19th Century, Views Of Rome During The Roman Republic Of 1849

19th century

Views of Rome during the Roman Republic of 1849

(2) Oil on canvas, cm 56 x 92

With frame, cm 65 x 102

The pair of canvases examined, of remarkable artistic quality, refers to a precise historical moment to be identified in the Roman Republic of 1849. In both views appears, in fact the figure of Giuseppe Garibaldi, well distinguishable in his legendary red shirt and the typical military dress. In the painting of the Colosseum, the general is shown sitting next to a Brazilian flag-bearer, who was taken to Rome following the previous campaign in Uruguay in 1848. In the second, instead, the protagonist appears pensive and desolate, referring to the defeat occurred with the siege of Rome by the French led by General Oudinot at dawn on June 3, 1849: after about a month of fighting without truce, Garibaldi tried the last march, going down to Cesenatico, where he captured a fleet of fishing boats and embarked for Venice. Here, intercepted by the Austrian fleet, the fugitives dispersed. The pair in question, therefore, not only represents an important testimony of a slice of Italian history, but also stands out as a superb masterpiece of vedutism. Following the tradition of the views from the Grand Tour, in fact, the artist wants to return a glimpse of the Roman forum during the nineteenth century, when a large part of the archaeological evidence was still buried. In fact, before the excavations, the whole area was known as Vaccino Field, an area used exclusively for grazing sheep and cows. Something changed, however, already at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the French domination in Rome, with which it began to dig to bring to light that treasure that is the historical and archaeological heritage of the Urbe.