Rocco Lentini (1858–1943) - Paesaggio con scorcio rurale con mulino ad acqua

ROCCO LENTINI
(Palermo, 1858 – Venice, 1943)
Landscape with rural scene with water mill
Oil on canvas applied to panel, 57 x 39 cm
Signed ‘R. LENTINI’ at lower left
Frame size 70 x 52 x 5 cm (approx.)

NOTE: Publication catalog of works from the Intermidiart collection (Pdf). Work signed. Guarantee certificate and lawful provenance. Work with carved wooden frame (defects).

A valuable painting of notable artistic interest, executed in oil on canvas mounted on panel and signed at the lower left by the Palermo-born painter Rocco Lentini (Palermo, 1858 – Venice, 1943), known for his refined landscape production and for his evocative views.
The work depicts a bucolic scene dominated by a large water mill, with a wooden paddle wheel, situated near a watercourse. In the center of the composition stands a massive masonry bridge, with a single broad arch, under which are depicted some animals, probably cattle or sheep, grazing or drinking. The composition is built through a warm, harmonious palette, in which earthy tones and intense greens of the vegetation prevail, while the sky, traversed by soft golden and pinkish hues, suggests the atmosphere of a twilight landscape.
Rocco Lentini was an important Italian painter, decorator and stage designer. Born in Palermo on February 17, 1858 and died in Venice on November 20, 1943, he is considered one of the prominent figures of Sicilian artistic culture from the end of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth, in the fields of landscape painting, decoration and applied arts.
Son of Giovanni Lentini the Elder, a renowned scenographer and decorator also active at the Teatro Carolino-Bellini in Palermo, he received his early drawing and decoration lessons within the family. His training later developed between Palermo, Bologna and Paris, where he had the opportunity to engage with the most up-to-date European artistic currents, particularly realism and landscape painting. His exhibition activity extended to France as well, where he participated in the prestigious Paris Salon.
Lentini distinguished himself not only as an easel painter but also as a decorator, scenographer and designer of ornamental apparatus, contributing to the realization and decoration of important Palermo buildings. Attributions to him or collaborations include interventions related to the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, a monumental building designed by Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, as well as several historic palaces and prestigious buildings in the city. His activity aligned with the eclectic cultural climate and the emerging Liberty style, helping to define the artistic face of Palermo between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Alongside his artistic work, Lentini played an important role in teaching, dedicating himself to drawing and ornamentation disciplines at Palermo educational institutions and contributing to the training of new generations of artists.
His painting production was particularly tied to landscape painting, a genre in which he distinguished himself by his ability to render light effects, atmospheric variations and the chromatic relationships between sky, vegetation and architecture. His views range from the mountain landscapes of the Madonie to urban and monumental landscapes, up to rural scenes and pastoral settings, in which the presence of architectural and natural elements is organized according to a balanced sense of perspective and composition.
In the painting under consideration, this sensitivity emerges in the calibrated arrangement of elements: the mill, the bridge, the watercourse and the vegetation form a harmonious whole, in which rural architecture assumes a particularly prominent role. The brushwork, loose and tactile, helps to convey the texture of surfaces and the ever-changing luminosity of the natural environment, while the perspective setting gives depth to the scene.
The work is presented in fair conservative condition, considering its age. The painted surface preserves a patina coherent with the painting’s age and keeps legible the artist’s characteristic brushwork.
Overall, the painting represents a significant testimony of Rocco Lentini’s landscape production and, more generally, of the Sicilian landscape tradition from the late nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth century. The evocative rural setting, the relationship between architecture and nature and the warm luminosity render the composition particularly evocative, entrusted to a rich and luminous palette and to a free and vibrant brushstroke.
The painting is enriched by a contemporaneous and notably refined artistic and craft frame, characterized by a rich continuous sequence of cartouche motifs, foliate scrolls and stylized shells (dimensions 72 x 111 x 5 cm, with defects).
“The frame shown in the photos above has been added to the artwork by the seller or by a third party. The frame is provided at no additional cost so that it is ready to display as soon as it arrives. The frame is included as a courtesy and is not considered an integral part of the artwork. Therefore, any potential damage to the frame that does not affect the artwork itself will not be accepted as valid grounds to open a claim or cancel the order.”

Provenance: Private Sicilian collection, Artwork kept at the Fondazione L’Immacolata per l’Arte e la Cultura.

Publication:
- I Miti e il Territorio nella Sicilia dalle mille culture. INEDITA QUADRERIA general catalog of the paintings from the cycle “I Miti e il territorio,” 2026 (Pdf).

In case of sale outside Italian territory, the buyer must await the processing times for export procedures.

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