Artwork of the Month - July 2023

The painting presents a full female figure dressed only in a simple farmer's dress. The woman, in a full-frontal position, has a serene, smiling look turned in the direction to the observer and is holding a sickle in her right hand. In the background we see a large field with tall grass, a row of low hills and a clear sky crossed by clouds.

The work was presented by Mariotti, together with another painting, at the LXXXV Esposizione della Società Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti in 1915; in the catalogue, the two works are simply referred to as 'Dal Lavoro' and 'Al lavoro', falling completely within the tradition of 19th-century realist painting, fond of portraying workers. It is, however, a narrative that is anything but 'Courbettiana', but still suspended between academic heritage and social realism, and that combines a certain fidelity to physiognomy and details of clothing, minutely described, with an idealising and, so to speak, sentimental depiction of rural life.

Mariotti, who trained at the Accademia in Florence and then at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, was a painter specialising in views, genre scenes and depictions of the Lazio countryside and the Agro Romano. From 1881 he was present at the Roman exhibitions of the Società degli Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti and the 'In arte Libertas' group. His painting relies on a solid draughtsmanship and a balanced palette, which unifies the surface with a texture of warm and muted hues, emphasised now by skilful shading now by a fragmented and atmospheric drafting.

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