Landscape with Figures on the Banks of the River Adda

In 1807 Marco Gozzi received the prestigious government commission to execute four Lombard views yearly as a result of a contract with the then Minister of the Interior of the Kingdom of Italy, Count Di Breme. This contract was confirmed by the Austrian government during the years of the Restoration though the number of canvases was reduced, given the painter’s age. This commission was aimed at creating a topographical image of the area, whose landscape was changing thanks to the modernization work promoted by the state. The demands of the commission and changes in taste determined a major turning point in the painter’s artistic approach. He no longer produced an idyllic landscape in the 18th-century style, but gave a more precise and realistic rendering based on a study from life. The work in the Cariplo Collection, traditionally identified as a view of the River Adda, may be dated to the beginning of the first decade of the 19th century, both because of its size, which corresponds to what the artist generally chose in that period, and because of the broad sweeping view, which shows the influence of the arcadian works by Francesco Zuccarelli and Giuseppe Zais. The scene is framed by trees beyond which the vast river landscape extends enlivened by the small figures of fishermen and dotted with ruins. Only the title hints at the place depicted, which perhaps has been painted from life, though it remains within the typically 18th-century tradition of landscape painting. Gozzi repeatedly followed this model in his work at the beginning of the century, which was not exclusively for the government commission. Among the numerous views by the artist in the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan, one Landscape is the same size as the work in the Cariplo Collection and also has the same dense vegetation that occupies the left section of the scene, indeed the works are so similar that they may be considered a pair.