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The Bersagliere student’s goodbye

Statue of two figures embracing.

Contributor: Elena Musiani

Location: Museo Civico del Risorgimento di Bologna

Description: This statuette, L’addio dello studente bersagliere (The Bersagliere student’s goodbye), is held in the Museo Civico Del Risorgimento of Bologna. The piece, in polychrome terracotta, by the sculptor Fortunato Zampanelli (1828-1909) from Forlì, was acquired by the Museum in 1939 from the sculptor’s son. The work was made during the years in which Zampanelli was still a student at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Bologna, as evidenced by the slightly ‘raw’ nature of the piece and the simple facial features of the young couple. At first glance, it seems a conventionally, even insipidly, sentimental and patriotic piece; but hidden within it lies a more urgently autobiographical and historical story of the young caught up in the war and revolution associated with Romanticism.

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Ruth in Boaz’s fields (1856)

Image of the painting of Ruth

Contributor: Antonella Mampieri

Location: Bologna, Collezioni Comunali d’Arte

Description: This painting by Francesco Hayez (1791–1882), one of the leading painters of Italian Romanticism, was commissioned by Severino Bonora (1801-1866), a rich Bolognese landowner, for his collection. Its subject is an Old Testament story from the Bible. Ruth, a poor Moabite widow, returns with her widowed mother-in-law Naomi to Israel, and is depicted gleaning in the fields of one of her former husband’s relations, Boaz, in order to gain a living for herself and her mother-in-law. The exiled Ruth will eventually marry Boaz.

However, the subject of the painting, and indeed the painting itself, are far less significant here than the life and ideas of its patron and collector. Severino intended to lead a Romantic and adventurous life. A passionate traveller in spite of his epilepsy which brought him twice very near death during his travels, Severino organized a six month long tour every year through Europe, Asia or Africa, taking with him young artists who couldn’t otherwise afford to travel. He chose dramatic and moving subjects for his collection of paintings, helped his fellow artists develop their skills through his patronage and input, and more generally worked to form modern Romantic taste.

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Garibaldi’s Cabin

Image of a brick hut with a thatched roof and trees on either side.

Contributor: Harald Hendrix

Location: Via Baiona 192, 48123 Area Industriale Ravenna, Italy

Description: Inextricably linked to one of the most dramatic moments in the heroic life of Giuseppe Garibaldi, this humble hunting lodge situated in an almost inaccessible area of wetlands near the city of Ravenna preserves the long-lasting memory of popular consent to Garibaldi’s republican and patriotic project to unite Italy. Erected in 1810 by a local clergyman to accommodate his passion for hunting in this part of the river Po delta between Ravenna and Comacchio, it grew into an ideal hideaway for those escaping from arrest by the authorities. In the aftermath of the revolutionary season of 1848 it thus became the shelter of one of Europe’s most radical and appealing advocates of political change, Giuseppe Garibaldi, in what doubtless was the most difficult moment of his life.

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