19th century Italian painter, Men of letters welcomed by Fame and the Muses

19th century Italian painter

Men of letters welcomed by Fame and the Muses

Oil on canvas, 110 x 152 cm

frame, 132 x 174 cm

This large painting, created around the 1860s, celebrates the greatest figures in Italian history immediately following the country's unification. The sumptuous scene is set in front of a majestic temple that serves as an architectural backdrop: ten smooth-shafted Corinthian columns stand at the entrance to the place of worship, where a smoking altar stands. The temple should be interpreted as an emblem of classical antiquity and the grandeur of the past, but it can also be seen as a reference to the Capitoline Hill, where Petrarch was crowned poet, in a ceremony inspired by Roman rituals, on April 8, 1341.

The painting presents a complex reading, entirely aimed at glorifying the culture of the newly founded country and its history. At the head of the stalls is the figure of Fame with a lit flame, the very symbol of eternal glory, and a laurel wreath ready to crown the greatest minds of Italy past and present. At her side, several cherubs are intent on intertwining the branches of the plant into wreaths; since ancient times, laurel has been a symbol of peace and, above all, victory and glory. Being an evergreen plant, it has also become a symbol of immortality.

Flanking Fame are four of the greatest poets and men of letters in our history, all of whom have already received degrees: Dante Alighieri, wearing the classic red robe, Phrygian cap, and aquiline nose, poses seated opposite Petrarch. The author of the Canzoniere is depicted standing, dressed in an embroidered tunic and cape with a laurel wreath, holding a book. To Fame's right, the other two figures can be identified as Ludovico Ariosto, author of Orlando Furioso, and Torquato Tasso, creator of Gerusalemme Liberata. All around, men of letters, poets, and playwrights are accompanied by the Muses toward the podium to receive the gift of eternal glory and immortality in national history. The figure in the foreground is Clio, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, considered the muse of epic song and history, and often depicted holding a writing tablet or an open parchment and a stylus. Her name, in fact, means to celebrate or make famous; those whose names are written by her will gain fame and lasting glory.

The muse Polyhymnia is depicted on the left, pointing to the figure of Fame. Polyhymnia is the muse who presides over orchestral music, pantomime, and dance associated with sacred and heroic song, but she is also associated with rhetoric, memory, geometry, and history. Typical iconography depicts her as a young woman with a devout appearance, wrapped in a veil and cloak, her head crowned with a pearl crown. In this case, the muse has placed a crown on her head, in keeping with a 19th-century iconography (see Charles Meynier's painting, Polyhymnia, Muse of Eloquence, Cleveland Museum of Art). The figures depicted with her are difficult to identify; one suggestion might be that the dark-haired figure represents Ugo Foscolo, followed by Giacomo Leopardi (according to the iconography of the statue in Recanati), Vittori Alfieri, and Vincenzo Monti.

The large group on the right is accompanied by the muses Thalia and Terpsichore. The former, depicted advancing, is the Muse of Comedy and is depicted as a cheerful girl holding a mask in her hand, in accordance with her usual iconography. Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance, is instead depicted seated with a lyre at her feet. Finally, the female figure sketched in the background likely represents Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy. Among these illustrious figures, one can discern similarities with Scipione Maffei (the first figure bowing), Giovanni Battista Basile, and then Carlo Goldoni, Giovanni Battista Vico, and Silvio Pellico (in a youthful portrait).

At the center of the painting, Calliope, the muse of epic poetry whose name means "of the beautiful voice," invites the procession of artists to glory. Among them, the inclusion of Alessandro Manzoni, Giuseppe Parini, as well as Vincenzo Cuoco, Tommaso Grossi, Niccolò Tommaseo, and Massimo d'Azeglio would be striking.

The entire composition obviously harks back to famous precedents that cannot be ignored, such as Raphael's School of Athens and Parnassus in the Stanza della Segnatura. Here, the greatest artists of the past, already graduates, including Homer, Sappho, Dante, and Petrarch, gather around Apollo and his muses. A more contemporary example is the Parnassus painted by Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) in the Villa Albani.

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