Giulio Branca (December 15, 1851 – February 28, 1926) was an Italian sculptor, active mainly in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. He was born in

Cannobio Cannobio is a town and ''comune'' on the river Cannobino and the shore of Lago Maggiore in Piedmont, Italy. History The local inhabitants probably became subject to Ancient Rome, Roman rule by the time of the emperor Augustus Caesar, Augustus. ...

, a

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

town on

Lago Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; it, Lago Maggiore ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh Maggior; pms, Lagh Magior; literally 'Greater Lake') or Verbano (; la, Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest la ...

. As a boy, he showed inclination to become an artist. His father Lodovico wanted him to study commerce, but he filled his school books with drawings of soldiers and battles. After a severe illness, his parents relented and allowed him to study art, initially locally under the sculptor Bergonzoli. At 14 years of age, he left of Milan, where he had studied for five years, including two years under the professor Giovanni Strazza. One of his first works was ''Monello di campagna'' (Young Grape-harvester), displayed at the 1873 Viennese Esposition.A. Ottino Della Chiesa, Treccani entry. Other works include a life-size marble statue of

Louis XVII Louis XVII (born Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy; 27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795) was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. His older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a m ...

, displayed at the 1878 Universal Exposition of Paris; and of '' Rosmunda al banchetto di Alboino'', displayed in 1880 in Turin and awarded a silver medal in the 1883 International Exposition of Amsterdam. He also sculpted the Monument (1884) for the Cazzaniga family in the cemetery of

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

, and ''The Apotheosis of the Soul'' for the monument to Giovanni Norsa in Milan's Main Cemetery, and the monument to the Memory of Carlo Rossi at the same cemetery. The city of

commissioned from him a larger than life statue of Senator Antonio Giovagnola. He also made a bust of Paolo Ferrari.A. de Gubernatis, page 74-75 Branca became a prominent sculptor in Lombardy. During 1897–1900, he participated in the continual restorations of the

Cathedral of Milan Milan Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Milano ; lmo, Domm de Milan ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary ( it, Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente, links=no), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombard ...

. He was decorated with 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 ...

. In 1894, he completed an ''Ave Maria'' inspired by

Millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...

and displayed at the second Triennale of the

Brera Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera ("academy of fine arts of Brera"), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di ...

. In 1898 in Turin, he displayed ''l'Addio dello Spazzacamino'' ( Chimney sweep's Goodbye); in 1906, ''Voice of Conscience'' was displayed at the Universal Exposition of Milan; and ''Ciceronis finis'' was displayed at the 1915 Brera Triennial. In

, he is also remembered for his 1884 ''Monument to the patriots of May 27–28, 1859 '' and in Traffiume, a neighborhood of this town, for his ''Monument to the Fallen'' (erected 1920). In the gardens of the Archive of the State in

Pallanza Pallanza is a district of the Italian ''comune'' (municipality) of Verbania. It is located in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, on the bank of Lake Maggiore. History Pallanza was autonomous until 1939 when it was merged with Intra to form ...

is conserved the bust of Carlo Cavallini (1886).

References

1851 births 1926 deaths People from Cannobio 19th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists 19th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-sculptor-stub