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Important Paintings and Sculptures / 19th and Early 20th Century Art

Tuesday 10 December 2024, 03:00 PM • Milan

118

Scuola italiana metà del XIX secolo

Garibaldi in Portovenere, 1849

Estimate

€ 800 - 1.200

Sold

€ 2.064

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Information

gouache on card
57 x 85 cm

This gouache depicts a rarely visited episode in the otherwise vast iconography of Garibaldi. On September 5, 1849, weeks after the fall of the Roman Republic, Giuseppe Garibaldi landed in Portovenere. Among Garibaldi's many famous landings, this was the one that occurred at perhaps the most dramatic moment in his life. He had in fact set sail three days earlier from Maremma, after months of flight in Central Italy during which his army had dispersed, he had been wounded in the leg and his beloved wife Anita had died in Romagna. Portovenere, in the Kingdom of Sardinia, was a safe port, but despite this he was arrested by General La Marmora, portrayed here behind Garibaldi, and taken to Genoa. The Chamber of Deputies voted for his release and from there the Hero of the Two Worlds began his exile, from which he did not return until 1854 to resume the campaign that would ultimately lead to the unification of Italy.