Giuseppe Mascarini (Milan 1877-1954) - View of Bruges

Mascarini (Bologna 1877 - Milan 1954) Oil painting on canvas depicting a view of Bruges. Measures of the canvas: width cm 50, height cm 65 Signed in the lower left corner G.Mascarini Published "Giuseppe Mascarini 1887-1954. A palette between two centuries" Skira edition 2016 - page 153 table 226 He lived and worked in Milan . He studied at the Academy of Brera. Gifted at drawing and painting, he won prizes in 1896 and 1897 when he first participated in Brera's exhibitions. In 1900, the Academy named him "honorary member" and, later, he was called to be part of the permanent painting commission. He spent the first years of the century in Paris where he studied the painting of the great masters of the past and followed the new pictorial trends which asserted themselves in the climate of general renewal. Influences of themes such as symbolism, divisionism, can be found in his paintings of the first decades of 1900. The large canvases "Il sogno" (The dream) 1909, "The visitor" (The visitor) 1909, "Ballata antica "(Old ballad) 1916 and the great alpine landscapes belong to this period, where the tripartition of horizons, divisionism, skies leading to infinity, visual perception recall reminiscences of Puvis Chevannes, Hodler and Segantini. Mascarini loves the mountains and during his summer holidays the magnificent Val Bregaglia is the setting for many of the landscapes he depicts. But Mascarini not only paints landscapes, but also characters, because nature and humanity are two terms equally alive with him, which both generate inspiration. In his figure paintings, he prefers to observe rather than arbitrarily interpret, to stay as close as possible to the subject rather than to load it with extreme meanings. His brushstrokes, the force of the drawing and the warmth always suggest a vision of serene and familiar calm, a warm unity of tone, measure, a content and spontaneous impetus.