Attributed to Francesco Sampietro - Untitled

The subject of the work likely depicts an episode related to the Greek War of Independence (perhaps the work cited in Matteucci's "The Patriarch of Anernania Blessing the Flag of the Athenian Youth in the War for Hellenic Independence"). What is certain is that we are faced with an extraordinary example of 19th-century historical painting in the Romantic style. After the Neoclassical era, which focused on classical antiquity, the Romantic reaction brought new elements of study and interest. Romanticism, in fact, extolled the virtues of the human spirit, and this was also expressed in a celebration and related interest in the genius of individual peoples. This means that, from the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th, the new Romantic aesthetic fostered the study of and interest in the traditions and history of peoples. All of this was particularly important in Italy during the Risorgimento, when the selection of specific episodes of independence uprisings took on a unique symbolic meaning in the struggle for liberation from foreign domination and the unity of the peninsula. The work in question certainly belongs to this cultural context.

The character of the work is also perfectly in keeping with the context of 19th-century historicist painting. Already from the composition, we can detect elements typical of that pictorial genre. The sentiment expressed is expressed in an intensely pathetic drama, typical of Romantic-era historical reenactment, aimed at extolling the passions and virtues of the soul. Another peculiarity is the eminently didactic nature of the overall setting: the scene, though crowded, is narrated with extreme clarity, with a highly accentuated and even subtly idealized taste in the descriptions of the costumes and the setting. Even from a more strictly stylistic perspective, the prerogatives of 19th-century historicist painting are respected in the development of a style that clearly harks back to the great period of the Italian Renaissance, and to Raphael in particular. This is understood as a quest for a perfect naturalistic rendering and monumentality of the figures, as well as a perfect atmospheric fusion of the subjects in space, which the artist achieves thanks to the extraordinary quality of his technique. Compared to sixteenth-century painting, however, some differences must be noted that make this work distinctively Romantic and nineteenth-century. Indeed, referring again to the composition, we can observe a certain straining of the harmony and unity typical of the Renaissance in the crowded scene and its accentuated pathos, due precisely to the taste for didactic narrative typical of the cultural context from which the work originates.

The work is attributable to Francesco Sampietro, Garlasco (Pavia) 1815 - ? 1892. He studied in Pavia and Milan (1832-1839), then stayed in Rome and Venice and in the 1850s he moved to Turin, where he taught at the Accademia Albertina (1860) and where he exhibited until 1884. The works sent to the Milanese and Turin exhibitions indicate a constant predilection for historical and literary subjects (The Patriarch of Anernania blesses the flag of the Athenian youth in the war for Hellenic independence, exhibited in Milan in 1859; Erminia and Vafrino assist Tancredi, exhibited in Turin in 1869), to which he added themes linked to the wars of Independence or celebrating the Savoy dynasty (Emanuele Filiberto receives the Ambassadors of Suleiman II, exhibited in Turin in 1862). He also dealt with genre subjects and popular customs.

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