Giuseppe Missori

[1] In 1862, in behalf of Garibaldi, he created the army of volunteers from Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro, and Cosenza that eventually fought the Bersaglieri in the Battle of Aspromonte that same year.

[1] After the unification of Italy, he declined repeated offers to enter politics (e.g., as a deputee) in the name of his republican ideals (he wouldn't swear loyalty to the Savoy Monarchy).

His funerals were largely attended by the population, political representatives, and a delegation of Martinitt, the boys from the eponymous Milanese orphanage (which Missori had directed for a while).

[4] A horse in the same posture putatively was featured in a prior work by Ripamonti, entitled Waterloo, thus depicting Napoleon, on the occasion of his famous defeat.

[5] However, the posture as well as the low rough perch or plinth fit well with lack of imperiousness and regal obsequiousness shown by Missori in his later life.