In the 1870s Aldi had settled in Rome, but he was often forced to spend long periods in his native Manciano because of health issues. During one of these stays he appears to have made this life study, marked by shadowy, melancholy tones that mirror his personal psychological suffering.

This luminous vision was successfully rendered by Aldi in the last years of his brief life. The massive, rugged rocks lie on top of each other like an Etruscan wall, evoking the archaic history of a fertile land protected by its friendship with the sea.

Inglese. La pennellata dell’Aldi diventa quasi impressionistica in questo piccolo bozzetto dipinto velocemente dal vero sotto l’urgenza dell’emozione provata al risveglio primaverile dei campi. Opera tarda del pittore, si può avvicinare agli studi per il Nerone che contempla l’incendio di Roma, per la simile condotta pittorica a tocchi staccati e

The plaster on the wall gleams white in the sun, which throws sharp shadows onto the path. The composition curiously recalls Giovanni Fattori’s painting In vendetta (“On Guard Duty,” also known as “The White Wall”), and the pronounced counterposition of the colours, spread onto the support with broad, thick, pasty

Drawn from life in the country around Manciano, the artist’s birthplace, this riverscape conveys the affectionate and attentive eye he had for his land. The initial precise, descriptive line is blurred to harmonize the tones and suggest the density of the damp air rising from the water

In this drawing Aldi demonstrates his considerable talent for suggesting with a few vibrant strokes the luminosity of the woods when the breath of spring pervades the bushes. Sketched from life, the landscape is one of a series of drawings made by the painter in notebooks of various sizes which

The painter here reworks ideas observed from life to construct his sketch of an historical scene that is hard to identify: the figures are wearing archaic dress while their postures suggest a forced distancing after an unfriendly exchange of words, in a melancholy, cold atmosphere.

This study of the open sea connects this little panel with the working out of the painting of The Funeral of Pompey the Great, presented by Aldi at the Esposizione Artistica in Turin in 1881 but current location unknown. We find in the finished painting a similar stretch of a

This especially luminous painting offers a serene contemplation of a corner of the coast used for fishing, but also set up for swimmers to rest. In the shade of a white awning are two female figures, described with a few quick brushstrokes by the artist who here plays the unusual