Massimo Taparelli D'Azeglio (1798-1866), Muzio... Lot n° 139

oil on canvas, 177x247 cm, signed lower right According to D'Azeglio himself, the work was commissioned in 1858 by Duke Lorenzo Sforza Cesarini and the subject had been treated previously: "as for the painting of which you kindly let me refresh my memory, the difficulty lies in the subject. In my country there is none more beautiful than that of Attendolo, while he is throwing the axe on the tree. I have done it twice before, and herein lies the rub. If this did not matter to you, since one can repeat the subject even twenty times, and always change the picture, I would love it and would gladly do it. It seems to me that in the Sforza house it is also good that there is the history of the family". (M. D'Azeglio to Duke Lorenzo Sforza Cesarini, Turin, 8 decem. 1858), Provenance: Franco Di Castro, Rome Collection Luisa Laureati Briganti Exhibitions: "Romanticism. Il nuovo sentimento della natura." exhibition catalogue, Trento, Palazzo delle Albere, 5 May - 29 August 1993; "Massimo D'azeglio e l'invenzione del paesaggio istoriato", exhibition catalogue, Turin, GAM Galleria civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, 8 November - 23 February 2003 Bibliography: G. Belli, A. Ottani Cavina, F. Rella, P. Rosenberg, P.Schiera (ed.), "Romanticismo. Il Nuovo Sentimento della natura", Milan 1993, (op. ripr.) pp.300-301, table n. 188; Virginia Bertone (ed.), "Massimo d'Azeglio e l'invenzione del paesaggio istoriato", Turin, 2003, (op. ripr.) p.217, table n. 95.