19th Century Cesare Beccaria Bronze Sculpture

About the Item

19th Century. Cesare Beccaria Bronze, 49 x 13 x 15 cm The bronze statue examined faithfully reproduces the famous Milanese monument by Giuseppe Grandi (1843-1894) dedicated to Cesare Beccaria. The work, from the top of a high base in white Montorfano granite, dominates the homonymous Milanese square, a sad stage for executions at the time of Austrian rule, in a bronze copy of 1914 to replace the original stone statue which already at the beginning of the new century showed serious signs of deterioration. The marble became part of the collections of the Gallery of Modern Art and is now located inside the Palazzo di Giustizia in Milan. The initiative regarding the erection of a monument dedicated to Cesare Beccaria originates in 1865, in support of the proposed abolition of the death penalty, from the pages of the Gray Chronicle, the magazine of the Milanese scapigliatura directed by Cletto Arrighi. In 1868 Giuseppe Grandi took part in the competition for the monument. The commission decided, in the second selection restricted to only two sketches, to assign the realization of the sculpture to Grandi's project. The Monument to Cesare Beccaria was completed, with some changes compared to the original sketch, in December 1870 and was inaugurated on March 18, 1871 in the square of the same name. The sculpture portrays Cesare Bonesana-Beccaria, the Italian jurist, philosopher, economist and scholar, a leading figure of the Enlightenment linked to the Milanese intellectual circles, Marquis of Gualdrasco and Villareggio (1738-1794), represented in an everyday attitude, with one arm behind the back, the other in the chest. His main work, the treatise on crimes and penalties, a political and juridical analysis against the death penalty and torture, conducted on the basis of rationalism and pragmatism, inspired, among other things, the new penal code wanted by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany. The references about the abolition of the death penalty are reiterated in the monument both by the extract of the aforementioned work by Beccaria, celebrated in its centenary of the 1764 publication, shown on the south-west plaque, and through the allegorical bas-reliefs in bronze representing Civilization which bears the attributes of Justice, seated on a large bench in an austere attitude, and Time, which rises in flight, covering its face, over a landscape strewn with death and destruction. In Beccaria's portrait the surface of the bronze is enlivened by a strong chiaroscuro which will then be accentuated in the later works by Grandi also thanks to the proximity and comparison with the painters Tranquillo Cremona and Daniele Ranzoni, protagonists of the Milanese Scapigliatura. As in the paintings of Cremona and Ranzoni, also in the sculptures of Grandi the outlines seem to flake under the light, opening up new expressive possibilities that will be collected and carried forward by the younger artists, first of all Medardo Rosso.

Dimensions:

Height: 19.3 in (49 cm)Width: 5.91 in (15 cm)Depth: 5.12 in (13 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Bronze,Polished

Place of Origin:

Italy

Period:

19th Century

Date of Manufacture:

19th Century

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use.