Arturo Martini's Palinuro

The contract for the construction of Palinuro, the "last" work of the great Treviso sculptor Arturo Martini, dates back to 1 May 1945.

The marble is dedicated to Primo Visentin, known as "Masaccio", a partisan who fell in Loria, in the province of Treviso, on 29 April 1945. Primo Visentin had graduated from the University of Padua with a dissertation on Giorgione with Giuseppe Fiocco.
The work was commissioned by Elena Povoledo, the fallen man's fiancée, the day after the tragic event.

A "classical" theme, Palinuro is the Trojan helmsman of Aeneas who, having almost arrived on the coasts of Latium, suddenly "was taken to the sea" (Aeneid) and after swimming for three days and finding the strength to touch land, was killed by the local people. Visentin, when he was assassinated (it is said behind his back), was ordering the surrender of a group of fleeing Germans. He, like the Palinuro, had just found his shore.

Palinuro observes the sky. Masaccio and the artist scrutinize him, as a sort of omen (Martini died a few months later).

After making the first sketches, in August 1946 the artist left for Carrara and sculpted his sculpture directly on marble. In this game of overlapping figures, he has as his model Carlo Nicoli, Ruggero's son, owner of the workshop where Martini worked for years. The sculpture (so different from the sketches, especially in the direction of the gaze) was already finished in September.

Today in the Heroes' Atrium, overlooking the new courtyard of Palazzo del Bo, the sculpture is exhibited in honor of the students who fell in the war of resistance.