Room 13
The room houses 49 artworks, all part of the important Arrigo del Rigo collection, composed of 450 pieces and donated by Giovacchino, father of the painter, to the Azienda Autonoma del Turismo at the end of the Seventies, given to Prato’s Province in 2011 and lately to the Municipality in 2016.
The overview of this paintings by Arrigo Del Rigo is the occasion for analysing the artistic career of the painter, died tragically when he was twenty-four. His premature death struck a lot Ardengo Soffici, who in 1939 stated that this dramatic circumstance deprived Italian art of a “bright hope”.
The artworks hanging here are landscapes, portraits, still-life paintings, where the participation to authentic life is perceivable: in Mercatale square, in a countryside glimpse, or in the representations of life scenes animated by a warm, subtle irony never becoming ridiculous and grotesque.
The Municipality of Prato owns the most important collection of artworks by Arrigo Del Rigo: it acquired more than 200 pieces (drawings, watercolours, lithographies, xylographies) from Del Rigo family since 1963, in 1991 it received a painting and a drawing by Gino Brogi’s testamentary bequest and in 1996 the Università Popolare di Prato (Popular University of Prato) donated the Self-portrait dating 1927, presently on display in Palazzo Pretorio Museum. The pictures in this room come from the most recent acquisition from Prato’s Province.
Arrigo Del Rigo Arrigo Del Rigo
Arrigo del Rigo was born in Prato on 14th June 1908.
In 1920 his family moved to Corfù, where they remained until at least 1921. Arrigo’s first landscape paintings date back to that time, revealing an immature sensibility and an untimely passion for art.
When Del Rigo family came back to Tuscany after a short stay in Venice, Arrigo enrolled in the Florentine Art Institute of Porta Romana, where the painter Giovanni Costetti educated him on liquid mixtures and harsh style of execution. The years between 1922 and 1925 are his period of formation together with his talented companionship, including Giorgio Romani, Bruno Becchi and Mario Maestrelli. At that time he dealt with landscapes set in a dreamy atmosphere, covered with intimate light (Sant’Anna, 1925). The attention towards human figure increased in his work; a strong psychological involvement, expressed by an authentic Tuscan realism, starts emerging in several portraits (La cugina, 1926; La madre, 1927).
His friendship with Ardengo Soffici – first met in 1927 – reinforced his artistic education, so that Arrigo was considered an artist. According to Parronchi (1956) Soffici paved the way for the “monumentality” of Arrigo’s family portraits (Il nonno, 1927) and the characterisation of his still-life paintings.
The same plastic values are evident in some landscapes from that time (La casa rossa, 1927).
The year 1927 is crucial for Arrigo: he collaborated with Mino Maccari and his magazine “Il Selvaggio” providing a drawing, later in 1928 realising five drawings and engravings: from then on, Del Rigo drew artistic inspiration from various circumstances, especially from daily life episodes, accenting the little gestures and the mild narration. Some of his paintings attest his attention towards human existence, manifested with tenderness and benevolence, as it was filtered through a poet’s eyes.
From April 1929 the painter served in the military as grenadier in Rome, Riofreddo and Parma: that was a calm period for him, not lacking in job satisfactions. In a letter he wrote from Parma on 17th September 1929 Arrigo used an enthusiastic tone to describe the decorations he was commissioned to achieve for the House of the Granadier with emblems, figures and friezes. In that letter he also made a comparison between Parma and Prato, similar for the basic and austere buildings, the big squares and the stony rivers.
When he returned to Prato he found, instead, a hostile mood of political aversion. In March 1931 he was accused of subversive activities and imprisoned for a few months. Along with him were the friends he used to meet in Zola Settesoldi’s workshop to discuss about art and politics: Oscar Gallo, Leonetto Tintori, Dino Fiorelli.
From his release until his death he never lived peacefully again: the regime’s suspicions, the worry for an uncertain future intimately consumed the young painter, who continued working with more awareness and apprehension. His end unexpectedly came on 26th February 1932.
Image gallery
Last update: 17 december 2024, 10:55