Sculpture, rhetoric and new genres: The representation of women (School ofMilan)

The sculpture of the so-called 'school of Milan' (whose singularity is clea r in the portraits of feminine nude figures) undergoes a period of changes during the years 1848-1859. Artists of a new generation--Argenti, Magni, St razza, Tabacchi, Tantardini--make a name of themselves finding some points in common with the works of Pandiani, Puttinati, Fraccaroli, under the infl uence of the success obtained by Vincenzo Vela. The overcoming of neoclassi cism and of the literary-allegoric rhetoric is slower compared to what happ ens in painting; it is, however, interesting to study the persistence of ro mantic and classic characteristics in a moment in which more natural or rea listic expressions are wanted. The literary sources are still those of an e xhausted romanticism (such as Thomas Moore), which proves to be still fasci nating, especially with the mediation of Andrea Maffi, for the ambiguity of some of its themes.