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Description: | The Venetian painter Antonio Maria Marini specialised as a painter of battle scenes and imaginary seascapes, which like the Italian Seascape with Rocks and Figures in the Southampton collection, aim to convey a sense of terror, while keeping the viewer at a safe distance. The overall source for such imaginary scenes is to be found in the works of Salvator Rosa (1615-1673). However, influences closer to Marini may include the work of his contemporaries, the Genovese, Alessandro Magnasco (1667-1735) and the Venetian, Marco Ricci (1676-1730) to whom this painting, like a group at Temple Newsam House, now given to Marini, was previously attributed. In their seascapes both Magnasco and Ricci adopted Rosa's dramatic view of nature but pushed it to an extreme bordering on theatre, just as Marini has in this work. Such paintings were entirely in keeping with the taste of the time: on seeing a Ricci seascape Dr Johnson expressed excitement and awe before §the terrifick grandeur of the tempestuous ocean§. Taken from a high viewpoint placing the viewer at a safe distance, Marini's Italian Seascape shows three men struggling with a rope on a rock precariously close to the raging sea, which is tossed into great waves against a massive rocky outcrop to the right. The figures heighten the drama and invite a sense of empathy by actually appearing to be threatened by the storm. To the left, the coastline of amorphous jagged mountains with castles perched above the sea extends into the distance. The loose Rococo technique used by Marini in the foreground is typical of Marco Ricci, while the strange mountain range in the distance recalls similar rock formations painted by Gianantonio Guardi (1699-1760) in the background of some of his works. | Subjects: | marine | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Marini, Antonio (Italian painter, 1668-1725) Æ Attributed to Previously attributed to Ricci, Marco (Italian painter and draftsman, 1676-1730) | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8405... | Go to resource |
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