The life of Giovanni Morelli in Risorgimento Italy

Giovanni Morelli (1816-1889) was the most influential Italian writer on art in the nineteenth century, whose books have been constantly discussed since his death. When asked about his own life Morelli always replied that he considered himself a politician, who had lived in Italy and who had worked tirelessly for his country. He saw his involvement with the art world as a marginal and later activity. His participation in the three wars of Italian Independence, from 1848 to 1866, reveals a patriot who would risk everything, even his life, for the love of his family, his friends and his country. Like many men of the Risorgimento he pursued romantic visions for the creation of a new democratic country, in whose government he participated as the popular elected member for Bergamo to the Camera dei Deputati for a decade. After the revolution disillusionment gradually set in. Morelli's life provides the framework for a new understanding of the culture of the Risorgimento and reveals why and how his famous method of attribution, was invented as a diagnostic instrument to preserve the heritage of Italy. His biography shows how he achieved this by virtue of his charismatic personality, equally popular and at ease with the Bergamo electorate, as with Lombardic foot soldiers in battle, or with European Royalty, Lombard aristocrats and distinguished writers.