Napoleon on horseback

It is one of the artist's last works and remained incomplete. Ligabue faces a historical figure for the first time, attributing however his face to the French general. On the back of the white horse, rendered in the muzzle with features of vivid realism, Napoleone-Ligabue advances with a tired expression, the rigid body, which the absence of hands makes similar to a mannequin, towards the indefinite, evoked in the white of the unpainted canvas, as if to symbolize the imminent end. The choice to portray himself as Napoleon is a sign of that desire for affirmation, recognition and social redemption strongly experienced by the artist; as Cesare Zavattini recalled in 1968, “He dreamed of entering/ Gualtieri on/ a white/ horse/ to humiliate everyone”.