Vincenzo Gemito

Vincenzo Gemito studied at Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli. Training under Stanislao Lista is recorded. Luigi Pepe Diaz is recorded as having studied under Vincenzo Gemito. The recorded working language is Italian. The field of work recorded is art of sculpture. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Works named in the authority record are Water carrier, The Water Seller and The fisherboy. Work by Vincenzo Gemito is recorded in the collections of J. Paul Getty Museum, National Gallery of Canada, Pau Casals Museum, Museo del Prado and Museo di Capodimonte.

• Name — Vincenzo Gemito • Born — 16 July 1852 • Birthplace — Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies • Died — 1 March 1929 • Place of death — Naples, Italy • Field — Painting, drawing, sculpture, smithing • Notable Works — The Cards Player (Il giocatore di carti) • Training — Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli • Partner — Mathilde Duffaud (1873-1881)

• Illustration — Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Gemito was born in Naples to a poor woodcutter's family. The day after his birth, his mother left him on the steps of the dell'Annunziata orphanage and he was taken in to live with the other foundlings. He was given the surname Genito - for generato (“born” in Italian), as was common for orphans, but this somehow became Gemito in orphanage records.[4] On July 30, 1852, he was adopted by a young family that had recently lost a child. The father was an artisan, and as a young child Gemito was probably encouraged to use his hands. He was working as an apprentice in painter and sculptor Emanuele Caggiano's studio before he was 10 years old, demonstrating a dexterity and inventiveness which he eventually became famous for. He also worked in Stanislao Lista's studio. As a 12-year-old he was enrolled at the Naples Academy of Fine Arts (where he became a lifelong friend of artist Antonio Mancini), and also attended the Domenico Maggiore Academy for night classes. He moulded the terracotta piece, The Player, (Il Giocatore), one of his most famous works, when only 16 years old. It created excitement when exhibited at the Promotrice in Naples, so much so that King Victor Emmanuel II purchased it and presented it to the Museo di Capodimonte for permanent display. Gemito moved to Paris in 1877 where he found a great friend in noted French artist Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier. As he was creating new works in various media in Paris, he also exhibited his works in noted salons and galleries, and at the Universal Exposition of 1878. It was at the Paris Salon the previous year where he experienced a triumph, with the showing of his Neapolitan Fisherboy, which he had worked on for some years to perfect. The acclaim surrounding that work brought him widespread fame, and lucrative commissions for portraits. He remained in Paris three years before returning to Naples (1880) after his partner died. He went to Capri for a short time, where he married Anna Cutolo. In 1883 he once again demonstrated his determination to work outside the norm when he constructed his own foundry on the via Mergellina in Naples. He did so to revive the lost-wax process for bronze casting, which had been used during the Renaissance. In 1887, Gemito was commissioned to create a marble statue of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, to be erected outside the Royal Palace of Naples. Marble was the least liked medium for Gemito, and he fretted that this work was below his capabilities. He suffered a mental breakdown and withdrew to a one-room apartment, and spent periods in a mental hospital.[5] For the next 21 years he worked on drawing but remained a recluse, and it wasn't until 1909 that he resumed sculpting to once again produce masterful works. In 1952, a postage stamp was issued in Italy to celebrate the 100 years since Gemito's birth[6].

• Illustration — Statue of Messonier, National Gallery of Art • Illustration — Il Pescatorello (small fishboy), Museo del Bargello Florence • Illustration — Gemito's Fisherboy, replica at the Louvre, Paris • Illustration — The philosopher or Saint Paul, 1917 • Illustration — Self-portrait, 1887 • Illustration — The Cards Player, 1868