Ettore Ferrari: a Monumental Sculptor from the Pincio to the Aventine Hill (1870-1949) by Stefano Moscatelli

This talk will be the most up-to-date assessment of the life and work of the sculptor, Ettore Ferrari (1845–1929). Thanks to research carried out since 2022 on Ferrari, it is finally possible to trace his artistic, and partly political, career. His activity as a monumental sculptor, which stretched from 1870 until 1949 when the Mazzini Monument was inaugurated, in particular will be considered.

Previous studies have not given much consideration to Ferrari’s monumental production, but have focused largely on his monument to Giordano Bruno. The discovery of numerous documents and unpublished works by Ferrari, together with research conducted on his sketches and archival photographs, has provided a new perspective for sculpture studies relating to Rome in the second half of the nineteenth century, which is a rather neglected area of research. In the talk I will examine themes, sources and archival documents, against the historical background of Rome at the time, and will combine these with biographical data on Ferrari himself.

Stefano Moscatelli is a PhD candidate at Sapienza University of Rome. He graduated from Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna and holds a postgraduate degree from the State University of Milan. He works on Italian and French sculpture from the second half of the nineteenth century and twentieth century art criticism. He has collaborated with various Italian museums and foundations and has published on his research topics.