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Margherita di Savoia
Giulio Monteverde (Bistagno, 1837 - Roma, 1917)
Plaster (original model), 118.5 x 60 x 34 cm.
GAM0208
Eredi Monteverde 1919 Genova
Monteverde, Giulio Bistagno, 1837 - Roma, 1917
Figlia del duca di Genova Ferdinando di Savoia e di Elisabetta di Sassonia, Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna (1851-1926) sposò a diciassette anni il cugino Umberto, principe di Piemonte, che nel 1878 divenne re d'Italia in seguito alla morte del padre Vittorio Emanuele II. La giovane, vissuta nella Torino del Risorgimento, assunse il ruolo di prima regina italiana con modi brillanti e impeccabili anche durante gli eventi più difficili.<br>Margherita venne ritratta da Monteverde nel 1877. Sensibile alle arti e protettrice di musicisti e letterati, tra cui Giosuè Carducci, concesse all’artista quindici giorni di posa nella Villa Reale di Monza dove fu ospite e, colpita e divertita da quel "bellissimo vecchio, dalla testa leonardesca” lo ritrasse a sua volta. In quegli anni Margherita non era ancora diventata sovrana, ma era "la più intellettuale delle Regine", nel pensiero dello stesso Monteverde. Lo scultore, autore di monumenti e ritratti per committenti pubblici e per una élite italiana e straniera, fu uno degli artisti ufficiali della giovane nazione italiana e ricevette riconoscimenti internazionali per la qualità dei suoi lavori.<br>Insignito dell’Ordine della Corona d'Italia, Monteverde ricevette nel 1879 il titolo di Cavaliere dell'Ordine civile dei Savoia, riservato a letterati e artisti; nel 1885, anno del ritratto al re per il Senato, ebbe l'Ordine dei SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro. La scultura ritrae Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna di Savoia, moglie di Umberto di Savoia, primo re d’Italia alla morte del padre Vittorio Emanuele II nel 1878. L'autore si allontana dall'iconografia ufficiale eliminando gemme e perle, legate al significato del nome di Margherita. Monteverde scelse una sobrietà quasi archeologica e di stampo romano, rendendo fiero il portamento della regina avvolta in uno scialle sfrangiato con stemma sabaudo, e realistici i tratti del volto, esaltati dalle spalle in parte scoperte e dall’acconciatura classica, coronata da un simbolico diadema di foglie e ghiande. Il busto è innestato su una base cilindrica, appena nascosta dal drappeggio diagonale dello scialle, e modellata grossolanamente alla base con stemmi delle principali città italiane sormontati da piccole margherite abbozzate. L'opera fu destinata al marmo del Quirinale con l'aggiunta di un bordo decorato lungo la stola e l'eliminazione della collana filiforme.
Sculpture
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GAM0208
118.5 60 34 cm
Ground floor (inv. no. GAM 208)
Donated by the artist's daughters, 1919
Daughter of Ferdinando di Savoia, Duke of Genoa, and Elizabeth of Saxony, Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna (1851-1926), at seventeen married her cousin Umberto, prince of Piedmont who in 1878 became king of Italy following the death of his father Vittorio Emanuele II. The elegant young blonde, who lived in the Turin of the Risorgimento, took on the role of the first Italian queen with brilliant and impeccable ways even during the most difficult events. Enterprising and diplomatic, from 1871, the year of her entry to the Quirinale – open to monthly receptions - she won over the difficult Roman aristocracy. Sensitive to the arts, she supported musicians, writers and artists: Marco Minghetti, a member of the government and public intellectual, Margherita's mentor and Latin teacher since 1880 along with Giosué Carducci were assiduous members of the royal parlour.
The portrait in question, signed on the reverse of the base "Monteverde / Fecit Monza / 1877”, was donated to the city of Genoa in 1919 by the daughters of Monteverde, along with 39 other plaster casts from his Rome atelier. Author of monuments and portraits for public and elite Italian and foreign clients, at the time of this portrait, Monteverde was one of the official artists of the young Italian nation with international recognition for the inspiration and formal quality of his work.
Margherita, who posed for him for fifteen days in the Royal Villa of Monza where the artist was a guest, sketched that "beautiful old man with Leonardo's head." The sculptor emancipates the portrait from sumptuous official iconography, eliminating gems, pearls - linked to the meaning of the name of Margherita and loved by her - and fashionable coiffure. With originality and a tableau vivant taste, perhaps in part prompted by works by Alma Tadema and enlivened by the liquidity of the virtuosic naturalistic modelling, chose the sobriety of an archaeological flavour to reaffirm the exceptional nature of the Savoy in a plaster with a vibrant surface.
In '77, Margherita was not yet sovereign, but hers was one of Italy’s most important cultural salons: "the most intellectual of the Queens", in the words of the same Monteverde. By portraying her, the sculptor transformed her into a Roman figure with a proud bearing, wrapped in a frayed shawl with the Savoy coat of arms: work immediately created in clay and destined for marble at the Quirinale with the addition of a decorated border to the stole, and the elimination of a threadlike necklace in a smoother material. The soft shoulders are partly uncovered to accentuate the neck and face: the physiognomy is realistic, enhanced by the classic hairstyle with a symbolic tiara of leaves and acorns. The bust is grafted onto a cylindrical base (made of gray marble), "too in line with the taste, not always fine, of the time" (Grosso 1937, p.8), just hidden by the diagonal drapery of the shawl and the roughly modelled with coats of arms - a reference to the main Italian cities is clear - surmounted by small sketched daisies.
Already awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy (1873), Monteverde received in 1879 the title of Knight of the Savoy Civil Order, reserved for writers and artists; in 1885, the year of the portrait of the king for the Senate, he received the Order of SS. Maurizio and Lazzaro. The seal of an esteem that the royals showed him by visiting his studio and being accompanied by him to visit intellectual cultural events and artists.
