Blessing, ©Aldo Galli

Richard Adams’ book, ‘Watership Down’, has inspired all sorts of people in all sorts of ways leading many to interpret the story in a variety of media. A young Italian painter, Aldo Galli, has, through his paintings, done just that, but he is perhaps one of the very few artists to be told by the old King himself, “You’ve extended the scholarship of my work”.

When they met this summer, Richard Adams was visibly moved by Aldo’s paintings, a series of luminous canvases vibrating with his sensitive vision of the rabbit story. His interpretation is a faithful one, in the manner of true admiration and respect. Aldo has known and loved the book ever since his Mother gave him a picture-book version for Christmas when he was a child growing up in Italy.

Across Newtown Churchyard, ©Aldo Galli

However it was a relatively recent, and serendipitous, discovery for Aldo to find that Watership Down was a real place and right there in the southern part of England where he’d come to live. It was as if the rabbits themselves, fictional and real, had beckoned him and he responded by embarking on an intense journey getting to know by heart the inner and outer landscape of the story. He walked every inch of the terrain, taking many photographs, until he knew intimately its geography, its topology, its flora and fauna. The rabbits and other creatures became his familiars through hours of observation combined with a loving study of the tiniest nuances of language and plot

At the meeting with Richard Adams, Aldo stood beside each one of his canvases in turn and, in his gently accented English, read to Richard the passage from the book which had been its inspiration.

In the manner of a quest, the young man had gone deep into the world of ‘Watership Down’ and returned to honour its creator with the most precious gift he could offer him.

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Aldo currently lives in Southampton and is a Certified Bob Ross Instructor (CRI); You can reach him through his FanBrush.co.uk website.

He showed his ‘Watership Down’ inspirted paintings at the Gill Nethercott Centre in Whitchurch, Hampshire, UK on 16th November, 2008.  Richard Adams was on hand to lend support and sign copies of his various books, including ‘Watership Down’.

Aldo was featured on this website in: March 2009