Enrico Cerracchio (March 14, 1880 – March 20, 1956) was an Italian-born American sculptor and painter. He designed many statues, including the 1925 Sam Houston Monument in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Hermann Park, Sam Houston monument, 2012

Early life

Cerracchio was born on March 14, 1880, in

Castelvetere in Val Fortore Castelvetere in Val Fortore is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 90 km northeast of Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápol ...

, Italy. He emigrated to the United States in 1900, and he became a U.S. citizen in 1905.

Career

Cerracchio designed the Sam Houston Monument in Hermann Park, Houston, Texas in 1925. It was "one of the largest equestrian monuments" in the United States at the time. He designed the bust of Governor

Miriam A. Ferguson Miriam Amanda Wallace "Ma" Ferguson (June 13, 1875 – June 25, 1961) was an American politician who served two non-consecutive terms as the governor of Texas: from 1925 to 1927, and from 1933 to 1935. She was the first female governor of Texas, ...

in the Texas State Capitol and that of Confederate General

John A. Wharton John Austin Wharton (July 23, 1828 – April 6, 1865) was a lawyer, plantation owner, and Confederate general during the American Civil War. He is considered one of the Confederacy's best tactical cavalry commanders. Early life Wharton was ...

in the Texas State Cemetery. He also designed statues of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

and

John Nance Garner John Nance Garner III (November 22, 1868 – November 7, 1967), known among his contemporaries as "Cactus Jack", was an American History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician and lawyer from History of Texas, Texas who ...

. He sculpted a bronze bust of

Jesse H. Jones Jesse Holman Jones (April 5, 1874June 1, 1956) was an American Democratic politician and entrepreneur from Houston, Texas. Jones managed a Tennessee tobacco factory at age fourteen, and at nineteen, he was put in charge of his uncle's lumbery ...

, which was unveiled at a "Jesse H. Jones Day" ceremony in Houston on December 26, 1934.

Personal life and death

With his wife Marion Kowalski, Cerracchio had a son and a daughter. Cerracchio died on March 20, 1956, in New York City, at age 76. His funeral was held at Our Lady of Mercy's Church in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

References

1880 births 1956 deaths People from the Province of Benevento People from Houston Italian emigrants to the United States People with acquired American citizenship Sculptors from Texas Italian male sculptors 19th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century American male artists Italian male painters 19th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian painters American male sculptors 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century Italian male artists 20th-century American sculptors American male painters 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century Italian male artists {{US-sculptor-stub