Giacomo Leopardi

Sandri's work has received critical attention in Italy, most recently in exhibitions in Milan (2001,S. Ambrogio Museum, "From sufferance to faith") and Rome (2002, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, "Art, madness, a language of the soul"). It seems as if the emphasis was placed on his drawn portraits of fellow patients, as well as his landscapes, which seem to be greatly appreciated by critics. In 1965, the critic L. Bracchi, on the occasion of a posthumous exhibition in Saronno, wrote, "I recall above all his graphic work which is impressive. From a psychological point of view I especially recall the splendid drawings of the lunatics. They are real portraits carried out with a dedication worthy of Dürer. They are precise even if simple pencil drawings. We must not forget his paintings that show his love of nature which he shows simply as if through the eyes of an innocent child, which our friend Sandri was." These sentiments are typical of later criticism as well.

This portrait of the dead Leopardi, apparently imagined at night under a grape arbor, embodies the same synthesis of portrait draftsmanship and a sensibility toward nature. Beyond the artistic quality of the image, this is a remarkably sensitive blend of lithographic crayon and tusche, printed with exquisite delicacy on a toned sheet of laid paper. The grain of the paper shows through the expanses of black wash, harmonizing them with the luminous features of the poet, which are realized in crayon.