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Eight
Statues, Eight Sculptors
One of the most visited points
in Naples is Piazza
Plebiscito, the large public
square bounded on opposite sides by the Royal
Palace and the great
church of San Francesco di Paola. At
that
point, one can view the western façade of the palace and the
symmetrical array of eight full-length statues, set in
niches,
four on each side of the main entrance. The statues represent, in
chronological order, the seven dynasties that ruled Naples
from the 12 th to the 19 th century plus a statue
to
mark the dynasty that ruled Italy
from the incorporation of the Kingdom
of Naples into the modern
nation state
of Italy in 1861
until the
monarchy was abolished in Italy
in 1946. The statues were
installed in 1888 at the behest of King Umberto I. Facing the statues,
in
order from
left to right, they are:
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Roger II, the Norman (ruled
from 1130-1154)
—Sculptor: Emilio Franceschi (1839-90)
Franceschi was from Florence. He also sculpted prominently in wood;
among
many
other items, he did the ornate wooden chimney-breast in the Tirrenia
building (a.k.a. Palazzo Sirignano) in
Naples. His most visible creation in Naples—in addition to this staue
of Roger II
—is the monument to King Victor
Emanuel II in Piazza Municipio.
He was
the designer of the monument but died, leaving the completion to
others.
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Frederick
II of
Hohenstaufen (1211-1250)
—Sculptor: Emanuele
Caggiano, (1837-1905). Born
in Benevento,
Caggiano was one of the important sculptors
working in Naples
in the second half of the 1800s. He taught sculpture at the Naples Royal Art Academy
from 1878 on. Besides this depiction of Frederick II, another
well-known work of
his in Naples
is Virtues of the Martyrs set atop
the high monument column in the middle of Martyrs' Square. |
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Charles of Anjou (1266-1285)
—Sculptor: Tommaso Solari (1820-1889—not
to be confused with his
sculptor grandfather, also Tommaso, from the 1700s.) Besides this
statute of Charles of Anjou,
Solari has
works in the Villa Comunale in Naples,
including the fountain of Orestes
and Electra (done together with
Angelo
Violani). As well, the statue of Italian patriot, Carlo Poerio, in Piazza San
Pasquale is his. Also, he was one of the sculptors who did the monument
to Victor Emanuel II in Piazza Municipio; as
well, he (together with sculptor, Tito
Angelini, created the statue
of
Dante in Piazza Dante.
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—Sculptor:
Achille D'Orsi (1845-1929). D'Orsi
was
the son of a small landowner and entered the Royal Academy
of Fine
Arts
in Naples
in 1857. His main interest was realism, and other
than this stature of
Alfonso, his noted works include his early terracotta, Wounded
Soldier of Garibaldi and, later, The
Parasites (a depiction of drunken Roman revelers) and Proximus
tuus, a life-sized stature of an exhausted laborer—a work
widely
reproduced in late 19th-century Socialist propaganda. D'Orsi
also
created the prominent bronze statue of Umberto I on via Nazario Sauro in Naples.
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Charles V of Hapsburg
(1520-1558)
—Sculptor: Vincenzo
Gemito,
(1852 -1929). Gemito was
an eccentric of almost Dickensian origins, having been
abandoned
as an infant at the famous Annunziata
orphanage. He
was later adopted, worked as an apprentice painter and sculptor, and
then
enrolled in
the Naples Academy of Fine Arts at the
age of 12. Besides this statue
of
Charles V, he is well known for his terracotta piece, The Player,
(Il
Giocatore), done when he was only 16. He displayed successfully in
Paris
(notably, the Neapolitan Fisherboy),
then returned to Naples
and opened his own foundry to revive the Renaissance art of the wax
process for
bronze casting. He spent many years in a mental hospital, but later
returned to
his work. |
Charles
III of Bourbon (1734-1759)
—Sculptor:
Raffaele
Belliazzi (1835–1917). Belliazzi was
prominent among Realist
sculptors in post-unification Italy
and among those sculptors in Naples who
belonged
to the so-called "Resina" school, many of whom opened studios in the
ex-Royal Palace of Portici (now part of
the
agricultural department of the university of Naples).
Besides this statue of Charles III, Belliazzi created the monument
tribute to King Umberto I to recall the monarch's visit to Naples
during the cholera epidemic of 1884. The statue is done in volcanic
rock and is in the Sanità section of Naples near the Capodimonte
roundabout.
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Gioacchino
Murat (1808-1815)
—Sculptor: Giovanni
Battista Amendola
(1848–87). Amendola was from Sarno and studied in Naples at the Academy
of Fine Arts.
Besides this statue of Murat, other works by Amendola in Naples include
the bust of architect Enrico Alvino
on the grounds of
the Villa Comunale. In nearby Salerno,
his sculpture, Pergolesi Dying,
is at the opera house. He moved to England and some of his works were
commissioned abroad and remain there to this day, including the
well-known bronze of a pensive woman
entitled The Dominant Thought and
his striking 21"-high bronze of a young couple, entitled
Wedded.
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Victor Emanuel II of Savoy (1861-1878)
— Sculptor: Francesco
Jerace (1854 –1937).
This painter and sculptor was from Calabria
and went to Naples
to attend the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
Besides this statue of the
first king
of united Italy, he
is most
known for his contribution—a group
statue
called L'Azione—to the national
monument to King Victor Emanuel II
in Rome. A somewhat hidden work of his in Naples is the
statue of Beethoven in the courtyyard of the Naples
Conservatory. He also
did a great number of famous literary and political figures
of the
day, including Carducci and King Umberto I, located in many
places throughout Italy and, indeed, internationally. The museum in his
birthplace of Polistena is named for him. |
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Instant folklore: As soon
as these statues went up, local wags coined pithy, vulgar expressions
in dialect to put in the mouths of some of the monarchs. They were
"saying certain things". I have been unable as yet to
determine if the first four have such sayings connected with them, but
statues 5 through 8 are solid:
Charles
V,
accusatorily pointing to the ground with his right hand, is saying, "Chi ha pisciato cca n'terra?!" ("Who
peed on the ground right here?!");
Charles
III, daintily looking down, says, "Ma guarda che fettienti..." ("Just
look what disgusting pigs...");
Murat,
with his hand
melodramatically splayed against his breast in a "Who, Moi?!" gesture says, "Giuro che non sono stato io" ("I
swear 'twas not I.")
Victor
Emanuel, with his sword
raised on high, thunders, "Tagliammolo
'o pesce!" (Roughly, "Off with his d***!")
I love doing real research.
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sources:
For some of the information on the sculptors, I have used various
entries in the Grove Encyclopedia of
Art as well as a volume entitled Le Statue di Napoli by Nicola Della
Monica, Newton and Compton, Rome, 1996.
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