Vincenzo Alfano (
Naples, 1850) was an Italian sculptor.
Biography
He is said to have studied both painting and sculpture at the Neapolitan Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, Italy, under
Morelli and
Palizzi
Palizzi () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southeast of Reggio Calabria. The southernmost point in mainland Italy lies in Palizzi.
...
. He emigrated to America in 1898, and in 1902 he was commissioned to sculpt the monumental sculptural groups for the entryways inside the main vestibule of the Pennsylvania State Capitol in
Harrisburg. He also created the medallion (1903) depicting the shield of the United States in the front exterior of
United States Customs House in New York City, with a serene head of Columbia. Alfano was named an honorary professor of the Royal Academy of Naples and was also a professor of the Industrial Museum of New York.
He was best known for his small statuettes of bronzed terra cotta depicting Neapolitan workers in folk dress. Among his works ''Il piccolo pescatore''; ''La pesca a Posilipo''; ''Bagnante rimasto al verde''; ''Dopo la messa del villaggio''; ''Il freddo''; and ''Uno dei guadagni nei ragazzi napoletani''. While most of his works were plebeian subjects, he also completed many busts of illustrious persons, both Italian and foreign. In Milan, in 1881, he exhibits the bronze ''La pesca a vongole''; and two years later, the white metal statuette titled ''Lo sbadiglio''. In Turin, in 1884, he exhibited a bronze nightlight depicting: ''Una serenata''; two small heads; and a bronze statuette titled ''The Fifth Sin''. In 1887, in Venice, he displayed: a bronze ''David''; ''In salotto''; ''Tacchino''; and ''L'acque del Scrino in Naples''.
Alfano was also featured in the exhibition of ''
Gemito e la scultura a Napoli tra Otto e Novecento'', held in the Spazio espositivo Ernesto Galeffi of
Montevarchi, Italy in 2012.
''Gemito and Neapolitan Sculpture of the 1800s and 1900s''
References
External links
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1850 births
Year of death uncertain
Italian sculptors
Italian male sculptors
Italian emigrants to the United States
19th-century American sculptors
19th-century Italian male artists
American male sculptors
19th-century Neapolitan people
19th-century American male artists
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