The drainage of the canal in Terracina (1929)

Firmato in basso a destra: “G. A. Sartorio Terracina MCMXXIX”

Esposizioni: Milano, Galleria Pesaro, 1929, n. 88 (Gli ultimi bufali a Terracina); Roma, 1933, n. 159, tav. L; Milano, 1934, p. 20, n. 15; Roma, 1961, n. 126, tav. XXVI; 1980 Roma, n. 34; Velletri, 1983; Latina, 1987, n. 7; Terracina, 1995, n. 53; Roma, 2001-2002 Roma, tav. CXXII.
Bibliografia: Mostra personale di G. A. Sartorio, Milano, 1929, n. 88, p.n.n.; Mostra delle pitture di Giulio Aristide Sartorio, Roma 1933, p. 65, n. 159, fig. L; G Nicodemi, Mostra delle opere di G. A. Sartorio raccolte da Marga Seville Sartorio, Milano 1934, p. 20, n. 15; F. Sapori, I Maestri di Terracina, Roma 1954, p. 24; Mostra di Giulio Aristide Sartorio (1860-1932) nel centenario della nascita, Roma 1961, p. 41, n. 126, fig. XXVI; A. Cipriani, Sartorio, Roma 1978, p. 18, n. 58; AA. VV, Giulio Aristide Sartorio 1860-1932, Roma 1980, p. 66, n. 34; Giulio Aristide Sartorio. Immagini della pianura Pontina. Olii, litografie, acquerelli, a cura di R. Lucchese, Velletri 1983, p.n.n; Giulio AristideSartorio nell’Agro Pontino, a cura di A.F. Cataldi Villari, Latina 1987-1988, p. 67, n. 7; G.R. Rocci, in Pio VI, Le paludi pontine, Terracina, Terracina 1995, pp. 536-538, n. 53; P.E. Trastulli, in La Campagna Romana. Da Hackert a Balla, a cura di P. A. De Rosa, P. E. Trastulli, Roma 2001-2002, ca. mostra, Roma 2001, p 230, n. 122, fig. CXXII; Giulio Aristide Sartorio 1860 – 1932, a cura di R. Miracco, Firenze 2006, pp. 244 – 245.

Giulio Aristide Sartorio always felt a strong attraction to the Roman countryside.
“Aristide Sartorio always returned to Terracina, and on those beaches ablaze with light, he captured, with his gifted, tireless brushes, the effects of the sun on the stagnant waters of the canals and on the changing waves of the shore” [1]. So wrote Francesco Sapori in 1935, reconstructing Sartorio’s relationship with the Roman countryside, specifically with the Agro Pontino.

A subject he loved throughout his career and from which he was able to draw the most varied results, so much so that he dedicated his entire solo exhibition at the 1914 Venice Biennale to the Roman countryside. Desolate or animated fragments of the Lazio landscape, interpreted in all its most iconic or arcane aspects, punctuate all phases of Sartorio’s painting like a fil rouge that starts from his youth – during his experience with In Arte Libertas – a time when the Roman countryside, seen as a state of mind, took on an idealised, symbolic and melancholic, until the 1920s, when the countryside was observed and interpreted in its realist sense, but with accents that were always intimate and personal, poetic, even epic: “The melancholic virginity of those unhealthy expanses, the wild, infinite freedom, call to him constantly”[2]. A genius loci of Lazio, steeped in history and memory, which, even in modern times, remains closely connected to its inhabitants, the farmers and shepherds, the flocks and herds of buffalo, with its ancient customs and ancestral rhythms. This idyllic but also mythical or heroic dimension can be traced back to the cyclical representation of certain gestures and episodes captured in the Pontine marshes, such as Lo spurgo del canale a Terracina (The draining of the canal in Terracina), an oil on canvas painted in 1929, a subject to which the artist had already devoted attention since the early 20th century.

In the two works presented at the Venice Biennale in 1899, Sartorio had already immortalised the symbol of the Agro Pontino, the buffaloes, closely linked to the marshy ecosystem of the area. These animals had played a fundamental role in the management of the canals for centuries: in spring and summer, the thick marsh vegetation obstructed the proper flow of water, causing it to stagnate and hindering the drainage and cultivation of dry areas. Buffaloes were therefore used, skilfully guided by herders, who, with the force of their movement, legs and hooves, managed to clear the canals of aquatic weeds.

As in works on similar subjects executed between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sartorio, in this large canvas from 1929, fully expresses the unchanging relationship between man and nature in a grandiose manner, adopting a quick, rich and light-filled brushstroke that bathes not only the waters of the canal from which the heads of the buffaloes emerge, but also the banks and the figures in traditional costume, almost sacred, wrapped in white robes like Berber peasants – suggestions from his recent trip to the Mediterranean. Particularly fascinating is the herdsman on the shore, who, like a mystical priest leaning on his staff, once again keeps an eye on the buffaloes crossing the waters to purify them of vegetation. The photographic cut of the composition, the ease with which such a well-known, observed and reproduced episode is narrated, and the absolute technical mastery make this representation not only a historical testimony to the rites and customs of Terracina – in the years when it was one of the areas affected by land reclamation – but also and above all to the mythical fascination that the Pontine Marshes have always exerted on artists of all ages and which Goethe, despite his fear of malaria, crossed and appreciated during his grand tour.

[1] F. Sapori, I “maestri” di Terracina: Aristide Sartorio, in “La conquista della terra. Rassegna dell’Opera nazionale per i combattenti”, September 1935, p. 33.

[2] Ibid., p. 31.

Elena Lago