Il pittore che rubò l’istante perfetto del Risorgimento

Turin, April 2, 1860. The air in Turin vibrates with anticipation. It is the day when the legislative assembly, newly expanded, of a growing nation, meets. The setting is the Senate Chamber in Palazzo Madama, according to the ancient practice of inaugurating the new legislature in the older of the two Chambers.

The moment is so important that it is immortalized not only in history, but also on canvas. The Dutch painter, Petrus Henricus Theodorus Tetar van Elven, already established in Turin, and active on the local art scene since the 1850s, captures the salient scene of this day in his painting, Inauguration of Parliament at Palazzo Madama.

An Assembly Transformed

Despite the abrupt interruption of the Second War of Independence due to the peace of Villafranca, desired by Napoleon III, the drive towards unification has already overwhelmed central Italy, and insurrections are flaring up in Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and Bologna. After the flight of the sovereigns, provisional governments arise that request annexation to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

In March 1860, after the plebiscites held in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, these territories formally became part of the Sardinian kingdom. The Kingdom of Sardinia thus doubles its extension.

The territorial expansion requires an expanded Parliament. The general political elections for the Chamber of Deputies are held on March 25, 1860. The number of electoral colleges increases from 204 in the previous Sardinian kingdom to 387, and the number of those entitled to vote (based on income, ability, and education) rises from 112,161 to 258,257.

The Seventh Legislature, inaugurated on a fresh and sunny spring morning, is still that of the Kingdom of Sardinia, but the joining in the sessions of representatives from Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany, Emilia, and Romagna gives the idea of how much the assembly is at the same time "no longer only subalpine and not yet properly Italian."

Long live the King!

From early morning, long before the doors open, spectators flock around Palazzo Madama, quickly filling the galleries for the public.

Poco prima delle 10, il Re Vittorio Emanuele II (1820–1878), salito al trono dopo l’abdicazione del padre Carlo Alberto, nel 1849, attraversa in carrozza il breve tratto che separa Palazzo Reale da Palazzo Madama, passando sotto una sorta di arco di trionfo appositamente costruito. Il Re è accolto al suo ingresso in aula con “calorosi battimani e grida di ‘Viva il re'”.

The ministers recite the oath formula, and the newly appointed senators and elected deputies are called by name to respond "I swear"; then, the King delivers a "brief and vigorous inaugural address" interrupted frequently by applause and much rosier than that of the "cry of pain" pronounced in January of the previous year.

Una galleria di costruttori della nazione

Tetar van Elven's canvas portrays a cross-section of the ruling class in an image, poised to shape the nascent nation. Among the thirty figures identified in the painting are some of the most well-known names of the Risorgimento:

• Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (1810–1861): leader of the liberal majority in the Chamber, promoter of the modernization of Piedmont, and among the main proponents of the process that would lead to the Unification of Italy. He would become the first President of the Council of Ministers of the new State.

• Massimo Tapparelli d’Azeglio (1798–1866): writer, painter, politician. Under his government, in the 1850s, a far-reaching program of reforms began in the Sardinian kingdom. His presence in the painting subtly contradicts his famous saying, since the ruling class depicted "already felt fully Italian."

• Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873): novelist, poet, tragedian, and one of the greatest Italian writers, author of The Betrothed. He is a Senator of the Kingdom.

• Urbano Rattazzi (1808–1873): exponent of the democratic left in the Piedmontese Parliament, in 1852 he formed a parliamentary alliance with Cavour, the so-called connubio, and during his ministry, he held the position of Minister of Grace and Justice and then of the Interior.

• Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882): hero of the two worlds, legendary leader who, to support the Italian cause, aligned himself with the Savoy monarchy despite his democratic roots.

However, history moves quickly.

Il prossimo capitolo inevitabile

Just over a month later, on May 5, 1860, Garibaldi set sail from Quarto for the Expedition of the Thousand. His rapid advance from Sicily to the mainland aroused increasing concern in Turin. Cavour, to stabilize the situation and regain control of the national movement, supported the intervention of the royal army in the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

In the following months, new plebiscites ratified the annexation of the South, Marche, and Umbria.

The growing territorial extension of the Kingdom led to a further expansion of parliamentary representation. When the Eighth Legislature was inaugurated, the seventeenth-century elliptical chamber was now too small to accommodate all the deputies. Thus, a temporary chamber was set up in the courtyard of Palazzo Carignano.

It was in that temporary chamber that, on March 17, 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed King of Italy by acclamation. The assembly inaugurated on April 2, 1860, thus paved the way for the unitary State.