Pia dei Tolomei

In the painting by Lorenzo Rizzi (1834–1893), "Pia dei Tolomei", created as a Risorgimental emblem of the nation betrayed by foreigners, offers a traditional iconography in which the medieval setting draws from a glorious past, the courage, and the determination to forge a new destiny. The evocative landscape plays a part in the human drama by helping to convey the melancholy of the young woman facing the balcony of the castle where she waits with bowed head, encased in her elegant gown, for a fate that the wedding ring, in the foreground, seems to dramatically foreshadow. The sunset's bright and soft colors, in which the majestic towers are silhouetted, also add to the melancholy of the young woman.