L'Armistizio di Vignale

A king who does not look at the document he is signing — dignity and weight, held together.

L'Armistizio di Vignale is a mural created by artist Neve in 2014 in Vignale Monferrato, Novara.

"L'Armistizio di Vignale" is a mural painted in 2014 in Vignale, Novara — a few farmhouses away from the exact location where, on March 26, 1849, the newly crowned Vittorio Emanuele II signed the armistice with Austrian Field Marshal Radetzky following the Piedmontese defeat at the Battle of Novara. The painting shows the two men at the moment of signing. Radetzky stands over Vittorio Emanuele, his hand resting on the young king's shoulder — a gesture that is paternalistic, possessive, the weight of the victor made tactile. Vittorio Emanuele looks directly outward, not at the document, not at Radetzky, but at the viewer: his gaze is contained, dignified, heavy with something that is not quite grief and not quite contempt. He signs with his left hand. In the iconographic tradition, signing with the left hand is a sign of bad faith — of a contract entered into against one's will, under duress, its validity undermined by the very gesture that makes it official. The king gives the signature the treaty requires and withdraws, in the same movement, something that cannot be taken by force. Two candles burn on the table. Behind them, through a grey window, cavalry disappears into mist.