Pio Fedi
Pio Fedi(31 May 1816,Viterbo- 1 June 1892,Florence) was an Italian sculptor who worked chiefly in the Romantic style.[1]
Biography
[edit]He was born to Leopoldo Fedi, a small landowner, and his wife, Camilla née Franchini. Due to economic difficulties, they left Viterbo when he still quite young; living inArezzoand Florence. There, he worked for agoldsmith.This led to lessons in engraving fromRaffaello Sanzio MorghenandGiovita Garavaglia.From 1838 to 1840, he lived in Vienna with his father and continued his studies at theAcademy of Fine Arts,but he was forced to abandon that potential career due to eye problems caused by the acid fumes.[2]
After returning to Florence, from 1842 to 1846 he studied sculpture withLorenzo Bartoliniat theAcademy of Fine Arts.There, he obtained a scholarship that enabled him to study in Rome at theAccademia di San Luca.His primary instructor there wasPietro Tenerani.One his first independent works, a plaster relief of "Christ the Healer", is preserved at San Luca. In 1873, the Accademia named him an "Academician of Merit".[2]
His most familiar sculpture is theRape of Polyxena(1866), in theLoggia dei Lanzi.He is also known for two sculptures in theLoggiato degli Uffizidepicting the illustrious Tuscans,Nicola PisanoandAndrea Cesalpino.His other works includeThe Fury of Atamante, King of Thebes,The Genius of Fishing,Hope Nourishing Love,Hyppolite and Dianora del Bardi,andCastalla persecuted by Apollon.[3]
In addition, he designed theMonument to General Manfredo Fanti,molded in bronze byClemente Papi,which stands in thePiazza San Marco.[3]His memorial to the poetGiovanni Battista Niccoliniis in the church ofSanta Croce.The statue, an allegory of theFreedom of Poetry,may have inspiredBartholdi's depiction of theStatue of Liberty.[4]He also created a statue ofPietro Torrigiani,the Mayor of Florence.
From 1842, he had a studio at 99Via dei Serragli,in an old monastery. Currently an actor's training school, it is still known as theGalleria Pio Fedi.One of his best known students wasGiovanni Bastianini.
References
[edit]- ^Outlines of the history of art,Volume 2. ByWilhelm Lübke,edited by William Sturgis, Dodd, Mead, and company, New York, page 445Google Books
- ^abBiography of Fediby Giovanna Mencarelli, from theDizionario Biografico degli Italiani@Treccani
- ^abEmilio Bacciotti,Bacciotti's Handbook of Florence and Its Environs, Or, The Stranger Conducted Through Its Principal Monuments, Studios, Churches, Palaces, Galleries, Streets and Shops,Tipografia Mariani, 1885.Google Books
- ^La Statua della Libertà di New York? Ispirata da un'opera che si trova a FirenzeOnline
Further reading
[edit]- Pio Fedi. In:Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon,Vol.37, pg. 406, Saur, Munich, 2003,ISBN3-598-22777-9
External links
[edit]
Media related toPio Fediat Wikimedia Commons
