Luigi Mayer ( Roma 1750 - 1803 )

Sold Oil on canvas painting measuring 49 x 63 cm without frame and 60 x 74 cm with frame depicting an architectural capriccio signed lower right Mayer F. (Rome 1750 – 1803). In the 1700s, Vedutismo was born, a pictorial genre based on the representation of views (hence the name) of both natural and urban landscapes, which become the absolute protagonists of the paintings. The great fortune and diffusion of the genre is mainly due to the new approach that Grand Tour travelers have towards the places visited, starting from the second half of the 18th century; in fact, they are no longer satisfied with a generic and sometimes picturesque and idealized memory of the journey, but seek a visual testimony, as clear and faithful as possible, one might say documentary, of the landscape, archaeological sites, ruins, but also of the people who live there, and of the entire naturalistic scenario (the activity of volcanoes, the constitution of rocks, the rich, unusual and extraordinary vegetation) in which they are immersed. Thus, the traveling vedutisti painters were born (often hired by the traveler himself in his homeland or on the spot, even if sometimes the travelers themselves express their emotions with figurative language), who in their sketchbook portray the places with rapid sketches, usually in pencil, often adding notes on the date and time of execution, on the places represented, or on the colors to be used, drawings that are then completed during the stages of the journey. Observing this canvas and its stylistic data, it is appropriate to point out that it highlights the artistic expression of a singular painter specialized in views of landscapes and open-air architecture. We are faced with an artist, Mayer, who shows that he has well received the refined Italian and European landscape culture in vogue in the second half of the 18th century. It is worth remembering that the purpose of these enjoyable compositions was usually to link figure painting with landscape painting through view scenes. The light pictorial matter, the particular tone of the blue colors, the well-present colors with regard to nature and the characters emerging from a neutral tint, the way of illuminating, are all characters that refer to the figurative culture of Luigi Mayer, which is confirmed by the signature present in the painting itself. The painting, in an excellent state of readability, depicts a picturesque view scenographically well arranged, including a fountain and classical ruins with imposing arches belonging to an ancient building. Around the stylistic data of the painting under examination emerges a remarkable pictorial quality accompanied by a strong taste for the view, embellished with warm and balanced colors. Mayer managed to obtain wonderful results in his compositions with ruins on which, due to the passage of time, weeds have grown and in which, in a singular style of eighteenth-century Arcadia, he managed to merge in wonderful balance also reminiscences of S. rosa and G. Ghisolfi. The work, like all our objects, is sold accompanied by a photographic certificate of authenticity; this document identifies the object bringing added value to the item. We personally take care of and organize the packaging and shipping of works of art with insurance all over the world. Dr. Riccardo Moneghini Expert in ancient painting - court expert