Landscape 1860

Silvestro Lega made this landscape painting with oil on panel, though the exact date is unknown. Oil paint, of course, has a very long history. By Lega’s time it had become the workhorse of academic art. But notice here how the artist uses it: the strokes are quick, light, and evoke the sensation of being in the open air. This wasn't painted in a studio, but “en plein air,” as the French would say, where painting becomes an act of direct observation. It is a world away from the highly finished, almost photographic landscapes that were then popular in the marketplace. The texture of the panel shows through in places, creating a sense of immediacy, and even incompleteness. In this way, Lega's "Landscape" elevates the importance of the artist's direct experience with the material world, blurring the lines between fine art and the simple act of seeing.