Ludovico De Luigi (1933-2025) - Redentor Mos Explosion

AUTHOR

Ludovico De Luigi (1933-2025) Italian painter and sculptor. Born in Venice, he was much more than a simple painter of vedute; he was the visionary who dared to “profane” the Venetian postcard to save its soul. Son of art from the famous spatialist Mario De Luigi, Ludovico initially chose a path opposed to his father’s abstraction, immersing himself in the manic study of Canaletto to appropriate an impeccable technique. However, that formal perfection served only to make his lucid nightmares more credible: in his canvases, Venice is not a still city, but a fragile organism invaded by swarms of giant insects, fantastic monsters, or threatened by ecological and technological catastrophes. Ironically dubbed the “vedutista,” De Luigi transformed historical painting into a surreal and apocalyptic genre, where the monumental beauty of the lagoon dialogues with industrial decay and the anxieties of the contemporary world.

The creative energy of De Luigi did not stop at the boundaries of the canvas, exploding with monumental force in sculpture, the discipline that made him famous worldwide thanks to his iconic bronze horses. Inspired by the quadriga of the Basilica of San Marco, these giant steeds have galloped far beyond the lagoon, finding a home in the squares of Marseille, Chicago, Denver and St. Louis, bringing with them a piece of Venetian identity reinterpreted in allegorical terms. An indefatigable and never-tamed experimenter, he was among the first artists in Italy to sense the potential of the “digital brush,” integrating digital technology into his aesthetic research. Whether it involved shaping a chocolate horse for Carnival or imagining Health on an offshore platform, De Luigi maintained, to the very end, a provocative and deeply cultivated spirit, establishing himself as one of the most original and incisive voices in the international artistic scene.

Description

"Redentor Mos Explosion", oil on canvas, 50*40 cm, 2002, signed at the bottom. On the back, title, date and signature.

The Palladian architecture, symbol of balance and sacredness, is here extracted from its reassuring lagoon context and suspended above a complex metal structure that explicitly recalls the gates of the MOSE system. This industrial base seems to explode in a blast of mechanical forms, pipes, and dark stains that tear through space, transforming the classical view into what De Luigi loved to call a "sveduta." The subject is thus not the static celebration of the monument, but the tale of a historic organism under siege, where modern engineering and environmental threat fuse into a dramatic and visionary visual event, a perfect reflection of the apocalyptic anxiety that characterizes the artist's mature body of work.

Under the technical profile, the painting reveals a refined mastery of the material, enclosed in an oval frame that isolates the subject like an antique cameo. The surface features a grainy and vibrant texture that lends an almost timeless aura to the neutral background, on which the warm tones of the earths and ochres used for the church stand out. The rigor of drawing, an inheritance from Canaletto's studio learned in youth, clashes violently with deep blacks and splashes of bright red in the lower part, where swift and gestural brushstrokes simulate the energy of technological explosion. Fully aligning with the production of the early 2000s. A painting of dynamic composition and captivating aesthetics.

Condition Report

Excellent overall condition.

Tracked and insured shipment with adequate packaging.