20: Antonio Maria de Reyna Manescau Start Price USD 6,000.00 Current Price USD 8,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 7 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Friday, August 01, 2008 End Time Friday, August 01, 2008 Location Portland, ME See more about '20: Antonio Maria de Reyna Manescau' Description Current Lot Antonio Maria de Reyna Manescau Sunset on the Pontinian Swamps 10 X 20 inches A. Reyna Roma l.r. and titled on an early label verso of a private collector The Pontinian Swamp south and west of Rome in the early years of the Republic were a fertile area; but the large need for wood for kilns, for the Roman water-heating systems, and for shipbuilding primarily to fight wars, the trees on the mountain slopes were systematically cut down causing widespread erosion, a classic example of deforestation which then caused flooding. Various attempts were made over the centuries to reclaim what had become a swamp, but either the technology proved inadequate or political considerations intervened. The swamp was finally drained and reclaimed beginning in 1928 under Opera Nazionale Combattenti, a government institution under Mussolini that supported rural development. The beachhead at Anzio on the coast of the area was the site of the World War II amphibious landing on January 22, 1944. The treeless, irrigated fields of the Pontinian Swamp, with its intricate network of drainage ditches, offered scant cover for troops, and during the rainy season the fields were impassable to most heavy equipment. German sabotage of the pumping stations of the drainage system during World War II demonstrated how swiftly the area would become waterlogged without constant supervision. Today a duct system runs through the area. Wheat, fruit and wine are cultivated. The "Agro Pontino" is a flowering landscape with modern cities. By the year 2000, about 520,000 inhabitants lived in this formerly deserted region. Oil on canvas Place a Bid!