Spotprent op de Italiaanse eenwording, 1862 1862

This satirical print on the Italian unification was made in 1862 by Johan Michaël Schmidt Crans. Three men are in a bed, under one blanket, with three pairs of boots on the floor next to the bed. The boots strewn about aren't merely footwear; they're symbols, perhaps, of power struggles and shifting alliances. Boots, in their historical context, suggest journeys and military campaigns. They evoke the legacy of Roman legions and medieval knights, images that are also present in the frescoes and sculptures of the Italian Renaissance. Consider also the motif of figures in a shared bed. It appears in medieval tapestries depicting uneasy alliances, and recurs in Renaissance paintings. The bed, historically, has been a site of not just rest, but also negotiation and plotting. This arrangement subtly evokes the psychological tension inherent in forced unity, stirring deep anxieties about loss of identity. These archetypes resurface throughout history, each time filtered through the lens of contemporary anxieties.