CAFFI-PODIANI. 2 drawings.
Un foglio con due disegni al recto e al verso.
Recto - Ippolito Caffi. La prigionia di Romans, 17 aprile 18481848
Disegno a penna su carta, inchiostro nero. 210x264 mm. Incollato su foglio di supporto. Titolo e data al piede: “La prigionia di Romanz – 17/4 48”. Alcune macchie prodotte dalla colla sul foglio sottostante.
Vivido e rapido schizzo che documenta in una veduta d’insieme la prigione, i prigionieri a terra e i soldati croati alla porta. Con il titolo e la data scritti dal pittore. Ippolito Caffi partecipò nel 1848 alla guerra contro gli Austriaci, combattendo in Friuli. Fu catturato e portato a Romans d’Isonzo il 17 Aprile 1848, Lunedì della Settimana Santa dopo la Domenica delle Palme. Racconta la sua avventura in una lunga lettera inviata al marchese Antinori, ove è descritta con precisione la scena qui rappresentata nel disegno. “Finalmente a tre ore di notte giungemmo a Romans, ove una ressa di popolo ci attendeva, come se noi fossimo un serraglio di bestie feroci, per insultarci; e con grave fatica potemmo scappare dal furore di quei forsennati, proteggendoci i granatieri del Kinscky, feroci manigoldi anch'essi, i quali ci cacciarono in una lurida stalla ove giacevano altri quaranta infelici ridotti agli estremi della vita. … Era spettacolo pieno di compassione e di terrore il vedere in quel tugurio illuminato appena da fioca luce, malati languenti per sanguinose ferite, perseguitati da sicarii sanguinosi, senza pane e senz'acqua, sdrajati sulla nuda terra, e quasi denudati, aspettando come un beneficio del cielo.” La lettera fu pubblicata con il titolo: “La mia prigionia al marchese Antinori segretario della Società Artistica in Roma, G. Marchigiani Co’ Tipi Tondelli, 1848.
Verso - Carlo Podiani. Cavaliere medievale con spada. XIX secolo
Disegno con inchiostro nero, su carta. 202x140 mm. Incollato su carta. Firma con inchiostro seppia in basso a sinistra. Ottimo stato di conservazione.
Un possente cavaliere con barba in una postura molto volitiva. Carlo Podiani di Loreo, provincia di Rovigo, nel 1838 fu premiato presso l’Accademia di Venezia per la sua abilità nell’incisione. Cfr. Discorsi letti in occasione della distribuzione de' premj, Picotti, 1840, p. 44; Fabio Mutinelli, Annali delle Province Veneta dall'anno 1801 al 1840, 1843, p. 173.
Recto - Ippolito Caffi. La prigionia di Romans, 17 aprile 1848
Pen drawing on paper, black ink. 210x264 mm. Glued on a support sheet. Title and date on the foot: "The imprisonment of Romanz - 17/4 48". Some stains produced by the glue on the sheet below.
Vivid and rapid sketch that documents in an overall view the prison, the prisoners on the ground and the Croatian soldiers at the door. With the title and date written by the painter. Ippolito Caffi participated in the war against the Austrians in 1848, fighting in Friuli. He was captured and taken to Romans d’Isonzo on 17 April 1848, Monday of Holy Week after Palm Sunday. He tells his adventure in a long letter sent to the Marquis Antinori, where the scene represented in the drawing is described with precision.“Finally, at three o'clock in the night we arrived at Romans, where a crowd of people was waiting for us, as if we were a menagerie of wild beasts, to insult us; and with great difficulty we were able to escape from the fury of those madmen, protecting the Kinscky grenadiers, ferocious stalwarts also, who chased us into a filthy barn where forty other unfortunates lay reduced to the extremes of life. ... It was a spectacle full of compassion and terror to see in that hovel barely illuminated by dim light, sick people languishing for bloody wounds, persecuted by bloody assassins, without bread and without water, lying on the bare earth, and almost stripped naked, waiting like a benefit of heaven. "
Ippolito Caffi, Belluno 1809-Lissa 1866, in 1841 decorated the Roman room of the Caffè Pedrocchi of Padua. In 1843 he left for Naples and, from here, for the East, visiting Athens, Turkey, Palestine and Egypt; he returned to Italy in 1844, loaded with sketches and works. In 1848 he left Rome, leaving for Friuli, where he joined the war against Austria; taken prisoner, he escaped, stopping in Venice for a year. In 1849 he settled in Genoa, Switzerland and in 1850 in Turin. In 1860 he was a political prisoner in the prisons of San Severo for three months, due to his frequent visits to Turin and Milan, which aroused the suspicions of the Austrian authorities. From there he returned to Milan, then he went to Naples, joining the Garibaldi army. After 1860, with the unification of Italy, Caffi returned to Venice, resuming painting. He died at the age of 57, in the sinking of the King of Italy ship during the battle of Lissa in 1866, in the full course of the Third Italian War of Independence.Caffi's work, although inspired by 18th-century Venetian models, was able to modernize the pictorial vocabulary of the views, both by exploring new points of view, such as in night scenes, and with unusual themes, such as the flight of a balloon.Despite having been very much appreciated in life, Caffi had to wait until the mid-1960s to be seriously considered by art historians. With the great exhibition held in Venice on the occasion of the centenary of his death, the revaluation of his painting took place. His pictorial production was very numerous and part of it was lost.
Pasted on the verso:
Carlo, PODIANI. Medieval knight with sword.nineteenth century
Drawing in black ink, on paper. 202x140 mm. Glued on paper. Signature in sepia ink at the bottom left. Excellent state of preservation.
A mighty knight with a beard in a very volitional posture. Carlo Podiani of Loreo, province of Rovigo, in 1838 he was awarded at the Venice Academy for his skill in engraving.