Dal modello di Vincenzo Gemito (1852-1929) - Bust, Testa di fanciullo - 35 cm - Bronze

Vincenzo Gemito (Naples, July 16, 1852 – Naples, March 1, 1929) was an Italian sculptor, draftsman, and goldsmith. Largely self-taught and intolerant of academic canons, Gemito trained in the alleys of Naples' historic center and the sculptures in the archaeological museum. His prolific artistic activity, which brought him to the height of success at the Paris Salons in 1876-77, was interrupted by an intellectual crisis, which secluded him from the world for eighteen years; he resumed public life only in 1909, only to die twenty years later.
The artist was born in Naples on July 16, 1852.
No information remains of his family history, except for the pressing financial hardship that drove his parents to place him, when he was just one day old, in the foundling pen of the Stabilimento dell'Annunziata, where abandoned children were placed. On July 30 of the same year, he was entrusted to the care of a certain Giuseppina Baratta and her husband, Giuseppe Bes. Upon the latter's death, Baratta married for the second time, a poor bricklayer, Francesco Jadiciccio, the "master Ciccio" depicted in several early drawings by Gemito.
The work up for auction is a reproduction in heavy cast brass weighing approximately 4.5 kg.
Of considerable size and weight, it depicts the face of a child, a Neapolitan street urchin, with an undefined expression.
By slightly changing the perspective from which you view the work, the child's gaze appears smiling, frightened, curious, and more. This is the enigma of this work, where at the base is a winged cherub with the expression of an abandoned and impatient child (perhaps an autobiographical reference from the artist?)
A highly impactful work that also features the reproduction of the signature of the master Gemito, perhaps one of the greatest and most underappreciated Italian artists of the late 19th century. Signs of oxidation, as shown in the photos, become an integral part of the description.
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