DOI Heft:
No. 217 (April, 1911)
DOI Artikel:Macfarlane, Cecil: An italian sculptor: Leonardo Bistolfi
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20972#0208
Leonardo Bistolji
more than a mere portrait, it is a realisation of
the very spirit of Garibaldi; the attitude and
every feature are suggestive of the leonine
energy of that dauntless patriot. It is not
Garibaldi the fighter, on horseback—a repre-
sentation beloved by Italian artists and which
adorns many public places throughout the
country—but an ideal portrayal of the inner
mystery of his great personality, an eloquent
expression of those qualities which made him
the most generally beloved man of modern
times.
His beautiful monument to Zanardelli and
the recently completed Rosazza memorial are
further evidence of the remarkable fertility of
Bistolfi's imagination. In these two monu-
ments, the first-named, erected on the shores of
Lake Garda to the memory of the famous
statesman, and the second, embedded in a
mountain side to the memory of Senator
Rosazza, Bistolfi's art shows influences of a
more sensuous quality. His aims are directed
towards greater regularity of composition, studied
grace of attitude and increasingly seductive
symmetry of form; aims which prompt the
group of alluring figures in the high relief of
the Rosazza memorial, the beautiful nude figure
of Harmony in the decorative lunette for
the Mexico City Opera House and which, in
his latest production, The Sacrifice, attain
the noblest heights. This work is one of four
colossal stone groups representing Right,"
" Concord," "Strength" and "Sacrifice," which
are to be placed on the steps leading to the
" Altare della Patria " in Rome. It symbolises
the People offering up their blood at the altar
of their country. With the anguished but
impassioned aid of a woman the Michaelangel-
esque figure of an athlete bound by his wrists
to the stake, supports on his shoulders a dying
hero who surrenders his last gasp to the supreme
kiss of Liberty flying above the three figures.
It is an ideal creation in the vigour of its
composition, the masterly blending of light and
shadow, the harmonious grouping of the nude
figures and the nobly decorative arrangement
of the drapery. It exhibits Bistolfi's great
power in all its maturity, and is undoubtedly
one of his finest achievements.
Although it is not intended in these few pages
to give more than a brief survey of a few of
those works which mark more definitely the
gradual and consistent development of Bistolfi's
artistic aspirations in monumental art, it is
impossible not to speak of the many other
manifestations of his genius. He is not a mere
MONUMENT TO ROSAZZA
186
BY LEONARDO BISTOLKI
more than a mere portrait, it is a realisation of
the very spirit of Garibaldi; the attitude and
every feature are suggestive of the leonine
energy of that dauntless patriot. It is not
Garibaldi the fighter, on horseback—a repre-
sentation beloved by Italian artists and which
adorns many public places throughout the
country—but an ideal portrayal of the inner
mystery of his great personality, an eloquent
expression of those qualities which made him
the most generally beloved man of modern
times.
His beautiful monument to Zanardelli and
the recently completed Rosazza memorial are
further evidence of the remarkable fertility of
Bistolfi's imagination. In these two monu-
ments, the first-named, erected on the shores of
Lake Garda to the memory of the famous
statesman, and the second, embedded in a
mountain side to the memory of Senator
Rosazza, Bistolfi's art shows influences of a
more sensuous quality. His aims are directed
towards greater regularity of composition, studied
grace of attitude and increasingly seductive
symmetry of form; aims which prompt the
group of alluring figures in the high relief of
the Rosazza memorial, the beautiful nude figure
of Harmony in the decorative lunette for
the Mexico City Opera House and which, in
his latest production, The Sacrifice, attain
the noblest heights. This work is one of four
colossal stone groups representing Right,"
" Concord," "Strength" and "Sacrifice," which
are to be placed on the steps leading to the
" Altare della Patria " in Rome. It symbolises
the People offering up their blood at the altar
of their country. With the anguished but
impassioned aid of a woman the Michaelangel-
esque figure of an athlete bound by his wrists
to the stake, supports on his shoulders a dying
hero who surrenders his last gasp to the supreme
kiss of Liberty flying above the three figures.
It is an ideal creation in the vigour of its
composition, the masterly blending of light and
shadow, the harmonious grouping of the nude
figures and the nobly decorative arrangement
of the drapery. It exhibits Bistolfi's great
power in all its maturity, and is undoubtedly
one of his finest achievements.
Although it is not intended in these few pages
to give more than a brief survey of a few of
those works which mark more definitely the
gradual and consistent development of Bistolfi's
artistic aspirations in monumental art, it is
impossible not to speak of the many other
manifestations of his genius. He is not a mere
MONUMENT TO ROSAZZA
186
BY LEONARDO BISTOLKI