Lot Description
Attributed to ANDREA SOTTILE
(Termini Imerese, 1802 – Palermo, 1856)
Landscape with River and Buildings
Oil on canvas, 51 x 69
cm Unsigned
work In fair condition, with signs of ageing in places. This previously unpublished painting, from an important Sicilian collection, depicts a Landscape with a River and Houses: a bucolic scene in which rural buildings stand on a rocky hill to the left, whilst a small waterfall feeds a stream in the foreground. On the right, another dwelling can be seen, along with a solitary figure walking along a path, helping to lend narrative depth to the composition.
The style and subjects are entirely consistent with 19th-century Sicilian landscape painting and Romanticism, characterised by a particular attention to the rendering of light: a golden light, typical of twilight or dawn, envelops the entire landscape, enhancing its lyrical and contemplative atmosphere.
Although the work is unsigned, it is attributed on the Sicilian art market to the painter Andrea Sottile (Termini Imerese, 1802 – Palermo, 1856). Out of caution regarding attribution, no definitive attribution is proposed, whilst acknowledging that the work displays high-quality expressive characteristics, fully consistent with the master’s style.
The work, in fact, shows significant similarities with the output of Sottile, who is known for his cityscapes and romantic landscapes, often characterised by warm atmospheres and scenes of everyday rural life.
Born in Termini Imerese in 1802, he was a pupil of Giuseppe Velasco and Giuseppe Patania. His artistic activity is documented in Palermo from 1837 onwards. At a time when landscape painting, driven by growing demand, was tending to become an almost mass-produced output of images — veritable souvenirs created by numerous artists who often remained anonymous — Sottile stood out, alongside Tommaso Riolo, Giovan Battista Carini and Giuseppe Tripi, as one of the most important landscape painters active alongside and after Francesco Zerilli.
He took part in the Fine Arts Exhibitions at the University of Palermo in 1838 and 1856. He did not devote himself exclusively to landscape painting, but also tackled mythological and sacred subjects: indeed, he is recorded as having exhibited at the 1863 Fine Arts Exhibition, held at Palazzo Comitini in Palermo, with a ‘Holy Family’ and a ‘Marriage of Saint Catherine’.
His works are now housed in the Sicilian Regional Gallery at Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo and in the Church of Santa Chiara in Termini Imerese.
