Oil on cardboard
48.5 x 69 cm
signed and dated lower left
1921
Carlo Pollonera captures the lightness and air of the Dolomites so proficiently here that you can almost feel and taste the crispness of the clear, thin air. The bright lime green grass suggests the early days of spring, and all the freshness and purity that accompanies it. Pollonera is able to grasp the real qualities of this scene, while doing so with a directness and flair in his brushstrokes - an approach which influenced the following generation, most notably with the famed painter Cesare Maggi.
Pollonera was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where his father was a lawyer, before returning to Italy as a child. Having fought with Garibaldi in the Trentino campaign of 1866 aged 17, he later enrolled at the Accademia Albertina in Turin and studied under Enrico Gamba and Andrea Gastaldi. In 1875, he travelled with his close friend Carlo Stratta to Paris, to study under Thomas Couture and during this time became interested and studied the work of the Barbizon school.
Pollonera was not only a painter but also malacologist, which, of course, is someone who studies moluscs. While still young his mother remarried, to the prominent natural scientist and senator Michele Lessona, who had a great affect on him. Pollonera originally studied natural sciences, before switching to painting, but throughout his life remained fascinated by the subject, writing over 50 scientific articles on non-marine molluscs and frequently painting and drawing scientific sketches of them and their anatomy. He was revered by his contemporaries who even named several species of snail after him.
