It is one of the emblematic images of the Pinacoteca and perhaps the most widely reproduced Italian painting of the whole of the 19th century, created with the aim of symbolizing the love of the motherland and thirst for life on the part of the young nation that had emerged from the Second War of Independence and which now placed so many hopes in its new rulers. It proved an immediate and resounding success both for its patriotic values and for the medieval inspiration of the subject, typical of the Romantic taste of the time: Hayez painted other versions of it, now in various European collections.