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The Fourth Estate, oil on canvas painting (Milan, Museo del Novecento, 1898-1901).
The peaceful march of a large group of workers moving to negotiate with the bosses. This is what the painting represents. It is therefore correct to attribute a social significance to it and to affirm that workers' rights and the claims of the proletariat are at the center of the author's thoughts, Pellizza da Volpedo. However, these aspects have already been discussed at length; I would instead like to focus on a theme of the work that is often ignored, yet clearly emerges from the painting: the issue of gender equality. To this end, I will particularly analyze one of the characters.
The journey to The Fourth Estate was a long one. The "grandfather" of the painting is Ambassadors of Hunger (1891-1895), in which we see three figures, all male, marching in the foreground, while a procession stands in the background. The same structure is found in Fiumana (1895-1898), where, however, one of the three leading figures is now a woman with a child in her arms. Also in The Fourth Estate, as in the previous painting, the leading trio is composed of two bearded men and a woman with a child. Here, however, the figures have well-defined features modeled on real people known to the painter. In particular, serving as a model for the female character was the beautiful and beloved wife of the painter himself, Teresa Bidone, a peasant from Volpedo, who was only twenty-three years old when the work was started.
The trio in the foreground is the one leading the rest of the people. Considering that at the time women did not even have the right to vote, it was by no means obvious that one of the three leaders was female. That the woman is not in the front row by pure chance is evident if we consider how she acts. With one hand, she holds the naked child, while with the other she seems to encourage the crowd behind her to move forward without fear. From her person emanates strength and determination, no less than from the two bearded men, who are already of mature age, while she is little more than a girl.
Her young age, however, far from being a handicap, actually makes her more at ease than her two marching companions. They, in order to feel authoritative in front of the bosses, felt the need to wear their Sunday best, complete with a jacket, hat, neatly pressed trousers, and immaculate shoes. Not the woman. She is confident even in her everyday look. We see her depicted wearing a long dress without frills, with her head uncovered and barefoot. After all, for the painter, this was the most natural way to represent his female protagonist, having chosen his wife as a model. Being a peasant and living in the countryside, it is easy to imagine her, in her daily life, dressed simply, without special hairstyles or headgear, and barefoot. And she often must have had one of her children in her arms. In short, Teresa Bidone must have been just as she was painted.
The fact that the woman is holding a child in her arms is also not without meaning. Women have always been multitasking, even when being multitasking wasn't trendy. And so, this working girl, who is now also leading the other workers to victory, must also take care of her child. She doesn't have a babysitter to entrust him to; she has to think about it herself. But even this is not a point of weakness; it is a point of strength. Accustomed to meeting the needs of her family, she will undoubtedly be very practical in negotiating with the bosses and will certainly focus on the essentials, ensuring that the people's movement does not run the risk of idealistic ventures. The fact that the girl is depicted barefoot also takes on symbolic value, representing direct contact with the earth and thus, metaphorically, with reality.
Unfortunately, and here lies the sad note, this beautiful woman, who we see shining full of energy in the painting, died in childbirth giving birth to her third child. It was a tremendous sorrow for Pellizza da Volpedo, who never managed to recover, committing suicide a few months after his wife's death.
What the artist probably did not imagine was that, by including her among the protagonists of his painting, he would make his beloved immortal.
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