This early 20th-century oil painting by Italian artist Augusto Alberici (1846-1922) depicts the Corso Vittorio Emanuele at Messina, under a brilliant Sicilian sky.

Boats crowd the harbour to the left, awnings project from the sunlit buildings, horse-drawn vehicles travel along the road, and townspeople gather beneath the shade. Tramlines lead directly through the centre of the composition, carrying the eye towards the distant city. 

Augusto Alberici painted this view in 1902. Just six years later, much of the world depicted here was gone. On 28 December 1908, a catastrophic earthquake struck the Strait of Messina. The violent shaking was followed by a tsunami, devastating Messina and communities across the strait in Calabria and killing tens of thousands of people. Large areas of the historic city were destroyed, and the Messina that Alberici had encountered during his visit was profoundly altered.

It gives this painting, with its abundant joviality and exuberance, an extraordinary additional significance. Alberici could not have known what was coming. There's no foreboding and no attempt to monumentalise the city. Indeed, the painting's value as a record derives precisely from its informality. He was interested in Messina because it was alive.

Look closely, and the city begins to emerge through dozens of small observations. A dog trots across the tramlines beside a young figure. A gentleman walks alone in the foreground. Women converse beneath parasols while others linger around the harbour. Carriages travel along the Corso, and figures gather beneath shop awnings. Beyond them rises a forest of masts, connecting the life of the street with the great natural harbour that had shaped Messina's identity for centuries.

Alberici's handling is appropriately quick and animated. Many of the figures are constructed from little more than a few deft touches, while the buildings dissolve into creams, ochres, pinks and warm terracottas beneath the fierce southern light. Viewed closely, passages appear almost abbreviated; from a distance, they coalesce into a remarkably convincing impression of a busy summer's day.

The unusually tall format strengthens the sensation of actually standing on the Corso. Alberici places us on the tramlines and allows the street to recede before us, while the harbour opens immediately alongside. Rather than offering a detached panorama, he gives us the experience of walking through Messina.

This was characteristic of an artist whose interest in Italy extended beyond picturesque scenery. Alberici was also an antiquarian and collector, and his paintings frequently reveal the same instinct to look carefully at the physical world around him. Architecture mattered, but so did the people inhabiting it. Old buildings formed the backdrop to shopping, working, travelling, talking and simply getting on with life.

Here, that observational instinct became more important than Alberici could possibly have imagined. In 1902, he painted an ordinary day. Six years later, the earthquake transformed the city forever.

Alberici simply stopped and looked. More than a century later, we should be rather grateful that he did.

Signed and inscribed ‘A. Alberici / Roma’ lower left; titled ‘Corso Vittorio Emanuele Messina’ lower right, together with a date. Held in a substantial giltwood frame with carved laurel ornament, rope-twist detailing and architectural corner and centre motifs, set within a dark outer moulding.

Learn more about Augusto Alberici in our directory.

The painting was previously sold through Sotheby's in 1999.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 22½” x 30½” / 57cm x 77cm
Year of creation: 1902
Labels & Inscriptions: Sotheby's label on the reverse.
Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 24 November 1999, lot 563 / Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Areas of fine and settled craquelure, as you would expect. The paint layer is stable. Frame in good condition with minor age-related wear.
Artist’s auction maximum: £20,312 achieved in 1996 for ‘The Race of the Riderless Horses, Rome’.
Our reference: BRV2338