Giovanni Maria Genta, “the Four Seasons,” Tempera, Late 18th Century

Giovanni Maria Genta, “The Four Seasons,” tempera, late 18th century

Title: The Four Seasons

Date: 1790

Technique: tempera on paper applied to canvas

Signature: signed and initialed “G.M.G.”

Dimensions (with frame): H 61 × W 77 cm / H 44 × W 60 cm

Series consisting of four tempera paintings depicting the Four Seasons, signed and dated 1790, by the Piedmontese painter Giovanni Maria Genta.

The works illustrate episodes of peasant life and genre scenes set in the rural surroundings of Piedmont, in a lively and narrative pictorial language, a direct heir to the tradition of bambocciate but already oriented towards a more modern and descriptive sensibility.

Each panel represents a moment in the year, highlighting the agricultural and social activities typical of each season: sowing and harvesting, the grape harvest, village festivals, and winter domestic work. The artist captures the details of the environment and the expressions of the protagonists with great attention, animating the compositions with light, bright, and harmoniously distributed colors.

Giovanni Maria Genta stands out as one of the last interpreters of Piedmontese bambocciata, a movement that represented everyday life in an ironic and realistic tone between the 17th and 18th centuries.

The figures, characterized by typical late 18th-century clothing, move in perspectively constructed spaces, with an almost documentary attention to peasant life and rural architecture.