Riomaggiore Harbour
A 2016 oil on canvas depicting the harbour at Riomaggiore, the southernmost of the five Cinque Terre villages on the Ligurian coast. The composition centres on the narrow inlet where the village's characteristic painted houses press close to the water, small fishing boats gathered at their feet. The red house that anchors the foreground is a motif closely associated with Riomaggiore's harbour, its warm facade catching the evening light that also rakes across the cliff face rising behind.
At 24 by 18 inches, the format suits the compressed verticality of the scene: the cliffs, the stacked architecture, and the sliver of sheltered water all demand a canvas that reaches upward rather than spreads wide. Oil on canvas allows for the kind of tonal richness that evening harbour light calls for, the distinction between the warm ochres and reds of the buildings and the cooler, shadowed stone of the cliff a natural subject for the medium's depth of colour.