Scaliger Bridge in Verona

The Scaliger Bridge — Ponte Scaligero — is one of the great medieval bridge fortifications of northern Italy, built by the Scaligeri lords of Verona in the fourteenth century and connecting the Castelvecchio to the far bank of the Adige. Gierymski's view of this monument from 1900 is part of his sustained series of Veronese architectural subjects, in which the medieval and Roman heritage of the city provided him with monumental forms to set against the Italian light and the river's movement. The bridge's distinctive crenellated towers and the alternating red and white stone of its construction gave Gierymski's Impressionist touch specific and satisfying material to work with. The National Museum in Warsaw holds this alongside his other Veronese subjects.

Gierymski renders the Scaliger Bridge with a warm, luminous palette appropriate to Italian Mediterranean light, using broken color to capture the ancient stonework's varied texture without becoming archaeologically illustrative. The Adige river below the bridge is treated with the horizontal strokes and reflective shimmer of his Impressionist method.