Issue #6 - November 2019
INTERVIEW
Pieter Devos
RETURN TO THE ORIGINS
A one-on-one with the 2019 European Team Champion
Page 11
EVENT
Jumping Verona
The World Cup event returns to Fieracavalli
Page 20
PORTRAIT
Ben Maher
Objective: all the gold of Tokyo 2020
Page 28
A
“Dawn”, fresco on canvas, Carlo Romiti
horse and the dawn. An equestrian image that takes us back to the beginnings of time, to an ancestral language marked by the rising of the sun and of the moon, to the time when man depicted his world in stone. Cave art that acknowledges Renaissance studies, exalting morphology, anatomy, movement and energy. The warm colours of fire and of earth take us back to autumn and the season of meditation. The inspiration for these works of art comes from the very earth where Tuscan artist Carlo Romiti lives, walks and rides, in the countryside between San Gimignano and Volterra and they are created with the use of an ancient art: “Geologically speaking, there is an incredible variety of colours here – he says – from red ochre and yellow to greys that fade into blues. Then there are the blacks: vines, oak, pine and Lebanese cedar. I gather the raw earth, dry it well and then grind it in a stone mortar. I sift it and then grind it once more. I mix it with water and with egg or with different glues as the case may be. This is the way mankind has always painted since the time of the
EQ U E ST R I A N I L LU ST R AT E D
cavemen. Put earth and animals together and Lascaux or Altamira come to mind; and the fresco painting technique is based on the use of earth, as we have been taught by Renaissance art.” A physical connection with the earth sees his work centred on the horse. One of the most complex subjects in art and doubly important for him as horses have always been a part of his life: “The horse is a translator of the world - he explains - he is your mentor through the countryside. He is responsible for you and it’s a wonderful feeling from under the saddle when the horse arches his neck, when he senses something moving in the undergrowth. That’s when I feel like running to the studio to start a painting of him.” His contemporary paintings seem to emerge from the mists of time and from Leonardo Da Vinci’s studies, but at the same time they are original expressions of a powerful and magnetic matter. Carlo Romiti’s paintings travel all over to exhibitions and shows, most recently to Rome during the Longines Global Champions Tour international horse show.