The Unexpected Arrival

Purchased by the sovereigns of Italy in 1883 in Rome at the Fine Arts Exhibition for the Savoy collections,
it was assigned to the Royal Villa of Monza. In 1915 it was transferred to the Quirinal Palace. The great canvas of
subject of the Risorgimento - as the alternative title indicates The return of the conscript - is dominated by
reverberating brightness created by the immense light blue of the background. The work, for which Lojacono had
the honor of commander of the Crown of Italy was greatly appreciated by critics, so much so that he came
coined the epithet of 'thief of the sun' for the Sicilian artist. The extraordinary lighting and atmospheric effects of the
composition aroused the positive comment of Gabriele D'Annunzio: "the groups of figures are involved
from the sun. Over everything and everyone the immense blueness is rampant. It seems to me that all the poetry of the scene is there… in
that warm gold and that pure ultramarine."