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Title:
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Monument to Carlo Alberto of Savoy
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Artist: |
Baron Carlo Marochetti
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Carlo Alberto Amedeo of Savoy (b.1798) was the son of Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, born shortly after Piedmont became a client republic of France. Though his father had never himself been King of Sardinia, it was known from an early stage in his existence that this might be Carlo Alberto's destiny, since Vittore Amadeo III, who ruled from 1773 to 1796, had no grandsons. He was educated in the intellectually liberal and francophile atmosphere of Geneva, during the First French Empire. In 1821, after the Savoy Carignano dynasty had been returned to power, he briefly served as regent in the absence of the new king, his uncle, Carlo Felice. After Carlo Felice's death in 1831,he succeeded to the throne as King of Sardinia. Whereas his uncle had espoused an extreme conception of the divine right of kingship and had proved an oppressive ruler, Carlo Alberto promulgated a constitutional law code inspired by those of France and Belgium. His policy of encouraging the arts and other intellectual endeavours was exemplified in the commission he gave Marochetti for an equestrian statue of his ancestor Emanuele Filberto of Savoy, and in the amnesty which he extended to exiled republicans like the historian Carlo Botta. However in the increasing tide of republican sentiment, Carlo Alberto deliberately encouraged the formation of a "moderate" party, represented by such men as Massimo d'Azeglio and Camille Cavour. In 1848, the year of the revolutions, he agreed to a constitutional monarchy, and declared war on the Austrians, in doing so winning the temporary support of the Genoese republican, Giuseppe Mazzini. However, his small army of volunteers from all over Italy met with defeat at Custozza, and he was forced to sign a treaty at Vigevano on 9 Aug. 1848. In the following year, under pressure from republican groups, he renewed hostilities in contravention of the treaty. This time, a Piedmontese army met with crushing defeat at the hands of the Austrian General Radetzky. Following this defeat, on 23 March 1849, Carlo Alberto abdicated in favour of his son Vittore Emanuele, going into exile in Portugal, where he died in the same year.
The monument is dominated by an equestrian figure of Carlo Alberto in the uniform of a general of the Sardinian Army, his left hand holding his horse's reins, his left raising aloft his sword. The pedestal consists of three levels. The lowest, the podium, supports at its corners colossal figures of soldiers: a Grenadier, a Bersagliere, a Lancer and an Artilleryman. On the intermediate stage of the pedestal are reliefs. On the long sides these represent the Departure of the Sardinian Army in its offensive against the Austrians, and the disastrous defeat at Novara. On the shorter sides are panels showing the abdication and death of Carlo Alberto. Against the sides of the upper pedestal sit female personifications of the Statute, the Civil Code, Italian Independence, and Martyrdom.
The impulse to raise a monument to Carlo Alberto dates back to within his lifetime, a subscription fund having been set up in November 1847. The subscription, made up of private donations and state contributions would add up, by 1856, to 650,000 francs. However, it was only on 3 December 1850 that legislation for the erection of a statue in the Piedmontese capital was proposed. Both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate unanimously decreed the essential points for the erection of the statue at the session of 4 January 1851. At the same time a promotional committee was set up under the leadership of the then Minister of Public Works, Pietro Paleocapa.
At this time the site proposed for the monument was the Piazza Reale, between the two Dioscuri Groups of Abbondio Sangiorgio, where it would have been necessary to eliminate part of the imposing metalwork screen by Pelagio Palagi. However, in a debate on the 18 March 1851, the Marchese Roberto d'Azeglio recommended the choice of a site better suited to the all-round appreciation of a work of sculpture, between the Chamber of Deputies (Palazzo Carignano) and the Quartiere dei Granatieri. His proposal was at first rejected, since the space was then ear-marked for the building of ministerial offices.
The committee's proposal for a competition was published by the Stamperia Reale of Turin on 27 June 1851. This was not to be an open competition, but one between artists deemed by the committee to possess the credentials and experience to equip them for such a task. The statue was to represent Carlo Alberto on horseback in the uniform of a General of the Sardinian Army, though the artist might wish to use a cloak. The statues of the pedestal were stipulated at this point as Christian Faith, Civil Equality, Charity and Liberty Ensured by the Statute. These, like the equestrian statue, were to be in bronze. The size of these sculptures was indicated, and it was stipulated that any changes to the iconography proposed by the artist would require the approval of the committee. Entries were to be handed in to the Ministry of Public Works by April 1852. Unsuccessful entrants would receive 2000 francs, but their models would be retained by the government.
The deputy Lorenzo Valerio objected that there had been no general proclamation, to which any Italian artist might respond. In the event, as we learn from a later justificatory speech, the committee had sought out the seven most eminent sculptors of Europe, and had asked them whether they wished to compete. One had died shortly after, and three of the others explained that they had too many other works on hand. Of the remaining three, the committee had chosen Marochetti. They appear to have done this, not on the basis of a competiton entry, but entirely on the basis of his past achievement.
After the selection, Lorenzo Valerio again protested on 20 May 1852 that no progress seemed to have been made with finding a design, and that few Italian artists had been offered the opportunity to compete. Paleocapa defended the choice of Marochetti, insisting that "the choice of the means and the details of the execution should be left entirely to the artist, and that the inspiration of his genius should neither be paralyzed nor controlled". Signor Rosellini, the secretary to the promotional committee, decided that the commission should modify its report to include the suggestion of Roberto d'Azeglio, that the statue should occupy the site between the Palazzo Carignano and the old Provincial College. All these decisions were subsequently agreed by the Chamber of Deputies . (Times, 24 May 1852)
On 22 November 1852, Lorenzo Valerio returned to the charge, insisting and presenting a petition to support his view, that, though the artistic part of the work might be confided to Marochetti, Italy should have its share in the work by carrying out the casting. At the same session the site question was once again aired, and it was discovered that Marochetti only approved the use of the Piazza Reale, on the condition that neither the Dioscuri Groups nor the Palagi screen were in any way tampered with.The question remained undecided, Marochetti's views on the matter appearing to be in no way decisive. His critics were unimpressed by the fact that he had at this point submitted no more than a sketch of his intentions on tracing paper. The sculptor explained his unwillingness to publicize his design, in a letter to the newspaper Il Risorgimento.
A model by Marochetti was finally received by the committee on 5 July 1855. Its base featured Corinthian columns, and at least one of the allegories, the one representing the Statute, was a muscular male figure. The aspect of this sketch model is recorded in lithographs, copies of which exist in the Library of the Palazzo Carignano and in the Library of Piedmontese History. At the same time a programme for the transformation of the site behind the Palazzo Carignano was presented by Councillor Ceppi.
There was a lively debate in the Chamber of Deputies on 29 May 1856, when Lorenzo Valerio once again put the case for the employment of a younger Italian artist. He mentioned Vela, Magni, Pedrotti, Ferrari and Tenerani as possibile choices. Deputy Farini argued that the inadequacy of the project submitted by Marochetti was the fault of the programme, not of the artist, and Paleocapa once again defended the choice of Marochetti and the decision to allow him to cast the bronze components in his London foundry.
On 3 July 1856, Marochetti signed a contract with twenty-five clauses. One of these confirmed a decision taken earlier, to replace the personification of Charity with one representing Italian Independence. Although a schedule of payments was worked out in detail, there was no mention in the contract either of the relief panels or of the figures of soldiers, which were included in the completed monument. A finishing date before the end of 1859 was specified, as was the sum to be paid to the sculptor, the total coming to 550,000 francs.
Marochetti spent at least four years on the work, which was finally unveiled in Turin on 21 July 1861. We owe to Marochetti's biographer, Marco Calderini, a colourful account of the visit to the sculptor's London studio of an elderly soldier, Grimaldi dal Poggetto, sent by General Lamarmora to check on the accuracy of Marochetti's representations of Piedmontese soldiery. Grimaldi found the head of the Bersagliere too "graceful", and Marochetti responded by immediately seizing a mallet and knocking the head off. Grimaldi fled the studio in dismay at this display of artistic temperament.
The model for the statue was shown in the spring of 1862, as part of the London International Exhibition, in the Horticultural Society Gardens in South Kensington. At the turn of the century, the American historian of 19th century Italian art, Ashton Rollins Willard, compared the public responses to Marochetti's two equestrian statues in Turin. Whereas the earlier statue of Emanuele Filiberto had always been deemed a success, the monument to Carlo Alberto never became widely popular. The second undertaking was, he wrote, far more ambitious than the first, including as it did eight subsidiary figures beside the equestrian statue; but it never had any such success as the earlier work. The prosaic character of the modern uniform, the simple parade-attitude of the king, and the uninspiring character of the whole composition left the public apathetic and indifferent. Connoisseurs recognised then, and still recognize, its less obvious merits, and give it an honoured place because of its reserve, its suppression of the sensational and extravagant, and its revelation of the niceties of taste of a sculptor who felt strongly enough to dispense with the approval of the masses.
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Material(s): |
Bronze
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Medium: |
Unassigned |
Finish: |
- |
Technique: |
Cast |
Genre: |
Portrait Statue (Equestrian)
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Location: |
Turin, Piazza Carlo Alberto, , ,
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Colours: |
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Year: |
1861 |
Height: |
0 metres |
Width: |
0 metres |
Depth: |
0 metres |
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Key: |
2295 |
Acc. No.: |
2295 |
Col. No.: |
2295 |
Number of views: |
2755 |
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