Page 10 - cn - the art of living collection E

Italia - Frieze

The Alter Realist composition explores the aesthetic style and expression of this monument to the Unification of Italy under the then new King
Emanuel II. The monument named as ‘Altare della Patria’ {The Altar to the Fatherland} was commissioned in 1885 and completed in 1925.
The architect was Guiseppe Sacconi. Two sculptors were commissioned for the sculptural reliefs, namely Leonardo Bistolfi and Angiolo Zanelli.
This painting focuses on what is known as the lower tier and was sculpted by Angiolo Zanelli who won the competition in 1906. Zanelli; a
foremost symbolist sculptor centred the relief with the female figure of ‘Dea Roma’, the goddess Manerva who in Roman times personified the
Roman State. Flanking either side are reliefs of processions of working-class Italian citizens presented in classical dress. The expressed aesthetic
was such as to relate to the past glories of Rome. This composition acts as a counterbalance to the painting ‘The Passing of an Age’ depicting
the decline of Rome.