Vanvitelli's Borromean Islands: Lake Maggiore becomes 18th-century pictorial poetry

The views of the Borromean Islands represent one of the most refined and poetic cycles of Gaspare Vanvitelli's entire oeuvre, as he explored the Lombard lake landscape in a series of extraordinarily evocative paintings. Inspired by his time on Lake Maggiore, Vanvitelli produced a series of twelve paintings of the Borromean Islands, executed between 1684 and 1718, which capture the serene and aristocratic beauty of this privileged corner of the Alps.

Isola Bella emerges from the crystalline waters of the lake like an architectural and landscape jewel, with its terraced gardens, baroque palace, and plays of perspective that transform a small strip of land into a microcosm of artificial beauty. The vantage point chosen by the artist, from the Gulf of Borromeo, allows the entire island to be encompassed in a comprehensive view that highlights the perfect integration between nature and culture, between the architectural design and the surrounding lake environment. Small boats ply the calm waters, human figures discreetly enliven the scene, while the northern light filters through the lake's humid atmosphere, creating highly refined chromatic effects. The whole conveys that earthly paradise that made the Borromean Islands a favored destination of the Grand Tour and a favorite subject of eighteenth-century landscape painters.

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Style
The views of the Borromean Islands date from the height of Vanvitelli's mature vedutism, when the artist had perfected the synthesis of topographical precision and poetic sensibility that characterizes his finest works. The stylistic language reveals the artist's Flemish training in the meticulous attention to architectural and naturalistic details, while the compositional breadth and atmospheric sensitivity reveal the influence of Italian landscapes. Gaspar van Wittel was renowned for his vedute, or panoramic views, of the cities of Venice and Rome, but the Borromean Islands series represents one of his most successful forays into lake landscapes, a genre that required a different chromatic and compositional sensibility than urban views.

The working method maintains the artist's typical documentary rigor, based on direct observation and the use of the camera obscura to achieve the perspective precision that distinguishes his works. The stylistic approach combines Nordic descriptive realism with the Italian taste for harmonious composition, creating views that are both accurate topographical documents and works of art of great aesthetic appeal. The historical period in question is the high Baroque, when vedutism was establishing itself as an independent genre and the destinations of the Grand Tour were beginning to be systematically documented in landscape painting.

Color and lighting
The color palette of the views of the Borromean Islands is distinguished by the predominance of the cool tones that characterize the Alpine lake landscape, with blues and greens dominating the composition, creating an atmosphere of serene contemplation. The reflections of the water are rendered through delicate chromatic modulations ranging from the intense blue of the shadowed areas to the silvery gray of the surfaces reflecting the sky, creating the characteristic diffuse luminosity typical of mountain lakes.

The architecture of Isola Bella is rendered in warm tones that contrast pleasantly with the cool waters, using golden ochres and siennas that enhance the nobility of the Borromeo Palace and its gardens. The vegetation is painted with a rich palette of greens, from the intense green of the cypress trees to the more delicate green of the wild vegetation, creating a chromatic symphony that celebrates the natural richness of the lake landscape. The northern light, more diffuse and less contrasting than the southern light of the Roman and Neapolitan views, creates a particularly delicate atmosphere that is reflected in the overall color scheme of the work. The sky, often covered by soft clouds, features delicate gradations ranging from pearl white to bluish gray, contributing to the effect of veiled luminosity characteristic of the pre-Alpine climate.

Spatial management
Spatial depth is constructed through a clever articulation of water planes that draw the eye from the shores of the foreground toward the island, creating a sense of immersion in the lake landscape. The aerial perspective is rendered through the progressive attenuation of contrasts and the blurring of contours, a technique Vanvitelli mastered perfectly and applied with particular effectiveness to the rendering of the lake's humid atmosphere. The view from the Gulf of Borromeo allows for a panoramic view that encompasses the entire island, emphasizing its nature as an aristocratic oasis emerging from the waters. The distribution of the elements follows a compositional logic that alternates solids and voids, with the island standing out as the central element surrounded by the broad expanse of the lake.

The spatial management reveals the use of optical instruments to achieve the perspective precision that characterizes Vanvitelli's views, where each element finds its proper spatial placement without artifice or compositional constraints. The mountains that mark the horizon are rendered with delicate nuances that create a sense of atmospheric depth, while the waters of the lake act as a unifying element, binding all the elements of the composition into a harmonious whole.

Composition and framing
The composition follows the principles of dynamic balance typical of mature vedutism, with Isola Bella positioned slightly off-center to create a more interesting visual rhythm than perfect symmetry. The panoramic framing is designed to include all the significant elements of the lake landscape, from the island's architectural details to the mountains in the background, creating a comprehensive vision that satisfies both documentary and aesthetic needs. The distribution of the elements follows a rhythmic progression that alternates masses and voids, with the boats serving as connecting elements between the different areas of the composition.

The horizontal format of the canvas, wider than it is high, emphasizes the expanse of the lake landscape and allows for the development of the panoramic dimension characteristic of eighteenth-century views. The horizon is positioned at the top of the composition, leaving ample space for the depiction of the waters, the dominant feature of the lake landscape. The choice of vantage point reveals a thoughtful compositional strategy that captures Isola Bella in its entirety, emphasizing the perfect integration of the Baroque architecture into the natural setting of the lake.

Technique and materials
The work is painted using oil on canvas, a medium that allowed the artist to achieve the chromatic finesse and richness of detail necessary to convey the complexity of the lake landscape. The execution method stems from meticulous preparatory studies, as evidenced by the existence of five known preparatory drawings of the islands, one of which was squared for transfer in red chalk and depicts the island seen from the Gulf of Borromeo.

The pictorial layer develops through successive layers that gradually build up the light and atmospheric effects. The pigments used include ultramarine for the blues of the water, green earths and verdigris for the vegetation, ochres and earths for the architecture, while lead whites are used for the lights and reflections on the water's surface. The brushstrokes vary according to the representational needs, more precise in the architectural elements and more fluid in the rendering of atmospheric and water effects.

The painting's dating to 1715 places it in the artist's full artistic maturity, when he had perfected the synthesis between topographical documentation and poetic interpretation that makes his views true masterpieces.