Lodano, Valle Maggia, a sera
Filippo Franzoni (1857–1911)

Filippo Franzoni, Lodano, Valle Maggia, a sera (Lodano, Valle Maggia, in the Evening), 1897 ca., oil on canvas.
MASI Lugano. Extended loan Fondazione Antonio Caccia. Purchase, 1905

Filippo Franzoni was a painter, photographer and highly versatile artist in general, who was active in Milan and Ticino at the end of the 19th century. After having studied at the Accademia di Brera, he took several trips abroad, and subsequently spent most of his time between the Lombard capital and Locarno, where he was born. Initially, Franzoni’s linear composition and love of naturalistic detail made his work resemble Lombard landscape painting, but later his freer and more expressive brushstrokes and bright colours applied in more abstract patches testified to his affinity with the new European art movements and the Swiss milieu. 

Lodano, Valle Maggia, in the evening was purchased by the Museum in 1905 directly from the artist, who provided information about the work in a letter preserved in the records. However, the work was painted earlier, between 1885 and 1890, as is evident from the still naturalistic style of the landscape and houses. The approach is traditional: a calm painting, without any daring compositional feats, but with an exceptionally well-chosen palette – particularly the greens, heavily worked in the foreground and blended on the mountainside. The landscape depicts the Valle Maggia, where the Franzoni family was from, whose locations the artist painted on several occasions. Echoes of this painting can be found in the works of Ugo Zaccheo, an artist who was heavily influenced by his teacher Franzoni.