‘So as not to annoy art historians… if I ever have any…’: Giulio Monteverde, a sculptor to discover again by Chiara Lanzi

It is difficult for us today to appreciate the success that a sculptor like Giulio Monteverde (Bistagno 1837–Rome 1917) had achieved at the end of the nineteenth century. Works like the Young Columbus (1870) or Edward Jenner inoculating his Son with the Vaccine (1873) made Monteverde a ‘media phenomenon’. Also some aspects of his life captured the popular imagination: his humble origins in a small and unknown town like Bistagno; his transfer to Rome, capital of the new united Italy; his political sympathies for the Mazzinian and radical movement; his choice of sculptural subjects which aligned with progress and social renewal. Thus, over time, he obtained countless commissions, fame, international recognition and wealth. He was able to live in a magnificent palazzo in Rome, which also housed a sort of museum of his plaster casts, yet now he is an almost forgotten artist. In this talk, I will retrace the main phases of his life and his career.

Chiara Lanzi was born in Turin to a family of musicians,  she completed classical studies and graduated in Art History, then obtained a PhD from the University of Genoa. She first worked in Turin, at the Sabauda Gallery and the scientific museums of the University. She was director of the Giulio Monteverde plaster cast Gallery in Bistagno from 2011 to 2021. Now she lives in Liguria and collaborates with the MIC (Ministry of Cultural Heritage) in Genoa, while continuing her research on nineteenth-twentieth century sculpture. She is also completing the construction of the Edoardo Rubino (1871-1954) and Claudia Formica (1903-1987) plaster cast Galleries which, together with the Giulio Monteverde Gallery, will constitute a museum centre in lower Piedmont.