"Vocazione" by E. Marsili & Fon Papi e Frlli Galli, Italy 1882

Signed E. Marsili and dated 1881
and Fon Papi e Frlli Galli – Pietro e Leopoldo – Fusero – 1882 Firenze

Bronze – Height : 130 cm (51 in.) ; Width : 53 cm (20 3/4 in.) ; Depth : 47 cm (18 1/2 in.)
Total Height : 201 cm (79 in.) / Socle – Height : 71 cm (28 in.) ; Width : 76 x 72 cm (30 in. x 28 1/3 in.)

A patinated bronze figure, representing a young boy singing with a raised arm, holding a music sheet in the other one. Standing on a large moulded white marble base.

Biography :
Emilio Marsili (1841-1926), a Venitian sculptor who was the pupil of the renowned artist Ettore Ferrari (1844-1929) at the Fine Arts Academy in Venice. As many Italian artists of his time, he spent a while in Paris and Brussels. Marsili knew then increasing success with his portraits as well as his sculpted memorials. He participated in the 1880 Turin Fine Arts Exhibition, then in the 1881 Milano Exhibition, where he exposed his famous Vocazione, which was awarded a medal. Marsili also showed his beautiful work at the various art fairs of Vienna in 1882 and again in Turin in 1884, where he presented low-relief plaques (Music, Architecture, Sculpture) among further sculpted busts (Snow, Do ré mi fa). He drew much consideration with the busts of Victor Emmanuel II (1879) and Garibaldi (1885), made for the town of Pordenone, as well as with the monument dedicated to Paolo Sarpi (1892) at Campo Santa Fosca, in Venice. In his native city of Venice, he executed the low-reliefs set in the Piétà Church and also decorated the Franchetti Palace. In Paris, Marsili participated in the 1889 Universal Exhibition, where he won a bronze medal. He exposed at the famous Venice Biennale as soon as 1895.
Acclaimed by critics and awarded by jurys, Marsili is wellknown all over the world, from Paris to San Francisco. The greatest Italian modern art museums now show some of his works, such in Turin (The Pinafore dress, 1882), in Venice (Thought, Swallows), or at the Rome National Gallery of Modern Art with a bronze figural group (Maternity), exhibited first in Venice in 1887 with very much success.

Clemente Papi is one of the famous founders working in Firenze in the 19th century. He was particularly renowned for his casts made after the models created by Cellini and Michelangelo. That partnership with Pietro and Leopoldo Galli Brothers is characteristic of the 1880’s.