Enrico Butti (April 3, 1847 – January 21, 1932) was an Italian sculptor, active mainly in

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

. He created principally

funerary A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

and commemorative monuments. He was professor of sculpture at the

Accademia di Brera 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 ...

from 1893 to 1913.

Biography

He was born to a family of marble cutters and sculptors. At the age of 14, he began studying at the Brera under the sculptor Pietro Magni, making ends meet by working for other sculptors such as

Francesco Barzaghi Francesco Barzaghi (1839–1892) was an Italian sculptor. Born in Milan, he had his initial training in the studios of Antonio Tantardini and a sculptor called Puttinati. He enrolled in the Accademia di Brera. Among his colleagues was Vincen ...

, Ugo Zannoni, and Magni. In the 1872 National Exhibition in Milan, he exhibited his first work, a marble ''Raphael'', but two years later his '' Eleonora d'Este'' drew much praise. In 1879, he exhibited at the Brera a monument for the Cavi-Bossi family, for which he gained the Prince Umberto prize. In subsequent exhibition, he completed the work ''Time'' for the monument of the Borghi family, the monument for the Guerrini family, and the monument for the Galbiati family, depicting the symbols of brotherhood. These monuments are now in the

Monumental Cemetery of Milan The Cimitero Monumentale (" Monumental Cemetery") is one of the two largest cemeteries in Milan, Italy, the other one being the Cimitero Maggiore. It is noted for the abundance of artistic tombs and monuments. Designed by the architect Carlo ...

. His ''Il Minatore'' ("the miner") was exhibited at the Brera; it is now in a

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

cemetery.

Other sculptures include ''Tasso in Jail'' (now in St Petersburg); ''Cain''; ''Le smorfie''; ''Stizze''; ''St Jerome'' (1875); ''Il mio garzone''; ''Santa Rosa da Lima'' for the

Duomo 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, Lombar ...

(1876); ''I minatori del Sempione'' (1906) ; and the sculptural group of ''La tregua'' (1906). Also for the cemetery of Milan, he sculpted a ''Mater consolatrix'' and the complex monument to the Besenzanica family (1912). He made a monument for the fallen set up in

Viggiù Viggiù (; lmo, Vigiǘu, label=Varesino ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about northeast of Varese, on the border with Switzerland. Viggiù border ...

in 1919, another for

Gallarate Gallarate (; Lombard: ''Galaraa'') is a city and ''comune'' of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 54,000 people. It is the junction of railways to ...

(set up in 1924) in Piazza Risorgimento, and finally one in

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label=Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

(1925).

Also he was the author of the memorial to the founder of the Saint-Petersburg circus - Gaetano Ciniselli (1815-1881), who died in Russia. Among his public monuments are statues of ''Generale Sirtori'' in the public gardens of Milan. And the statue of the Unity of Italy for the

Vittoriano The Victor Emmanuel II National Monument ( it, Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II), also known as Vittoriano or Altare della Patria ("Altar of the Fatherland"), is a large national monument built between 1885 and 1935 to honour Victor Em ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He sculpted ''La morente'' in 1891 for a funeral chapel of the Casati family. In 1913, due to worsening pulmonary problems he moved back to

, where he continued to work till his death. He was also a painter.

References

1847 births 1932 deaths 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists 19th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Brera Academy faculty Brera Academy alumni 19th-century Italian male artists People from Viggiù {{Italy-sculptor-stub