Date
27 March 1889
Object Type
Photograph
Subject
Work in marble representing the God of Time, made by sculptor Alessandro Biggi.
Holding institution
Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara
About The Work
The image depicts Il Tempo (Time), a marble sculpture executed by Alessandro Biggi and exhibited in Paris at the Exposition Universelle de 1889. The work is documented in Exposition Universelle de 1889. Catalogue illustré des beaux-arts (1789–1889), edited by François Guillaume Dumas (Lille–Paris, 1889, p. 99). On that occasion, Biggi—then a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara—was awarded a bronze medal, as recorded in Matteo Gardonio’s doctoral dissertation, Scultori italiani alle Esposizioni Universali di Parigi (1855–1889): aspettative, successi e delusioni (University of Trieste, 2007–2008, p. 116). Born in Carrara on 19 November 1848, Biggi enrolled at a very young age in the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, where he soon distinguished himself. In 1868, he won the Concorso d’Invenzione with the relief Mercury Reproaching Aeneas for His Idleness in Carthage, and in 1870, he received the Roman Pension Prize with Igmazeno Presenting the Corpse of the Rebel Firmus at the Feet of Theodosius. After a brief period in Rome, he returned to Carrara and took part in the competition for the bas-reliefs of the monument to Pellegrino Rossi, sculpting the panel depicting the statesman delivering a lecture on constitutional law at the University of Paris. Subsequently, awarded the Fabbricotti Prize for the statue The Indian Tamed by the Gifts of Civilization, Biggi was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara. In 1889 he formed part of the Italian delegation to the Paris Exposition Universelle, where Il Tempo received official recognition. He later relocated to South America, executing numerous public monuments. Among his most significant works are the monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi in Rosario and the monument commemorating the President of the Argentine Republic, Nicolás Avellaneda, in Buenos Aires. Upon returning to Italy, he produced several major civic monuments, including the celebrated memorial to Felice Cavallotti in La Spezia, a statue of Garibaldi in Taranto, and a monument to Giuseppe Mazzini in Carrara. He also received commissions for important funerary monuments in Buenos Aires, Rosario, Montevideo, Alessandria d'Egitto, and Il Cairo. A committed Mazzinian and avowed republican, Biggi pursued political engagement alongside his artistic and pedagogical career, serving as mayor of Carrara from 19 December 1899 to 28 May 1903. He died in Carrara on 9 January 1926. The photographic print under discussion forms part of the donation made in 1952 by Corrado Lattanzi Sr., founder (in 1925) of the Bottega d’Arte Lattanzi, to the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara. A promoter of local artists and closely associated with the intellectual milieu of the Academy—within which figures such as Angeli, Fabbricotti, and Del Medico were active—Lattanzi established a veritable cultural salon within his shop on Via Cavour. During the Fascist period, the venue was frequented by prominent personalities, including Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Enrico Prampolini, and the musician Giuntini, as well as by an educated local and national clientele. The enterprise eventually became a supplier of numismatic materials to the Royal Household.
Title
Alessandro Biggi, Il Tempo, marble sculpture.
Subject
Work in marble representing the God of Time, made by sculptor Alessandro Biggi.
Creator
Unidentified photographer
Date
27 March 1889
Object Type
Photograph
Technique / Support
Gelatin silver print
Original Function
Documentation / teaching tool
Dimensions
mm 288x200
Acquisition
Gift
Holding institution
Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara
Unique identifier
ICCD_MIDF_4817766263671