Pompeo Mariani (monza, 1857 - Bordighera 1927), Navy In Storm

Pompeo Mariani (Monza, 1857 - Bordighera 1927)

Navy in storm

Oil on canvas, cm 140 x 85

Frame, cm 118 x 174

Signed in the lower right and dated (1)909

The work is part of the artist’s best known production, marked by a close research on the theme of the sea, started in 1883 with suggestive views of the port of Genoa. From his first appearances the subject has an undisputed success of public and critics on the occasion of the Fine Arts Exhibitions in Genoa, Florence and especially in Milan where, in 1884, Mariani wins the prestigious Prince Umberto Prize with Saluti del sole morente (Private collection). In search of new suggestions the artist enriches his repertoire with landscapes of the Ligurian coast. In this sense, his first visit to the seaside resort of Bordighera in 1898, a famous holiday destination for high society at that time, is decisive, where he moved permanently in 1907, spending most of the year in his villa, Today the seat of the Fondazione Mariani. The place becomes an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the painter who is dedicated to the creation of sketches, drawings, paintings of marine, thanks also to the extraordinary view of the coast, from Sanremo to Montecarlo, which could be enjoyed from the windows of his studio, La Specola, built after 1911, inside the garden of Villa Mariani. The work in question, dated 1909, was built in the years immediately following its definitive transfer to Bordighera.