Piccio
Un grande piccolo

One of the most interesting exhibitions of 2015 is the one featuring Giovanni Carnovali as the leading figure. The event was primarily commissioned and organized by Francesco Luigi Maspes. Giovanni Carnovali, in his time, was affectionately called the Piccio; a label that, at least from a semantic viewpoint, tends to understate the artistic stature of this 19th-century virtuoso. Among his patrons, you would find the bourgeois capitalist class. This consisted of new representatives of a developing class that, due to their purely common origins, struggled to fully appreciate Giovanni's artistic teachings. Nevertheless, he pursued his precise way of painting. In this romantic era, history holds no secrets about the attention the rising new class gave to the god of money. Well-being, wealth, money, luxury: these were the values that commanded attention and diligence toward their acquisition. Why such a rush towards these symbols? It's quickly explained: to gain the respect of their peers. Yes, but how could this class rising from below soar upwards with wings made of coarse cardboard, accustomed until the night before to saying 'yes sir' to the aristocracy? The latter, it goes without saying, saw the new rough wealthy with disdain. They despised these people who yelled at the fish market by day and counted the golden reflections of coins, scattered on a makeshift table that witnessed primitive poverty, each night. This antagonism was known even among the bourgeoisie itself, who, eager to belong to the elite, devised moves to ennoble themselves. And what could render someone more noble than a portrait capturing for eternity the expression of a self-made individual? Thus, in the 19th century, a considerable number of portraitists blossomed. Some of these artists would become immortal thanks to the aspirations the new rich harbored in their psyche. One of them is Giovanni Carnevali, known as il Piccio. However, within the artist Piccio, the purely working aspect related to the complicated ability to capture the psychology of the portrayed subject never confined itself to what was agreed. Carnovali went beyond the client’s request. His technique was innovative, fluid, liquid. It could be described as a sort of bubbling of brushstrokes seeking a rest never found, yet nonetheless sparking curiosity in the viewer of the finished work. It is quite reasonable to suspect that the Piccio, among his contemporaries, was less fortunate than he deserved; both among patrons and art enthusiasts of the time. This thesis is not incredible. One just needs to look beyond his spectrum of subjects with an investigative gaze: portraits, sacred texts, mythology, painting of the past. Certainly, themes used by many painters of his historical era, but few of them can be connected to that artistic springboard which would launch the historical Avant-gardes of the early 20th century: Impressionism. Piccio’s brushstrokes anticipate the pictorial 'slashes' of Boldini. Likewise, if one is attentive enough, it's not hard to discern in the Piccio an evolution starting from the 17th century of Franz Hals. And, quite frankly, it’s not a small achievement for someone simply known as the Piccio. The exhibition, held in Milan at the Gallerie Maspes, is open from May 29 to June 28 and benefits from the contribution of the Società delle Belle Arti ed Esposizione Permanente.