RAFFAELLO SERNESI Florence, 1838 - Bolzano, 1866 Arno in Florence Oil on canvas, 29.5X50 cm Provenance: Lessona, Cartotti collection Milan, private collection Exhibitions: Società per le Belle Arti ed Esposizione Permanente, Milan 1949-1950 (second card on verso) The painting depicts a stretch of the Arno immersed in a clear and serene light; in the background, barely veiled by the distance, the city of Florence stands out. The composition is essential, built with just a few elements, the water, the banks, the architectural profiles, which blend into a harmony of clear tones and suspended atmospheres. Two elegant figures, caught in a peaceful springtime stroll, introduce a delicate narrative accent and contribute to the balance of the whole, restoring the calm poetry of the Florentine landscape. Raffaello Sernesi's art is fully recognisable in this scene: meditative, recollected, alien to any theatrical emphasis. The Arno becomes a pretext for the artist to investigate light and air, to translate the very breath of nature into painting, according to the principles of the Macchiaioli. Compared to his fellow group members, Sernesi distinguished himself by his tonal finesse and an almost lyrical vein, which transformed the real datum into sentiment. After an initial apprenticeship as an engraver and studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, he soon embraced the new language of the 'macchia', based on direct observation of reality and the immediate rendering of luminous vibrations. He participated in the Macchiaioli sojourns in Piagentina and Castiglioncello, and his short but intense career left works of rare delicacy, capable of combining the rigour of analysis with the poetry of emotion. .