From the Album dei Principali Monumenti erected by Maria Luigia, published in 1824 with Bodoni types, two drawings have been deliberately highlighted, that of the Art Gallery with the Oval Hall by Bettoli and that of the bridge over the Taro River by Cocconcelli. The old man tells and attributes merits, while the girl identifies and points out, in the herm with a garland, the instigator of many enterprises. The dominant theme of this painting is the fame that is perpetuated among the generations, impeccable in the shining execution through thin and fast layers and in the intimate conversation. The glory is not entrusted to the muses or to the trumpets according to neo-Renaissance versions still in vogue, but to a private conversation between a character who certainly belonged to the ducal entourage and the very young descendant. The artist, who had relations with Parma also through Giuseppe Stuard, personally presented the painting to the Duchess in November 1831. The Duchess, admiring the result, decided to leave it to the Academy, granting the artist the title of Corresponding Knight, shared by the Academicians, in a meeting chaired by Paolo Toschi, who would maintain special and prolonged relations with Molteni also in light of his reception at the Court of Vienna in 1836 where he would execute a portrait of the Emperor Francesco I, now in Ambras. This particular chapter of his activity and his ties with Parma were rigorously reconstructed on the occasion of the recent Milanese exhibition dedicated to the artist and to Romantic culture, of which this painting in its original frame is also a significant example. A drawing with variants, probably preparatory, is preserved by the Toschi heirs in Parma (Cirillo 1992a, no. 164).
Bibliography
Sorrentino 1931b, p. 25;
Quintavalle A.O. 1939, p. 246;
Ghidiglia Quintavalle 19602b, p. 40;
Giusto 1992, p. 27;
Sagramora Rivolta 2001, pp. 201-202.Restauri
1951 (L. Arrigoni);
1992, 2001 (C. Alessandrini, Lab. Sopr.).Mostre
Colorno 1992;
Milano 2001.Lucia Fornari Schianchi, in Fornari Schianchi L. (edited by), Galleria Nazionale di Parma. Catalogo delle opere. Il Settecento, Franco Maria Ricci, Milano, 2000.