Grazioso Rusca (1757 – 18 June 1829) was a Swiss sculptor who was also active in northern Italy.

Biography

Originally from

Rancate Rancate was a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 5 April 2009 the municipalities of Arzo, Capolago, Genestrerio, Men ...

in the Swiss canton of

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

, he was trained as a stonemason by architects including

Simone Cantoni Simone Cantoni (2 September 1739 – 3 March 1818) was a Swiss architect of the Neoclassical period, active mainly in Northern Italy. Among his many works are the Villa Olmo in Como, Villa Cigalini in Bornate, Villa Giovia in Brescia, Villa Ga ...

. He worked at the

Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano ("Venerable Fabric of the Duomo of Milan") is a 600-year-old organization that was established to supervise the construction of the Cathedral of Milan (the "Duomo"). The organization is still active an ...

in Milan where he created reliefs for the cathedral's facade. In the 1880s, he worked with Austrian architect Leopold Pollack at the College of Pavia, creating two large statues representing Philosophy and Theology. From 1796 to 1797, his decorations for the

Palazzo Belgioioso The Palazzo Belgioioso (also spelled ''Belgiojoso'') is a palatial residence in the northern Italian city of Milan, completed in 1781 in a Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style by Giuseppe Piermarini. Considered to be one of Milan's archi ...

included bas-reliefs depicting

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

helping Italy. In

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

Cappella Colleoni The Colleoni Chapel (Italian: ''Cappella Colleoni'') is a Renaissance funerary chapel built in 1476 at the behest of Bartolomeo Colleoni as his mausoleum, designed by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It is located in ...

, he sculpted the two angels supporting Pollack's altar table. Again working with Pollack in Bergamo, he decorated the high altar at

Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...

and created the bas-reliefs of Apollo and the muses at the Palazzo Agosti. In 1805, he replaced Carlo Maria Giudici at the Fabbrica del Duomo, earning him a position of great prestige as head of one of the major sculpture workshops of the times. His son, Gerolamo and his nephew Antonio also were employed by the Fabbrica del Duomo.

Selected works

*Madonna del Rosario,

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

, Milan "Grazioso Rusca: Opere"
''Appacuvi''. Retrieved 14 September 2012 *High altar statue, Santa Maria Nuova, Milan *Statua della Pace (1802),

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

Dii Consentes The ''Dii Consentes'', also known as ''Di'' or ''Dei Consentes'' (once ''Dii Complices''), or ''The Harmonious Gods'', is an ancient list of twelve major deities, six gods and six goddesses, in the pantheon of Ancient Rome. Their gilt statues ...

(c. 1812),

Palazzo Saporiti The Palazzo Saporiti, also known as Palazzo Rocca-Saporiti, is a historic Neoclassical palace in the centre of the north Italian city of Milan. History The palazzo was commissioned in 1800 by Gaetano Belloni who managed the gaming room at La Sc ...

, Milan *Sculptural decorations,

Arco della Pace Porta Sempione ("Simplon Gate") is a city gate of Milan, Italy. The name is used both to refer to the gate proper and to the surrounding district (''quartiere''), a part of the Zone 1 division (the historic city centre), including the major avenu ...

, Milan *Statue of the Redeemer, Santa Maria del Carmine, Milan *St Augustin and the child on the beach,

Basilica of San Gaudenzio The Basilica of San Gaudenzio is a church in Novara, Italy. It is the highest point in the city. It is dedicated to Gaudentius of Novara, first Christian bishop of the city. History The first church dedicated to the saint existed near the curre ...

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

"Grazioso Rusca: Sant'Agostino vescovo e il bambino sulla spiaggia"
''Associazione Storico-Culturale S. Agostino''. Retrieved 14 September 2012

References

This article is based on Wikipedia's Italian version.

Bibliography

*Luigi Angelini, ''L'Arte Neoclassica in Bergamo. Gli interni del Palazzo Maffeis ora De Beni in via Pignolo 74'', in La Rivista di Bergamo, July 1965, 3. *Giuseppe Martinola, ''Inventario d'arte del Mendrisiotto'', I, Edizioni dello Stato, Bellinzona 1975, 433–440. *R. Ferrante, ''Palazzi nobili di Bergamo'', Bergamo 1988, 106. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rusca, Grazioso Swiss sculptors 1757 births 1829 deaths People from Ticino

Biography

Selected works

See also

References

Bibliography