Leonardo Roda, Mountain Pasture with Figures and Herd, 1890s, Oil on Canvas

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of the work

subject: a wide and evocative mountain landscape. In the foreground, a herd of grazing cows meanders along … Read more of the work

subject: a wide and evocative mountain landscape. In the foreground, a herd of grazing cows meanders along the hillside, including some with brown and black dappled coats. On the left, seated on a rocky outcrop, are two shepherds in traditional period dress, intent on watching over their cattle.

composition and light: the work is characterized by a panoramic and airy composition, with a late 19th-century feel. The vast and dramatic sky is filled with dense, thick gray and leaden clouds that allow a sliver of golden light to filter onto the hills and mountains in the background. This play of light and shadow creates a strong atmospheric contrast and a remarkable sense of spatial depth.

style and technique: the painting is rich in texture, with energetic, wavy, and full-bodied brushstrokes, evident both in the rendering of the vegetation and rocks in the foreground and in the anatomical modeling of the animals. The color palette ranges from the warm, earthy tones of the terrain (burnt greens, ochre, and rust) to the gray-blue of the stormy sky.

signature: the artist's signature, handwritten in red, is clearly visible at the bottom right: l. Roda.

frame: the work is housed in a striking gilded frame with carved motifs.

dimensions: 125 x 102 cm with frame, 97 x 73 cm canvas only
biographical notes on the artist: leonardo roda

leonardo roda (racconigi, 1868 – turin, 1933) was a renowned italian painter, one of the leading exponents of piedmontese alpine landscape painting between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

education: he was a student of the renowned landscape painter marco calderini, from whom he inherited a passion for plein-air landscape painting and a keen sensitivity to the interpretation of light and natural weather.

the "matterhorn painter": a mountain enthusiast, he spent his summers in the aosta valley (even renting a cabin in giomein, below breuil-cervinia). He was nicknamed "the matterhorn painter" for the frequency and mastery with which he depicted the peaks of the western alps, mountain pastures, alpine valleys, and scenic transhumance or high-altitude pastures.

career and exhibitions: he exhibited regularly at the societies for the promotion of fine arts in turin, milan, genoa, and florence, as well as at international exhibitions, achieving considerable critical and public acclaim for the technical quality and monumentality of his landscapes.

characteristics of his work: his large-scale paintings dedicated to mountain pastures, herds and the majestic scenery of the alps are among his most sought-after works by collectors of 19th and 20th century italian figurative painting. See less