THE TALKING WALLS

15 Jun THE TALKING WALLS

A PRIVATE ABODE TO BE ART DESIGNED

The Mariani Affreschi artists sapiently made art the protagonist of a beautiful private abode, creating a tailor-made project, commissioned by a refined couple with exceptional taste.

The lady of the house, a cultured and brilliant woman, has personally overseen the interior design over the years, selecting every item of decor, from the curtains to the furniture, to add a unique character and warmth to the home. As the furnishings started to take shape, the walls became increasingly more spartan, requiring a distinctive finish that could really enhance the mood of the entire ambience.

The walls have been entirely painted by Mariani artists. The key protagonist is ‘Diana and Endymion’ by Poussin, surrounded by elaborate, decorative illusionistic features and fake boiserie marble

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CUSTOMIZING BY ART

After the meeting with the project managers at Mariani Affreschi, the client was able to clearly express the ideas she had in mind. The artists from the Brescia-based company, knowingly translated her expectations into an artistic, decorative fresco that would cover the walls of an entire room, in perfect harmony with the rest of the ambience, also thanks to a careful choice of colours and the delicate pictorial quality of the paintings.

The starting point for the commission was the extremely famous painting by Nicolas Poussin: ‘Diana and Endymion’, an oil on canvas work, currently held at the Museum of Detroit, which was executed by the great French artist in around 1630. In fact, the owner of the house has always loved this work, and her dream has now become a reality. She now has a copy of her own in her own home, while waiting to see the original on her next travel to the United States. To satisfy her wishes, the Mariani artists reproduced a faithful copy in the centre of the living room wall, which stretched from the floor to the ceiling, all the way to the far ends of the room, with pictorial decorations, like illusionistic trompe l’oeil features and decorative friezes on the ceiling (the background of which have been carefully painted in the same tones as the marble flooring for enhanced colour harmony).

The Mariani artist working on the ‘Diana and Endymion’ fresco, directly in the client’s home

The ‘Diana and Endymion’ wall painting by the Mariani artists. A faithful reproduction of Nicola Poussin’s work, which is currently held by the Museum of Detroit

In this striking image, you can see the entire room, painted by Mariani Affreschi, and the evident attention to detail, from the frescoes to the furnishings. On the left is the wall-painting of ‘Venere italica’ (Italian Venus)

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CLASSIC ELEMENTS FOR A UNIQUE DECORATION

As you can see, in the far corner of the room there is a painting of the stone statue of the ‘Venere italica’ (Italian Venus), inside a false niche. The perfect choice of chroma and the curvaceous lines of the female body metaphorically express the elegance and classism that the client wanted to express in every detail of her home.

Also worthy of note is the boiserie panelling, painted in fake marble in the lower area of the walls, which goes all the way around the room, becoming a key feature of some of the most important areas of the space. In fact, painted boiserie are usually used to give harmony and elegance to interiors, even in an unfurnished room, and it is a highly requested form of art work in many of Mariani’s artistic  projects.

Hand-painted by Mariani’s artists, the fake marble boiserie on the lower section of the wall goes all the way around the room, filling in some of the more important spaces, adding balance and elegance to the entire interior

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CARE FOR DETAILS

The paintings were executed entirely on site, not only for technical reasons, but also to enable the client to follow the realisation of the fresco step-by-step, curating every minute detail with the advice of the Mariani artists. This also allowed for the painting of the false cornices on the walls, which all respect the natural direction of the light, one of the most important factors when creating a real masterpiece.

Preparation stage of the ceiling frieze, panted by Mariani artists, to create chromatic harmony with the rest of the room

The artists working on some pictorial details. Every aspect of the artistic project was studied by Mariani Affreschi with the client of this elegant private abode

A view of the entire room: the frieze on the ceiling, the illusionistic wall features and the fake marble boiserie create a harmonious cornice for the main ‘Diana and Endymion’ piece, painted by Mariani Affreschi

We’re pleased to say that we were able to satisfy the expectations of our client, who can now enjoy the beauty of these paintings every day, because, as the German playwright Bertolt Brecht said, “All art forms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living”.

At the end of this image gallery, we find what was actually the beginning of the entire project: the preparatory sketch or, more precisely, the preliminary study that was sent to the client for approval