Page 366 - Beholding Liberty!

1. In Italy, philhellenic art – inspired in part by the widespread dissemination of Giovanni Mosconi’s Storia Greca Moderna, Milano, 1834 – met with a strong response in intellectual, patriotic and artistic circles early on. Cf.
C. Spetsieri Beschi – E. Lucarelli (eds.), Risorgimento Greco e Filellenismo Italiano. Lotte, Cultura, Arte, exh. cat., Palazzo Venezia, Edizioni del Sole, Rome 1986.
2. Among the earliest to take an interest in the events of the Greek Independence were two painters who had studied at the Venice Academy: Francesco Hayez
(see F. Mazzocca, Francesco
Hayez – Catalogo Ragionato, Federico Motta Editore, Milano 1994, especially cat. nos. 169,
170, 236) and his friend, Ludovico Lipparini, influenced and inspired by C. Pouqueville’s book (F.-C.-
H.-L. Pouqueville, Histoire de la régénération de la Grèce comprenant les évenéments dépuis 1770 jusq’en 1824, 4 vols, Paris 1824. For an overview of Ludovico Lipparini’s work, see G. Pavanello (ed.),
La pittura nel Veneto – L’Ottocento, I, Electa Mondadori – Regione Veneto, Milano-Venezia 2002,
pp. 38, 40.
3. Sante Giacomelli also invited Lipparini to coordinate the restoration of Paolo Veronese’s frescoes in Andrea Palladio’s
villa in Maser (Treviso), which
he intended to restore to its former glory after the acquisition.
oil on canvas, 250 × 350 cm
signed & dated: LIPPARINI. F. VEN. 1850. (low centre) provenance: legacy of Sante Giacomelli, 1874 Treviso, Musei Civici, inv. n. P490
A VERY IMPORTANT WORK from the col- lection of the Musei Civici in Treviso, this is one of the most successful oil paintings that Ludovico Lipparini (Bologna, February 17, 1800 –Venice, March 19, 1856) produced, inspired by the Greek Independence, starting from the 1830s.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the Struggle for the
Greek Independence was indeed a very attractive and
intense example for Italian intellectuals, patriots and
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artists, especially the painters who studied at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.
Foremost among the protagonists of that era, which was a watershed moment across Europe, is the figure of Lord Byron (6th Baron Byron of Rochdale, born in London, January 22, 1788 – died in Missolonghi, April 19, 1824). Along with his prolific literary output and his adventurous life, his involvement in the struggles for national independence in Italy and Greece made him the personification of the Romantic hero. He was also a popular subject for painters thanks to his im- posing, charming and distinctive figure.
In this work,3 Lipparini depicts Byron at an important moment of his sojourn in Greece. In a scene that is extremely well-balanced in one respect, Byron is the uncontested centre of the composition; he is symboli- cally illuminated by the sun, heralding the liberation of Greeks from the usurpers, tearing through the fumes of the blazes in the background, which heighten the dramatic atmosphere of the unfolding conflict. Por- trayed realistically and with inspired gestures, he solemnly places his right hand on the monumental grave of Markos Botsaris – as evidenced by the initials ΜΠΟΤ engraved on the marble – and at the same time points, obliquely extending his left arm, at the blue and white Greek flag, flapping in the wind, tied to the cross pole held by a young patriot kneeling on the steps.
Byron, in traditional costume, is the towering hero who seduces the group representing the Greek people. The figures are depicted in detail, if partly imaginary, and convey the diversity of the social groups that joined
the movement for independence: there are priests, on the left, seeming as if the large crosses weigh on them, revolutionaries of all ages, a group of women, on the right, gathered close to each other, as if in fear. The impeccably academic drawing almost crystallises the moment; yet the diagonal arrangement of the compo- sition, the light coming from behind and the palette – dominated by red, yellow-gold, and the blue of the flag – lending a sense of underlying tension: the moment of stillness that precedes action.
The patron of this painting, Sante Giacomelli (Trevi- so 1792-1874) was a prosperous industrialist and a prominent figure in Treviso society.
An avid supporter of the Risorgimento and patron of upcoming artists – Lipparini among them – Gia- comelli commissioned the painting Lord Byron’s Oath on the Grave of Marco Botzaris for his personal collec- tion of historical art. He amassed his collection for one more reason: to foster his fellow citizens’ political commitment to national unity.4
Almost 50 years later, in 1898, Luigi Bailo (Treviso 1835-1932), then director of the Municipal Library and founder and director of the earliest core of the Musei Civici in Treviso, organised an exhibition docu- menting the 50th anniversary of the 1848 uprisings; two copies of other Greece-related works by Ludovi- co Lipparini went on display in buildings adjacent to the Museum and Library (the Lord Byron oil painting had already been on display at the local Art Gallery).5 In the catalogue, he emphasised the fact that, “Many Italians participated in the struggle for the Indepen- dence of Greece, which was, together with the paint- ings of the time, a catalyst for patriotic sentiment in Italy”. Even though more than 70 years had elapsed since those events, in the environment of a provincial town there still was a strong awareness of the close ties between the armed struggle for Greek Indepen- dence and the Italian Risorgimento.
Maria Elisabetta Gerhardinger
Treviso, Musei Civici
366 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
ΙΙ.9.3
Ludovico Lipparini (1800-1856)
Lord Byron’s Oath on the Grave of Markos Botsaris at Missolonghi, 1850
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