Fine Art M.S. Rau | Monastery Complex With Statue Of Maria By Rubaldo Merello

Rubaldo Merello
1872 – 1922 | Italian

Monastery Complex With Statue Of Maria

Signed “Merello R.“ (Lower Right)
Oil On Canvas

Rubaldo Merello Was A Prolific Turn-Of-The-Century Artist Celebrated As The Most Important Painter To Emerge From Italy’S Northern Liguria Region. His Visionary Works Imbue His Main Subject — The Natural Landscape — With Vivid Color And Spiritual Meaning, Deeply Influenced By The Major Post-Impressionist Movements Of His Time.

Merello Established His Own Studio In Genoa In 1892, And He Began Promptly Exhibiting And Selling His Work To Prominent Local Collectors. It Is Believed, However, That His Rejection From The First Venice Biennale In 1895 Devastated Merello And Pushed Him To Pursue A Life Of Relative Isolation In Small Medieval Villages Along The Ligurian Coast. He Produced A Significant Number Of Paintings In The Picturesque Town Of San Fruttuoso, Inspired By The Monastic Architecture Perched Between Mountainside Forests And Sparkling Bay Waters.

The Thousands Of Precise Dots Of Paint That Make Up This Stunning Mountainside Landscape Belies The Influence Of Pointillism On Northern Italian Artists At This Moment. Popularized By Famed French Artists Georges Seurat And Paul Signac, This Style Used Color Theory And Optical Science To Create Compositions Made Solely Of Small Dots Of Paint That, From A Distance, Marvelously Blend Together To Form A Rich, Energetic Visual Effect. Merello, Inspired By The Extraordinary Natural Landscape Of Coastal Italy, Used This Unique Painterly Technique To Capture Not Just The Physical Beauty But Also The Spiritual And Emotional Depth Of His Surroundings.

Born In Montespluga In 1872, Merello Moved With His Family To The Liguria Region’S Capital, Genoa, In 1881. There He Attended The Accademia Ligustica Di Belle Arti, Graduating In 1892 And Eventually Returning As A Professor Of Painting In 1913. He Has Left An Indelible Mark On The Artistic Legacy Of This Region, Evidenced By The Musei Di Genoa Organizing A Major Retrospective Of His Work Held At The Palazzo Ducale In 2017, Entitled Rubaldo Merello: Between Divisionism And Symbolism.

Painted Late 19Th / Early 20Th Century

Canvas: 35 1/4″ High X 52 1/4” Wide
Frame: 45“ High X 63 1/4” Wide