Portrait of Vittorio Emanuele II

After being named King of Italy in 1861, Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy continued his efforts to reunite the entire peninsula under his national leadership. He achieved a major step toward this goal by incorporating the Veneto region in 1866, the year this official portrait was painted. It shows the bluff, but good-natured king with his characteristic, impressive moustache in full military uniform, standing next to a table with the map of the Italian boot. Behind him in the corner are the Italian tricolour and a tag with the name of the city of Trieste, which had just been joined to the young kingdom.