Alfonso Papi (1931) - Buttero

Alfonso Papi (Castellina Marittima, Pisa, 1931)
Buttero
Oil on Masonite, 50 x 70 cm
Dimensions with frame: 69 x 88 cm
Signed bottom right.

In the Tuscan countryside, in Maremma in particular, a buttero—the traditional cattle herder of Maremma, the countryside of Rome and the Pontine Plain—returns to his tent at the end of the workday. In the center, in the background, a green bush emerges from the peaceful pinkish sky.

Splotches of color sketch in the foreground the pasture, while—less agitated—they delineate more clearly the protagonist of the scene, in the saddle of his sturdy Maremma horse.

Born in 1931 in Castellina Marittima (Pisa), Alfonso Papi has lived and worked in Livorno for years, where he also trained artistically. A student of Voltolino Fontani, he studied at the Libera Accademia d'Arte Trossi-Uberti.

His style is strongly influenced by the ways of the Gruppo Labronico.
Gruppo Labronico is a circle of painters still active, founded in Livorno on July 15, 1920 at Gino Romiti’s studio with the aim of continuing the pictorial experiences developed in Tuscany—and, in particular, right in Livorno—during the preceding years.
The members of the Group aimed to follow in the footsteps of the great master Giovanni Fattori and were classified within the Post-Macchiaioli current.
Voltolino Fontani himself became a member in 1951 and gave the Group an innovative impulse.

Papi has thus absorbed a style based on blotching, which he has managed to reinterpret according to his own landscape poetics.
His painting is immediate, outlining objects with a few spots of color. His interest focuses on Tuscan inland landscapes, and the chosen color range is characterized by bright, emotionally charged hues.

Provenance: private Italian collection.
Frame included.