Augusto Passaglia (

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one o ...

, 1838 –

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, 1918) was an Italian sculptor.

Biography

As a young man, he was awarded a stipend to study in Florence under

Giovanni Duprè Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

, and was active there for the remainder of his life. Among his first works were a bronze ''Art and Science (sold to private buyer in St Petersburg, Russia), and a larger than life statue of the writer ''Boccaccio'', erected in the town of the writer's birthplace,

Certaldo Certaldo is a town and ''comune'' of Tuscany, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Florence, in the middle of Valdelsa. It is about southwest of the Florence Duomo. It is 50 minutes by rail and 35 minutes by car southwest of Florence, and it is 40 m ...

. He also sculpted a young

Benvenuto Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the ''Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiography ...

, annoyed of having to play the flute for his father, lays the instrument on his stool, and stretches in an act of extreme disgust. He submitted proposals for monuments to Vittorio Emanuele for Venice and Turin. While not chosen, his proposal at Turin was awarded a 4000-lire prize, at Venice, 2500 lire. The Turin proposal consisted of the king Vittorio Emanuele astride a horse; while the Venice proposal had him riding alongside the Genius of Peace and Liberty and on the other side, Rome offering her crown to the king. Passaglia's design for a ''Monument to Vittorio Emanuele'' in

was accepted, and the work inaugurated by September 20, 1885. It depicts not an equestrian king, but a standing leader of his people, without a crown. Passaglia also sculpted the monument to the bishop of Lucca, Monsignor Arrigoni, consisting of a bust and a Renaissance-style base. He was commissioned by a lady from America for a sculptural group of ''Mother and Child''. He also completed much work for the facade and other parts of the

Duomo of Florence Florence Cathedral, formally the (; in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy ( it, Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally ...

. This included the bronze bas-reliefs for the main entrance of the Cathedral. He also sculpted the marble tympanum that includes of a triangle of 6 meters, representing the seated Madonna surrounded by seraphim; at her feet is the immaculate lamb. Around them are the Gonfaloniere and the Priories of the Florentine Republic (who ordered the construction of the church),

Pope Callistus III Pope Callixtus III ( it, Callisto III, va, Calixt III, es, Calixto III; 31 December 1378 – 6 August 1458), born Alfonso de Borgia ( va, Alfons de Borja), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 April 1455 to his ...

; Christopher Columbus and his friend the franciscan father Giovanni Perez;

Saint Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena (Italian: ''Caterina da Siena''; 25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church. ...

; and

Pope Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...

. He also made two panels in the altar with Queen Ester and the prophetess Debora. The Legend reads: ''Foederis arra''. At the ends of the tympanum, Jacob and Judah. Above the left portal, he sculpted the half-figure of a bound Jesus in the tympanum with two flanking angels below. Passaglia was named professor of sculpture at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute o ...

of Florence, and knight of the

Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( it, Ordine della Corona d'Italia, italic=no or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for civi ...

. He was commissioned by the city of Lucca a monument to the famous criminalist and lawyer

Francesco Carrara Francesco Carrara may refer to: * Francesco I da Carrara (1325–1393) * Francesco Carrara (Cardinal), Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals 1790–1791 * Francesco Carrara (jurist) (1805–1888), Italian jurist * Francesco Carrara (archae ...

. Enciclopedie Treccani on line
biography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Passaglia, Augusto 1838 births 1918 deaths Artists from Lucca 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists 19th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Academic staff of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze 19th-century Italian male artists