Description

A scene from military life is depicted in which two soldiers are making their rounds. The scene takes place at the height of the day when there is no shade and a clear sense of heat and sultriness is felt. The main colors are three: black, white and blue in various shades. This is a small painting, which offers a scenario of some soldiers forced to suffer, seen as victims in a desolate landscape, dominated by an intense brightness. The sense of perspective is given by the wall on the right, whose perfect geometry interrupts with a clean cut the line of the horizon, where the ochre of the barren plain blends with the purplish blue of the sky. The figures of the soldier and the horse in the foreground stand out forcefully against the yellowish-white background of the wall calcified by the sun. The other two horsemen in the distance balance the painting compositionally, almost ideally continuing the perspective of the wall. The shadows created by the light source make us think that the scene takes place in a sultry summer day, still and sleepy, which also stops the activities of men. There is the presence of strong chiaroscuro contrasts: the white caps that contrast with the black jackets and the deep blue sky, and the black robes and horses that contrast with the ground and the masonry. In this painting we can perceive a new relationship between man and nature, no longer romantic but realistic. The human figure, in fact, is immersed in the landscape without being the protagonist, without prevailing over nature.