Liber veritatis, 1977
GPO-0346
Pencil on primed canvas
One part 180 x 360 cm, two parts 100 x 100 cm each, two parts 75 x 75 cm each, two parts 60 x 60 cm each, overall dimensions site-specific
Private collection
The installation of the work, devoid of the original documentation, needs to be evaluated. In 2016 the artist imagined two possible solutions:
1. on three adjacent sides of one room, with the large element measuring 180 x 360 cm placed next to two smaller canvases (60 x 60 cm each), and on each side wall two other canvases (100 x 100 cm and 75 x 75 cm);
2. on the four sides of the room, with the large element measuring 180 x 360 cm on one wall, reflected on the opposite wall by two canvases measuring 100 x 100 cm arranged next to each other, and placed next to two 60 x 60 cm canvases each, while the two 75 x 75 cm canvases are situated on each of the side walls in the room.
The installation of the work on three adjacent sides of a room – echoing the original situation in the entrance hall of the home for which the work was made – calls for the large element made up of two joined canvases on the middle wall, with two smaller canvases next to it, and on each side wall two other canvases. The central element reproduces the pencil drawing of the same situation seen in perspective, while the six canvases in the various smaller formats each bear a drawing, which each time involves six squares of different sizes and overlapping, placed close together, or intersecting variably.
An exact replica of itself, the work is an authentic catalogue or “liber veritatis” of its possible configurations. Indeed, the title refers back to that of the sketchbook on which Claude Lorrain, starting in 1636, recorded his compositions, reproducing them perfectly, somewhat like a Catalogue raisonné.
The title is the first in a group of four works with the same name but formally different, developed between 1978 and 1979 (GPO-0396, GPO-0406, GPO-0408, GPO-0415).
Title from Claude Lorrain, Liber Veritatis, 1636-82, British Museum, London.
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 346 pp. 356-357, repr. |
