The Piccirilli Brothers
The Bronx Journal/April 2001 A2 L O C A L
MARÍA CASTRO Bronx Journal Staff Know anything about Italy, and you’ll know that sculpture is high on every visitor’s “must see” list, from the student of art to the most casual tourist. But we should not for - get that the U.S. also has impressive and well-known sculptures which tourists line up to admire. Many of them, including the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., were carved right here in the Bronx by the famed Italian immigrants, the Piccirilli There is not much known about this family of stone-carvers who have left their mark not only in New York, but all over the United States with well known sculptures. The colossal central figure of Abraham brothers. Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial is one of the best known examples of the Piccirilli brothers’ work.
o the surprise of American Art.” After struggling financially for about ten Giuseppe Piccirilli was already a well years, the Piccirillis finally earned national m a n y, it turns out known stone-carver and sculptor in Massa visibility in 1901, when--with one of At i l l i o ’ s that the Library Carrara in Tuscany. His six sons had been Giuseppe Piccirilli was works--they defeated 40 other competitors trained as sculptors, but Atillio proved to be for the sculpture portion of the Maine Lions, the Maine Monument the most talented, and he studied sculpture already a wellknown stone- Monument at Columbus Circle. After that, at Columbus Circle, and even at the Academia di San Luca in Rome for carver and sculptor in Massa they renovated their studio, and the brothers five years. decorated the brick façade with reliefs and Abraham Lincoln in the Guiseppe, his wife and daughter (whose Carrara in Tuscany. His six me d a l l i o n s . Lincoln Memorial in names have not been found in any records) Also in that same studio at 142nd Street in and their six sons, Atillio, Ferrucio, Furio, sons had been trained as the Bronx, the Piccirilli brothers carved, Washington D.C. were all Getulio, Masaniello, and Orazio, arrived in among other works, the pediment of the carved in the Bronx, in a stu- New York and settled in Manhattan. There, sculptors, but Atillio proved New York Stock Exchange, Four Guiseppe and his older sons began working Continents, which is at the entrance of the dio at 142nd Street by an almost immediately at Samuel A d l e r’s to be the most talented, and United States Custom House in Bowling Italian family of stone- Monuments and Granite Works on East he studied sculpture at the Green, the pediment of the façade of the 57th Street. Brooklyn Museum and all its 30 statues, the carvers and sculptors, the A bit later, they were able to open their Academia di San Luca in Washington Arch in Greenwich Village, the Piccirilli brothers. own studio on West 39th Street, where the Milmore Memorial, the Melvin Memorial, Piccirillis begun to make their art known Rome for five years. and Memory, the last three of which can be The Piccirillis immigrated to the United and recognized. seen in the American Wing of the States in 1887 and as Albert Ten Eyck However, in 1890, the Picccirillis were Metropolitan Museum. Most of those fig- G a r d n e r, former curator of A m e r i c a n forced to relocate when Mrs. Piccirilli fell ures were designed by other artists, such as Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of seriously ill. The family purchased property would work hard enough to become Daniel Chester French, but they were all Art said, “The arrival of this family may on 142nd Street in the Bronx, and built the “ A m e r i c a ’s first family of carver- s c u l p- carved by the brothers. house and two large studios, where they tors.” well have marked an epoch in the history of Continued on next page