Ancient Artistic Motifs on Italian Memorials from the Unity to the Aftermath of World War I

Abstract

In the decades subsequent to the unification of the Kingdom of Italy, achieved in 1861 with the proclamation of Vittorio Emanuele II as the king of the new State, the Italian peninsula became covered with many commemorative monuments. These were devoted, first of all, to honour the men who played a leading role in the heroic deeds of the Risorgimento but also to remember the places where the major historical events occurred. Afterwards as well, the Italian State went on erecting memorials, in order to celebrate other facts and casualties, as it happened on the occasion of the unsuccessful colonial attempts in the African land and then, above all, after the World War I. Many of these commemorative monuments, in the choice of the subjects each time represented and of the figurative motifs adorning them, show some inspiration from the artistic repertory of the classical antiquity, and especially from the Roman world. Single typological patterns and iconographies, properly refashioned, could well fit these new celebratory contexts too and strengthen their meaning. In that, the Italian artists involved in the monuments continued a tradition dating back, in the artistic practice of the western world, to the Renaissance period at least. But, unlike many other well known aspects of the classical heritage persistence in the modern art, the analysis of forms and models derived from the antiquity and inserted in the memorials is still lacking today all the critical attention it surely deserves. The article examines a sufficient set of examples and shows up the ways and purposes by which the ancient motifs were reproposed in the modern memorials. The monuments were selected not only among those still visible in the Italian cities, including minor towns, but also among those set in the actual sites where the events happened. Apart from the specific local contexts, the revival of ancient artistic motifs always performed well the task it was destined to and contributed to diffuse the ethics the Italian State wanted to convey.