The Arch of Titus Garibaldi's Red Shirts March on Rome

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The Arch of Titus Garibaldi's Red Shirts March on Rome

William Walcot (1874-1943)

Price

£6,500

Signed

Signed and dated 1917

Medium

Watercolour and bodycolour

Dimensions

25 x 19 ½ inches

Exhibited

'William Walcot: Artist & Architect', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, October 2018, no 7;
'Italy 1800-2025: A Celebration of an English Love Affair', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, April 2025

Giuseppe Garibaldi (187-1882) was an Italian patriot and revolutionary. He contributed to Italian unification (Risorgimento) and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy, free from foreign rule. His volunteer troops (the Garibaldini) wore red shirts in lieu of a uniform.

The Arch of Titus is on the Via Sacra, Rome, south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in 81 AD by Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus, to commemorate Titus and his father, Vespasian’s, victory, over the Jewish rebellion in Judaea 66-74 AD. It has subsequently been the focus of triumphal processions for other victorious armies.

Walcot’s imagined scene may relate to an event on 27 April 1849, when Garibaldi and his troops marched into Rome, routing the French army 3 days later and then leaving Rome to defeat a Neapolitan army on 9 May. The Red Shirts stand beside the north inner panel of the Arch of Titus depicting a triumphant Titus in a quadriga led by Valour. The Red Shirts carry the Italian tricolour flag, an important symbols of Italian unification, which culminated in the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on the 17 March 1861.

Framed

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