If it takes care of Italian art between 19th and 20th centuries, there is no doubt that Giulio Aristide Sartorio (1860 – 1932) is considered A great painter. Yet it is done almost with tight teeth – so it seems to me – we continue to look at it with a certain distrust, a little because, apart from the symbolism always seen in its own way, it has never been a militant part of currents and less than less avant -garde, and a little because of his certain works, gigantic in the proportions and intentions, seem “unbearable” to those who are used to the most minus contemporary proportions and consider the past. Other proportions that, so to speak, we could call Michelangel.
The reference goes to the allegorical frieze of the room of the Chamber of Deputies made between 1908 and 1912, consisting of 50 canvases and 50 meters long, but also to the large decorative cycle “Poem of human life”, made in 1906 for the biennial and which is at the center of an exhibition in the Gallery of Modern Art Ca ‘Pesaro of Venice, its definitive headquarters, after a careful restoration. Entitled «Giulio Aristide Sartorio. The poem of human life “, the exhibition, curated by Matteo Piccolo and Elisabetta Barisoni, will remain open until September 28th.
Made of monochrome and divided into 14 scenes for about 230 square meters, the work is divided into four main canvases (light, darkness, love and death), linked to Greek mythology, without architectural elements in the background, and with a sense of movement that ranges between various styles of art history, starting with the Renaissance to finish (perhaps) with Klimt.
Many things could be said about this incredible work carried out in just nine months, but here it seems important to me to underline Sartorio’s operational ability because it helps us to understand how, in the last period of his life (even when a liver cancer had undermined his strength), he was able to paint the exceptional “sketches” for the mosaics of the Cathedral of Messina, commissioned by the archbishop Angelo Paino. The mosaics were never made due to the disappearance of the painter, but those “sketches” are actually 36 large canvases, up to six meters high, intensely emotional and extraordinary modernity, including coloristic.
The scenographic effect is exceptional: around the “Virgin among the angels” the dynamism of the characters is unusual and far from the habits of religious painting. A dynamism that is of a refined elegance, of a symbolist type, and brings together compassion and implementation, pain and hope. While the angels express play and prayer.
Toni and figures also become fabulous when, in the 13 smaller sketches, the painter tells with a wealth of particular stories and legends of Messina, from the letter to the Madonna to the battle of Lepanto, from the arrival of the Normans to the anti -French revolt. “The awareness of the considerable value of these canvases, belonging to the Archiepiscopal Curia of Messina, led the Superintendence for the Cultural Heritage of Messina to start a measure – says the historical official of art Virginia Buda – which ensured its greater protection and above all guaranteed, for the future, the conservation in the city for which they were conceived and built”.
So in December 2020 the Sicilian Department for Cultural Heritage declared the exceptional artistic interest of the entire decorative project of Sartorio and its indissoluble link with Messina. But two fundamental problems remain: the works need a restoration and also an adequate exhibition venue (they are currently visible in the decentralized archiepiscopal seminary). In the center they were seen only in 2015 on the occasion of an exhibition curated by the Superintendency at the Monte di Pietà headquarters, then managed by the Metropolitan City, of which Filippo Romano was commissioner.
“Last October – recalls Buda – five students of the Higher Education School of the Central Institute of Restoration, coordinated by the teacher Paola Iazurlo, carried out, in the seminar premises, an analytical study of the sketches, providing for provisional safety operations on some canvases that had lacerations, folds and loss of the pictorial film”. Waiting for a loan that is not there, two paintings have been brought to Rome, where over two years they will be restored by students as a study work. “So – adds Buda – a small step was taken to the recovery of these masterpieces that hopefully can be carried out totally by leveraging the sensitivity of those who, even private, will want to contribute economically to the completion in faster times of the restoration of the remaining 34 canvases, for which one hundred thousand euros are needed”.
Moreover, the restoration of the “poem of human life” in Venice was made with the art bonus, or the tax credit to private individuals. It could be the main road. Meanwhile, we can imagine a permanent exhibition venue in which the Messina paintings are accompanied, in multimedia mode, by the other titanic works of Ca ‘Pesaro and Montecitorio. Today it looks like a dream. Yet, a museum would thus become a seat of incredible cultural and tourist value.