Inaugurazione del Monumento ai Mille

Plinio Nomellini 1916 Genova - donazione

Nomellini, Plinio

Dip/205

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 39; Larghezza: 44

olio su tavola

The painting documents the atmosphere of anxious anticipation and patriotic exaltation surrounding the inauguration of the Monument to the Thousand. The artist depicted the moment when the large red drape covering Baroni's work was removed and the Hero appeared to rise. The painter Antonio Discovolo relates the circumstances of the creation of this small painting, describing a Nomellini who, at the very moment Gabriele d'Annunzio was giving his speech, squeezed some colour from a small box onto the palette, dipped his fingers in it and began to trace red, blue and yellow stains on a tablet, each time wiping his finger on the lining of the jacket of the painter Eugenio Olivari, who repeatedly tried to get him to use a handkerchief.
Further evidence of the day is provided by the extensive photographic material produced for the occasion.