Description
Raffaello Monti (1818-1881), though largely overlooked in mainstream accounts of 19th-century Italian sculpture, was among the most prolific sculptors of his time. His decision to relocate to London for the majority of his career likely contributed to his marginalization in Italian art history. Yet, throughout his working life, Monti continued to engage with themes resonant with the Italian Risorgimento, often interpreted through his characteristically sentimental lens.
Born in Ticino and raised in Milan, Monti studied at the Brera Academy, where he came under the influence of Pietro Magni and Vincenzo Vela-figures associated with the Scuola Lombarda, or “Modern School of Milan.” This movement, active in the 1840s, aimed to replace the idealism of Canova with a more realist and socially engaged approach to sculpture. Though Monti did not share their revolutionary fervor-owing in part to his extensive travels through Vienna, Budapest, and eventually England-his work bears traces of the school’s baroque-inspired realism and emotional intensity.
Monti is perhaps best known for his masterful “veiled” sculptures. Reviving the 18th-century tradition of finely draped figures, he turned the veil into a showcase of technical prowess and symbolic richness-evoking revelation, mystery, and delicate sensuality. In works like The Veiled Lady, the marble is carved with such extraordinary finesse that the veil appears almost transparent, subtly revealing the facial features beneath.
The Veiled Lady, one of several versions produced in the 1850s, references classical portrait busts in its form but elevates them through its poetic treatment of the subject. Possibly representing a vestal virgin, the figure embodies youthful purity and ephemeral beauty-suggested, too, by the morning glories in her crown, which hint at the fleeting nature of innocence.
