Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Banner Art - Solferino

My new banner art is part of Carlo Bossoli's painting, The Battle of Solferino. From the little bit I can glean from the badly translated Italian Wikipedia page, he was Swiss born naturalized Italian. He was hired by a British publisher to follow the Piedmont War (2nd Italian War of Independence) and create lithographs. Later, the Prince of Savoy commisioned him to paint pictures from the war. This is one of them and it can be seen in the Museum of the Risorgimento in Turin. Risorgimento means resurgence and it was the word used to describe the movement to unify Italy during the 19th century.

Solferino was the climax of the war. A French and Sardinian army under Emperor Napoleon III smashed into the Austrian army commanded by Emperor Franz Joseph I. At the end of the day the Austrians were beaten and retreated back to the protection of their fortresses called the Quadrilateral. Soon after, peace negotiations started.

When I tweeted the painting above yesterday, Teresa Edgerton remarked how gorgeous it is and that it would make a great book cover. I don't have a book in need of a cover, but I do want a new banner. 

Napoleon III at Solferino

2 comments:

  1. Nice painting. It reminds me of my visit to the museum in the Victor Emmanuel monument in Rome, which has a nice exhibit on the Risorgimento.

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