Clark Van Clemenson (1910 - ?)

Clark Van Clemenson (1910- ?)

Beautiful island on Lake Maggiore

Oil on canvas, cm 100 x 160

with frame, cm 122 x 182

signed below right C. Clemenson

The painting in question shows a splendid view of the Isola Bella, one of the so-called Borromean Islands, which is reflected on the waters of Lake Maggiore. In the foreground is the beach where two small boats are moored and the scene is animated by a girl, only human presence throughout the painting. High snow-capped mountains embrace the island and lake.  The oil on canvas is, as can be seen from the signature below right, by the painter Clark Van Clemenson, born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1910. Unknown is the date of death. 

Until 1630, Isola Bella was a rocky island inhabited by fishermen, with two small churches and some vegetable gardens. The Borromeos, already owners of the Isola Madre since 1501, from the first twenty years of the seventeenth century with Julius Caesar III and Charles III decided to concentrate their interests on this new island, starting the grandiose project that will lead to the creation of the Palazzo and the Italian garden, well recognizable in the painting.

The Borromeo Palace, whose 80-metre long façade dominates the northern end of the island, was built throughout the 17th century and has a T-shaped plan with a curved projection in the centre at the head of the hall. 

The surrounding garden was built from 1631 to about 1671. The Teatro Massimo, visible in the distance behind the Palace, is the most important monument of the garden of Isola Bella: statues, obelisks and fountains integrate perfectly with the vegetation of the ten scenographic terraces, on top of which stands the statue of the Unicorn, heraldic symbol of the Borromeo family.

The pastel tones used by the artist infuse the viewer a sense of quietness, calm and inner peace, which make the island a kind of locus amoenus. The pictorial rendering is particular: The beach in the foreground as well as the foliage or the snowy peaks of the mountains are characterized by an extreme pictorial materiality, so that the color in these points is not perfectly spread but rather left deliberately in relief giving a particular texture to the painting. Other portions of the painting like, For example, the water or boats are treated by the painter smoothing the color and juxtaposing the color with strokes of brush or spatula without describing them minutely but making sure that the image is defined by a distant vision from the canvas. 

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