Enrico Pambianchi, Horses and horsemen, mixed media on canvas, 51x60 cm, 2011

The leaden skies, as often in the work of Pambianchi, transmit omens of post apocalyptic landscapes. The mouths of volcanoes that build the backdrop of the scene, of smokestacks belching smoke and dust of the nineteenth-century metropolis and darken the air. A strong image tragically pays tribute to the prince, completely reversing the calm and young air that depicts him in the original framework of Velasquez. A tribute to the warrior prince, who returned from a hunt through woods and steel bones. Prince shows an impetuous and strong side, a monarchy, which often destroys and exalts. The Andalusian horse loses its entrails and blood oozes but crazed, until the end, showing tail and mane. Drapes gross blood, dirty uniform of dust and ashes, skull designed to build a creepy figure, the visions are introduced by the author drawn to the original scene but annoyed by his gentleness and his unbearable whiteness. Under Pambianchi the lines of force of the composition leave from the "powerful" image suggested by the horse even before the knight. Critical text by Arch. Maurizio Bonizzi