Campagna romana is a 1929 painting by Riccardo Francalancia, an Italian modernist who emerged as a leading figure in the Valori Plastici movement. The work depicts the landscape of the Roman countryside, rendered in the artist’s characteristic style informed by the movement’s aims to restore formal and volumetric values to Italian art.
Francalancia (1886–1965), born in Assisi, became a central presence in Rome’s interwar artistic circles. Around 1910 he participated in the city’s cultural salons, including those of the Bragaglia brothers and the Caffè Aragno, connections that led to his collaboration with the journal La Ronda. In the years following the First World War, he helped establish the Valori Plastici movement, which gathered around the journal of the same name directed by Mario Broglio. The movement sought to move beyond Futurist polemic by restoring quattrocento principles of form and metaphysical volume to modern Italian art, departing from nineteenth-century descriptivism.
Francalancia distinguished himself within this circle—which included De Chirico, Morandi, and Carrà—through his distinctive approach to still life and landscape painting, grounded in realist observation yet incorporating elements of compositional primitivism. Campagna romana exemplifies his engagement with these formal concerns.
About Riccardo Francalancia
Riccardo Francalancia studied at the Scolopi seminary in Spello and at Rome’s Scuola diplomatico-coloniale before establishing himself in Rome’s avant-garde circles. As a founder and active participant in the Valori Plastici movement, he pursued a modernism rooted in formal structure and volumetric clarity, working principally in landscape and still-life subjects until his death in Rome in 1965.
Details
- Artist: Riccardo Francalancia
- Year: 1929
- Movement: Valori Plastici
- Subject: Roman countryside landscape
Frequently asked questions
Who was Riccardo Francalancia?
Riccardo Francalancia (1886–1965) was an Italian painter born in Assisi who became one of the principal figures of the Valori Plastici movement. He was active in Rome’s cultural circles from around 1910 and helped establish the movement in the immediate postwar period.
What was the Valori Plastici movement?
Valori Plastici was an artistic movement founded in Rome after the First World War, gathered around a journal of the same name directed by Mario Broglio. It sought to restore formal and metaphysical volume—inspired by quattrocento principles—to modern Italian art, moving beyond Futurist polemic and nineteenth-century descriptivism.
What subjects did Francalancia typically paint?
Francalancia specialized in landscape and still-life painting executed in a realist mode with elements of formal primitivism, as demonstrated in works such as Campagna romana.
