A painting by Giovanni Fattori at the Palazzo della Consulta
The great interest taken by Giovanni Fattori in military themes finds further confirmation in a painting now in the Palazzo della Consulta in Rome. There is no reference to this work in the artist’s bibliography. An oil painting, measuring 116x238 cm, it represents a group of light cavalrymen resting; it is signed by the artist in the lower left. The painting is inventoried, at the Corte Costituzionale, as part of the objects transferred from the Ministero dell’Africa Italiana, former Ministero delle Colonie. The lack of the file containing the list of the works conserved in the latter ministry, requested from F. Hermanin in 1914, makes it impossible to establish whether the painting now in the Palazzo della Consulta was already the property of the State at this date. Stylistic analysis, comparison with other works of military character, and identification of the preparatory bozzetto, suggest that the painting should be dated to the early 1880s, i.e. to the last years of the artist’s career.
