Facing History

At the time of the industrial revolution of transport, artists, poets and writers who crossed the Alps reinvented the journey referred to as the “grand tour” in the previous century. An increasing number of tour guides and history or art history publications democratised knowledge and informed the way travellers observed their surroundings. The latter were as interested in the political news of Italy during the Risorgimento as in its glorious past.

Attracted by the overlay of ancient, Renaissance and contemporary Italy in the countryside or at the heart of the country’s cities, artists saw history unfolding in layers all around them and rendered this sedimentation of time in picturesque landscapes, genre scenes influenced by the Italian spirit, and academic works.