 1857, oil on carton, 34 x 45 cm, Museo Glauco Lombardi, Parma.
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