Pio Fedi

Pio Fedi (born June 7, 1815 in Viterbo , † May 31, 1892 in Florence ) was an Italian sculptor and engraver .

life and work

Rape of Polyxena , sculpture by Pio Fedi, 1866, Loggia dei Lanzi

Pio Fedi initially trained as a goldsmith in Florence with a master on the Ponte Vecchio . He then studied with Raffaello Morghen (drawing) and Giovanni Garaviglia (copperplate engraving) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence . In 1838 he traveled to Vienna , where he drew in the Belvedere Palace and the Schwarzenberg Gallery . He attended the local academy and soon acquired a scholarship to visit Rome, where he studied until 1844. After acidic burns to his eyes, he gave up the copperplate engraving out of consideration for his eyes and turned to the sculpture. Returning to Florence in 1846, Leopold II commissioned him to produce the statues of Nicola Pisano and Andrea Cesalpino for the loggias of the Uffizi . In the following year Fedi made a half -life-size group of the Pia dei Tolomei and Nello della Pietra for the prince, and in 1852 the life-size group for the Russian general L'vov : the guardian angel who leads the soul of the general's deceased daughter to heaven. The colossal monument of Marchese P. Torrigiano in the family garden dates back to 1856 . To celebrate the annexation of Tuscany to Piedmont (1859–60), the sculpture Kultur der Toscana , a larger than life woman in ancient costume, was created; then hope, nourishing love, tasteless in invention (1861); love, raising the soul; Cupid as ruler of Jupiter and the earth; holy poetry, a woman with a face enthusiastically turned towards heaven, of great beauty, the ancient robe of noble folds, in the Museo municipale of Verona.

His best known work is the colossal group of the Rape of Polyxena . It occupies a place of honor in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence and is able to stand out alongside the works of antiquity and the Renaissance. It was executed in marble from 1860 to 1865. Pyrrhus , son of Achilles , steps on the altar and holds Polyxena in his left arm, while he raises his right hand with drawn sword at Hecabe who has thrown herself at his feet. In front of her and between the feet of Pyrrhus lies the brother Polyxenas, who has fallen in battle.

literature

Fedi, Pio . In: Ulrich Thieme (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 11 : Erman-Fiorenzo . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1915, p. 336–337 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
Pio Fedi . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 37, Saur, Munich a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-598-22777-9 , p. 406.

Web links

Commons : Pio Fedi - collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Fedi, Pio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian sculptor and engraver
DATE OF BIRTH	June 7, 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH	Viterbo
DATE OF DEATH	May 31, 1892
Place of death	Florence