Turner's The Pifferari: A Masterpiece of Color and Romantic Vision

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Unbelievable colors. That’s the first thing I noticed about this painting in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow.

The second thing was the total lack of a distinguishable theme. It is a landscape, but it does not have a well-defined foreground, middle, and background. Instead, this landscape shows you all of them at once, as it were, swirling with the soft yellows, browns, and greens, which, in turn, are eclipsed by the dazzling blue of the sky and its reflection in the lake. The staggering azure of the sky is heightened by wispy white clouds. 

Modern Italy: The Pifferari. (1838). Joseph Mallord William Turner

Only after experiencing the shocking richness of the colors do you notice the people on the left and right side of the painting. I didn’t read the museum label, and my first impression was that the figures on the left represented the Holy Family; the woman in white and blue resembles the classical portrayal of the Virgin Mary, with the dark-robed figure near her, resembling Joseph. Only later did I discover that the painting is labeled Modern Italy: The Pifferari by Joseph Mallord William Turner, first exhibited in 1838.

Detail of the figures. Modern Italy: The Pifferari. (1838). Joseph Mallord William Turner

What are the pifferari? The term pifferari refers to Italian musicians who played their concerts in front of images of the Madonna. Here is what the composer Berlioz wrote about them in his memoirs:

“the pifferari. That is the name they give to wandering musicians who as Christmas approaches come down from the mountains in groups of four or five. Equipped with bagpipes and pifferi (a kind of oboe), they come to perform devout concerts in front of images of the Madonna. They usually wear broad coats of brown cloth, and the same pointed hats worn by brigands; their appearance has a kind of wild mysticism which is full of originality”[1].

So, apparently this beautiful painting by the English Romantic painter Turner shows a scene in modern Italy. The pifferari were romanticized the Romantic poets, together with other characteristic Italian groups like brigands or Italian fishermen.

The landscape's endlessness and the miniature size of the buildings convey one of the most characteristic ideas of Romanticism - the idea of the sublime. Nature's beauty blends with a sense of awe and ethereal spirituality that is not limited to the material landscape the viewer sees. It blends the reality of Turner's contemporary Italy and the captivating colors of the southern landscape with the spiritual significance of the pifferari’s music. 

 

Further Reading:

Modern Italy: The Pifferari, Turner. Glasgow Museums, https://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=1613;type=101

Parks, John. A Closer Look: The Romantic Vision of J.M.W. Turner. Artists Network. https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-history/j-m-w-turner-watercolors/?srsltid=AU7gw4We6nbZgvpZUjf74ZJliD7Iv-FKVJfuiBwfCzGiYMEDky233h_B


[1] http://www.hberlioz.com/Italy/abruzzi.htm

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