The Wounded Soldier

This painting is listed among the works of the Turati Collection purchased or commissioned by Francesco Turati (1802–1876), a key representative of the rising entrepreneurial middle class, who was made a count in 1862, after his success in the production and sale of cotton yarn. Italy’s unification as a result of the struggle known as the Risorgimento immediately gave rise to a spate of works inspired by recent events in national history at the major exhibitions. Subjects of a historical and patriotic nature, battles and genre scenes depicting the domestic side of political passions proved extraordinarily popular with public and critics alike in the wake of nationalistic enthusiasm. The painting by Angelo Trezzini in the Cariplo Collection, a product of that period, is directly inspired by a subject repeatedly depicted by Domenico Induno, whose teaching was to influence the artist throughout his career. The highly concentrated composition develops around the figure of a wounded soldier, aware that he can no longer be of aid to the family gathered around him or to the troops marching through the streets on the way to the front. A feeling of disillusionment pervades the scene together with disenchanted reflection on the outcome of a feeling of civic passion that had involved all layers of society. It may also be possible to detect a veiled note of criticism. A large number of works in the Cariplo Collection document the events of the Risorgimento in the more intimate and familiar interpretation characteristic of genre painting, which was in great demand on the 19th-century market, including A Follower of Garibaldi Bids Farewell by Gerolamo Induno, A Letter from the Camp by Trezzini, and above all The Return of the Wounded Soldier by Domenico Induno, an explicit point of thematic reference for the work under consideration here.