Curated by Danilo Eccher, Veduta is a project combining two separate inquiries into the meaning of painting practice displayed as one exhibition set-up. It is physically divided into two bodies of work: a tribute to landscape and heritage; alpine scenery and the Milan Cathedral. Those places had already been connected in the groundwork of the great Leonardo da Vinci. This is a parallel research to that of Leonardo, taken further through inclusion of personal and autobiographical factors.
The geographical centre of the project is the roof of Milan's Cathedral - the Duomo, where Leonardo, called by the ruling Sforza family, works to solve the challenges of the construction of the dome lantern. It turned out to be a fine point for observing and studying the alpine panorama. Veduta is inspired by a little known drawing; a small sketch on the side of a page, at the centre of which is a drawing of a foot, most likely drawn by Francesco Melzi - Leonardo’s student. The master's sketch represents alpine landscape, with mount Grigna and Resegone peaks in the centre. Studying the panorama further, magnifying it and adding personal and autobiographical elements by saturating it with vivid colours led to creation of a monumental painting: 2 meters high and over 10 meters wide. The landscape is mirrored in a water tank that replicates the dimensions of the canvas. An implied metaphor for the change of perspective: the reflection in the water distances the viewer and complicates the vision and understanding of the work, adding a further reading layer.
In the second part, the attention is turned to Milan’s Cathedral - the Duomo. Here the reference is made to studies of light by Claude Monet. Analogous to his depiction of the Rouen Cathedral, the gaze is directed onto the facade of Milan’s most iconic building. The series consists of twelve paintings, delineating the architecture in four different moments of the day: dawn, midday, afternoon and night, always portrayed from the same angle. The research is taken to extremes from a chromatic point of view; in order to intensify the transient effects of sunlight, all colour has been eliminated.
The geographical centre of the project is the roof of Milan's Cathedral - the Duomo, where Leonardo, called by the ruling Sforza family, works to solve the challenges of the construction of the dome lantern. It turned out to be a fine point for observing and studying the alpine panorama. Veduta is inspired by a little known drawing; a small sketch on the side of a page, at the centre of which is a drawing of a foot, most likely drawn by Francesco Melzi - Leonardo’s student. The master's sketch represents alpine landscape, with mount Grigna and Resegone peaks in the centre. Studying the panorama further, magnifying it and adding personal and autobiographical elements by saturating it with vivid colours led to creation of a monumental painting: 2 meters high and over 10 meters wide. The landscape is mirrored in a water tank that replicates the dimensions of the canvas. An implied metaphor for the change of perspective: the reflection in the water distances the viewer and complicates the vision and understanding of the work, adding a further reading layer.
In the second part, the attention is turned to Milan’s Cathedral - the Duomo. Here the reference is made to studies of light by Claude Monet. Analogous to his depiction of the Rouen Cathedral, the gaze is directed onto the facade of Milan’s most iconic building. The series consists of twelve paintings, delineating the architecture in four different moments of the day: dawn, midday, afternoon and night, always portrayed from the same angle. The research is taken to extremes from a chromatic point of view; in order to intensify the transient effects of sunlight, all colour has been eliminated.