Ottani Monument, formerly Baldi Comi, 1815-1816

Ottani Monument, formerly Baldi Comi, 1815-1816

Pity hall

The monument had been ordered in 1815 by Giovanni Battista Comi for celebrating his wife, Carolina Baldi.

The project was commissioned to the architect Angelo Venturoli (1749-1821) while the esecution is due to the sculptor Giovanni Putti and the painters Flaminio Minozzi (1735-1817) and Giacomo Savini (1768-1842). As a consequence, the monument exemplifies the mixed technique of double decorations, sculptural and pictorial.

Minozzi and Salvini terminated to paint the alcove parts of the monument in 1815, and then Putti subentried to complete the sepulchre. The work of the important sculptor is dominated by the classical symmetry of forms and gestures, and represent the highest point of the Bolognese neoclassicism. In this case, Putti adds to the Roman neoclassicism his realism. In this sculptural group we see represented on the right, the Winged Genius, who accentuated the scenic effect of the memento mori drama, draining his tear of sorrow. The second figure on the left seems to represent Ottani bound over the funeral urn mourning his wife death. The veil that cover the bent man is an original interpretation of the Love Allegory of conjugal Fidelity.

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