| Abstrakt: |
This essay focuses on the relationship between Massimo d'Azeglio and the Turin painter Luigi Barne. In the 1820s, while starting their careers as painters, they shared an atelier in Rome. A sheet of Azeglio's notebook, now kept at the GAM - Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin, dates back to those years and shades light on their relationship. It bears a quick pencil sketch referred to a Dying Gladiator Barne made in 1822 for a competition at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. This case study analyses one of the main subjects in the standard curriculum of the artist's training: the representation of the living model, especially the male nude. This mandatory comparison, even if full of difficulties, sometimes turns into a privileged field of formal experimentation. As this case in point seems to show, the representation of a single character may be enough to introduce relevant iconographic variations. Although not in line with tradition, these simple changes can grant the figure unexpected forms of expressiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
