a bronze La Sorgente by Vincenzo Gemito

Vincenzo Gemito's life-sized bronze Pescatore (1876) is the only modern sculpture in the collection of the Bargello Museum in Florence.  The sculptor's puckish figure of a Neapolitan fisher boy stands amidst the works of the greatest Renaissance sculptors, including Michelangelo, Donatello, Giambologna and Cellini. 

Indeed, Gemito's work is profoundly linked to the sculptor's of the past both stylistically and technically.  He was the last important nineteenth-century sculptor to cast his bronzes using the Renaissance lost-wax method (at a time when nearly all sculptors had adopted sand casting) and he, like his predecessors, was dependent on antique forms. Still, Gemito's sculpture exhibits a remarkable originality.  His figures display a unique physiologically depth.  His forms are distinguished by their uniquely undulating lines, earthiness of form and sinewy contours.

Gemito's series of young Neapolitan street urchins is in many respects autobiographical.  The artist was abandoned at birth on the doorstep of an orphanage in Naples and his early years were spent on the street.  In 1861 he joined the workshop of the sculptor Emanuele Caggiano (1837-1905) as an assistant.  It was from Stanislao Lista (1824-1908), whose studio he joined in 1864, that he developed his skills as a sculptor.  Lista urged the young artist to draw inspiration from his experience on the streets. 

Around 1876 Gemito focused on the theme of the pescatore (fisher boy).  After executing many drawings, he modelled two sculptures.  The first was Il Pescatore Marvarsi of a young nude boy kneeling on a rock and holding a fish in his hands, which was a commission for the prefect of Naples, Diomede Marvarsi (see lot 113).  The second was a life-size plaster, exhibited at the Paris salon of 1877 (plaster: Museo Capidimonte, Naples; bronze, Bargello, Florence).  In 1881 the former King of the two Sicily, Francesco II di Borbone commissioned the famous Acquaiolo figure, which immediately garnered attention and praise and won a first class medal at the Universal Exposition, Antwerp (for a reduced model see lot 116).

Gemito imbued his figures with a raw, earthy beauty.  Despite the ragged hair and lowly profession of the young Acquaiolo, he stands upon his classically inspired base with pride and dignity. In 1883 Gemito set up his own bronze foundry and produced these popular models. 

Following a mental collapse in 1887, Gemito sheltered himself until 1909 when he emerged to rework his familiar iconography and as such he again explored the possibilities of the pescatore.  He focused on extremely refined casts and models. He also explored the potential of alloys and precious metals.  The present models, produced by his foundry during this period, have golden patinas and highlights.  Although inspired by his early life, the present collection of young fisher boys exhibit the detailed, refined finish and gilt highlights of his late period.   During this time, he modelled the La Sorgente (The Spring) which is an interpretation of his Acquaiolo.  La Sorgente has a gentler more sentimental effect then its predecessor.  It is a fluid and sensuous bronze (lot 114).  The Giovienezza di Nettuna was modelled a year later and is the most playful evocation of the theme (lot. 114) His later Il Pescatore (lot 115) is another more classicizing interpretation (circa 1915). 

Gemito was a sculptor of limitless talent.  This private collection of his bronzes, acquired in Italy in the first half of the twentieth century, illustrates the numerous ways in which Gemito could redefine a single theme.

RELATED LITERATURE
S. di Giacomo, V. Gemito: La vita, l'opera Naples, 1905; G. Morisani: Vita di Gemito, Naples, 1936; A. Savinio: Narrate uomini la vostra storia, Milan, 1942; A. Schettini: Gemito, Milan, 1944; R. Causa: Vincenzo Gemito, Milan, 1966; B. Mantura, ed., Temi di Vincenzo Gemito, Spoleto, 1989)