Tall Clock c. 1939

Francis Borelli made this painting of a Tall Clock, but when I don’t know, or what medium he used. I love the color palette in this piece, a warm reddish brown that permeates throughout the clock. It’s almost like Borelli has stained the image, giving it the same warm feeling as the clock itself. You can really see the wood grain running up the length of the clock; Borelli has painstakingly rendered these details with a lot of love. Look closely at the clock face at the top and you’ll notice a figure, like an angel or cherub, peeking out from behind the clock mechanism. The clock hands are frozen in time, but who knows what time it is! Perhaps time stands still in Borelli’s world. This painting reminds me of the work of Charles Sheeler, an American painter who often depicted architecture and machinery with a similar level of precision and clarity. Like Sheeler, Borelli finds beauty in the everyday objects that surround us, inviting us to see the world in a new light.