Lot 1169 Dα

Pietro Giacomo Palmieri moved to Turin, where he worked for the Savoy court, following a longer stay in Paris between 1771 and 1779. The influence of Salvatore Rosa, Guercino, and particularly the Frenchman Claude-Joseph Vernet are clearly evident in his works. Palmieri's landscapes can be found in the Louvre, the Uffizi and the National Gallery of Scotland. The words of the engraver Jean-Georges Wille in a journal entry of January 1775 express how highly Palmieri's landscape gouaches were valued, especially in France: “M. Palmieri, Italien, m'a fait deux dessins, un peu dans le goût du Guerchin. Je les lui ay payés un louis pièce." This dramatically lit landscape is the largest of its kind in Palmieri's œuvre. It displays the unmistakeable influence of Vernet, but also the Italian's unique and highly individual pictorial style, which can be considered a forerunner of early 19th century Romanticism.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist as well as in an article in the journal Arte Lombarda, both currently being prepared by Dr. Chiara Travisonni.