Pericle Fazzini (4 May 1913 – 4 December 1987) was an Italian painter and sculptor. His large work, ''

La Resurrezione ''La resurrezione'' (''The Resurrection''), HWV 47, is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, set to a libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece (1652–1728). Capece was court poet to Queen Marie Casimire of Poland, who was living in exile in Rome ...

'', is installed in the Aula Paolo VI in the

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

in Rome.

Life

Fazzini was born on 4 May 1913 at

Grottammare Grottammare (Teramano ) is a town and ''comune'' on Italy's Adriatic coast, in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Marche region. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). The town is crossed by the 43rd par ...

, in the

province of Ascoli Piceno The province of Ascoli Piceno () is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ascoli Piceno, and the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the east, the province of Fermo to the north, and it faces the regions ...

in the

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

, to Vittorio Fazzini and Maria Alessandrini. As a boy he worked with his brothers in the family carpentry workshop, where he learned to carve wood. In 1930, with the help of the poet Mario Rivosecchi, he moved to Rome to study at the

Scuola libera del nudo A figure drawing is a drawing of the human form in any of its various shapes and postures, using any of the drawing media. The term can also refer to the act of producing such a drawing. The degree of representation may range from highly detaile ...

. In 1931 he won a competition in

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

to design a monument to cardinal Dusmet; it was never made. In 1932 he took part in a competition for the Pensionato Artistico Nazionale of the

Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione The Ministry of Education and Merit (, or MIM) is the government body of Italy devoted to the administration of the national education system. It was active in three separate periods (1861–1929; 1944–2001; 2006–2008), before being merged w ...

, the Italian ministry of arts and education, and with his

low-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

''Uscita dall'arca'' ("leaving the ark") won a two-year

bursary A bursary is a monetary award made by any educational institution or funding authority to individuals or groups. It is usually awarded to enable a student to attend school, university or college when they might not be able to, otherwise. Some awar ...

. He died in Rome on 4 December 1987.

Works

He started work on his large bronze ''

'' for the new Aula Paolo VI in the

in 1970, although he was not formally commissioned to make it until 1972. It was completed and inaugurated in 1977. A

maquette A ''maquette'' is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture or work of architecture. The term is a loanword from French. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', a diminutive of the Italian word for a sketch. Sculpture A maquette ...

is on display in the

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

. His other works include: a ''Monument to

Padre Pio Pio of Pietrelcina (born Francesco Forgione; 25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968), widely known as , , was an Italian Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, celebrated on 23 Septembe ...

'' in Piazza Padre Pio,

San Giovanni Rotondo San Giovanni Rotondo is the name of a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia and region of Apulia, in southern Italy. San Giovanni Rotondo was the home of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina from 28 July 1916 until his death on 23 September 1968. T ...

, Puglia; a ''Tabernacolo'' in the Villa Nazareth in Rome; and a ' in

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

, in the Marche.

References

1913 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male sculptors 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters People from the Province of Ascoli Piceno {{Italy-sculptor-stub