Study

The plants on this slope are agaves, and they are not Greek. Agave americana came out of Mexico and reached Europe around the middle of the 16th century, at first as a curiosity in gardens. By the 18th it was all round the Mediterranean, and farmers had found a use for it: set in a row along a contour, the thick rosettes hold a hillside in place and make a fence nothing walks through. The part of the southern Greek landscape that looks oldest is in places an American import of the last few hundred years.

The title is just Study. Ralli was working for himself here, oil on canvas, 46 by 38 centimetres, and the gallery prints no year for it at all, only the inventory number Pi 914/5.