Oil on canvas, 174×115 cm
1922-1923
Manciano, Collection of the City of Manciano
The sitter here is Concetta Garbati, the sister of the deceased hero, who with other family members was portrayed in the large canvas of The Hero’s Return which won the Spranger Prize in 1924 in the fourth Ussi Competition of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno. Painted as a preparatory study for the final work, this picture appears to us as an autonomous work, a monumental portrait that highlights her calm dignity in a moment of great grief. Concetta stands straight and solid, as though to defy heroically their bitter fate and grasps her umbrella with firm force, like a medieval knight resting on his sword: an image of moral strength and family pride at having contributed to the victory of the fatherland.