Still Life By Ovidio Gragnoli, 1945

Oil painting on a faesite tablet by Ovidio Gragnoli, depicting a still life.
Ovidio Gragnoli was born in Grosseto in 1893 and enrolled at the Institute of Fine Arts in Siena in 1905. He later moved to Rome where he attended the Academy of France.
He dedicated his entire life to art, concentrating mainly on wall decoration and ceramics in addition to his work as a painter.
 
I find this painting extremely interesting because of the subject matter in the foreground, a still life with glass, flowers and fruit, and in the background the opening onto a township with houses and roofs.
The brushstroke is textural, bringing the foreground subjects into focus, unlike the background where the brushstroke is more dissolved. The perspective is well maintained.
 
The painting, most probably executed around 1945, is signed at lower right and measures 86x68 cm. It is in a good state of conservation, possibly in need of a light surface cleaning.