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Lot Essay
Dr. Beat Stutzer, Curator of the Segantini Museum of St. Moritz, confirmed the authenticity of this work in a letter dated 7 March 2001.
Giovanni Segantini executed three painted versions of Ave Maria a trasbordo as well as six works on paper. The first painted version, which was the inspiration for the present drawing, was exhibited to great acclaim at the 1883 World's Fair in Amsterdam and subsequently helped Segantini cement his relationship with the influential Milanese dealer Vittore Grubicy de Dragon (fig. 1). Segantini most likely executed the present drawing to illustrate his successful painting for the catalogue of the international exhibition in Paris that year.
The present work depicts a peaceful scene on a lake near the small village of Pusiano. A peasant family appears crowded into a row boat that they share with an orderly herd of sheep. The close proximity between the figures and the sheep exemplifies the constant theme in Segantini's work of man's integration with, rather than separation from nature. Segantini once declared himself to be "a passionate lover of Nature" (quoted in Diana Segantini, et al. Segantini, Ostfildern, 2011, p. 144), a quality that is emphatically expressed in the present composition, where even the sheep appear enraptured by their surroundings as they peer over the edge of the boat, examining their reflections in the still water.
Segantini's reverential depictions of nature are often intended to evoke a spiritualism. In the present composition, for example, the water and sky are likely intended to symbolize purity and transcendence respectively. Similarly, the mother lovingly holding her baby in her arms suggests the Virgin and Child, an implication that is further supported by the work's title. The church of Bosisio, barely visible on the bank in the distance, serves to underscore the spiritual tone of the image. As in the best examples of Segantini's work, the present drawing accomplishes the artist's vision of creating, "An art full of serenity and repose that would dispel darkness like the sun's rays and replace it with light, life and love" (quoted in ibid., p. 145).
(fig. 1) Giovanni Segantini, Ave Maria a trasbordo, 1886. De Agostini Picture Library; G. Cigolini; The Bridgeman Art Library, Switzerland.
Giovanni Segantini executed three painted versions of Ave Maria a trasbordo as well as six works on paper. The first painted version, which was the inspiration for the present drawing, was exhibited to great acclaim at the 1883 World's Fair in Amsterdam and subsequently helped Segantini cement his relationship with the influential Milanese dealer Vittore Grubicy de Dragon (fig. 1). Segantini most likely executed the present drawing to illustrate his successful painting for the catalogue of the international exhibition in Paris that year.
The present work depicts a peaceful scene on a lake near the small village of Pusiano. A peasant family appears crowded into a row boat that they share with an orderly herd of sheep. The close proximity between the figures and the sheep exemplifies the constant theme in Segantini's work of man's integration with, rather than separation from nature. Segantini once declared himself to be "a passionate lover of Nature" (quoted in Diana Segantini, et al. Segantini, Ostfildern, 2011, p. 144), a quality that is emphatically expressed in the present composition, where even the sheep appear enraptured by their surroundings as they peer over the edge of the boat, examining their reflections in the still water.
Segantini's reverential depictions of nature are often intended to evoke a spiritualism. In the present composition, for example, the water and sky are likely intended to symbolize purity and transcendence respectively. Similarly, the mother lovingly holding her baby in her arms suggests the Virgin and Child, an implication that is further supported by the work's title. The church of Bosisio, barely visible on the bank in the distance, serves to underscore the spiritual tone of the image. As in the best examples of Segantini's work, the present drawing accomplishes the artist's vision of creating, "An art full of serenity and repose that would dispel darkness like the sun's rays and replace it with light, life and love" (quoted in ibid., p. 145).
(fig. 1) Giovanni Segantini, Ave Maria a trasbordo, 1886. De Agostini Picture Library; G. Cigolini; The Bridgeman Art Library, Switzerland.