Il Castagno di Castel Lusenegg

The work belongs to the series “Monumental Trees”, dedicated to the arboreal splendour of the Italian countryside: the chestnut tree portrayed here is located in Laion, in the province of Bolzano. Etching was always Galli’s medium, which she pursued throughout the years when Italian art was split between conceptualism and figuration. When etching nature on metal she was capable of blending the great Italian landscape tradition, from Piranesi to Canaletto, with a taste for observing the real en plein air.

Federica Galli (born in Soresina, 1932; died Milan 2009) graduated in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Brera (1950-54). It was here that she first began depicting the local countryside in etching, a medium that she never abandoned. Her complete graphic works are kept in the Collection of Prints Achille Bertarelli, Milan, and at the Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, Cremona.