Gaspare Guercio

Gaspare Guercio (* 1611 in Palermo ; † 1679 ibid) was an Italian architect and sculptor of the Baroque in Sicily .

Gaspare is a member of a family of sculptors in Palermo, his father was probably Vincenzo Guercio, who is documented in Palermo between 1579 and 1635. In addition to the sculptor and architect Carlo D'Aprile , the most important employee was his nephew Gaspare Serpotta (1634-1640), the father of Giacomo and Giuseppe Serpotta, whose godfather Guercio was on March 9, 1653 and 1656. Guercio saw his work as a sculptor on an equal footing with that of the architect. In 1647 at the latest, the Senate of Palermo appointed him city architect.

His first documented work as a sculptor is the Madonna di Libera Inferni from 1635 for the Chiesa della Concezione. From 1655 he created the three marble statues of Saints Ninfa, Rosalia and Oliva for the forecourt of the Cathedral of Palermo and in 1662, in collaboration with Carlo D'Aprile, modeled the bronze sculpture of King Philip IV for the Piazza Reale in Palermo (destroyed in 1848 ).

In 1669 he was entrusted by the Palermi Senate with the reconstruction of Porta Nuova , which was destroyed by an explosion two years earlier. Guercia added the loggia and the pyramidal roof as new structural elements. One of his most important commissions in Palermo was the redesign of the facade of San Matteo between 1647 and 1664 (together with Carlo D'Aprile).

Works (selection)

• Chiesa di San Matteo (Palermo): facade design with sculptures “Immacolata,” above the main portal and Saints Matthias and Matthew (1647–64) with Carlo D'Aprile
• Chiesa Sant'Ignazio all'Olivella (Palermo): marble balustrade and stone mosaics for the Cappella S. Giovanni
• Cathedral: In the forecourt: Santa Rosalia , Santa Ninfa (1655) and Santa Oliva (1656)
• Porta Felice (Palermo) Sculptures of Saints Ninfa and Cristina (1655/56), based on designs by Pietro Novelli (attribution)
• Teatro marmoreo piazza Vittoria (Palermo): figure decorations, together with Gaspare and Luigi Serpotta and Luigi Geraco
• Fontana della Ninfa (Palermo): marble statue
• Museo Diocesano di Palermo : Pedestal for the statue of Saint Rosalia by Bartolomeo
• Chiesa Gancia (Palermo): Profound baroque transformation of the church (1673)
• Parish Church of San Giorgio ( Caccamo ): The relief "Saint George" (1660) on the west facade
• Basilica di Santa Maria ( Randazzo ): main altar (1663)
• Convento di Santa Maria delle Grazie ( Burgio ): Anna selbdritt (attribution)

literature

• Bernd Curt Kreplin : [Guercio (lo)] Gaspare . In: Ulrich Thieme , Fred. C. Willis (Ed.): General lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 15 : Gresse – Hanselmann . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1922, p. 222 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ). - In the family article.
• Fabio Cosentino:  Guercio, Gaspare. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 60:  Grosso – Guglielmo da Forlì. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2003.
• Maria Giuffrè: Baroque Sicily. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-86568-264-2 , p. 100 ff.

Web links

• Entry in the Archivio biografico comunale