Alfonso Balzico

(b Cava de' Tirreni, nr Salerno, 18 Oct 1825; d Rome, 3 Feb 1901). Italian sculptor. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples and in 1852 won the Pensionato Artistico di Roma with his low relief of the Liberation of St Peter (Naples, Gal. Accad. B.A.). Between 1858 and 1860 he travelled to Milan and Florence, where his contacts with Vincenzo Vela, Francesco Hayez and Massimo D'Azeglio influenced his style, turning him away from Neo-classicism towards a realism tempered by a deep romanticism (e.g. Goethe's Margarete; 1858-60; Rome, G.N.A. Mod.). On returning to Naples, Balzico produced a group of genre sculptures: the Poor Woman, The Flirt, The Ingenue and the Avenging Woman (all 1858-60; Rome, G.N.A. Mod.). These works attracted the attention of King Victor-Emanuel II, who invited the artist to Turin, where he carved portraits of Prince Umberto, Princess Margherita and Count Cavour (all 1865-6; Rome, G.N.A. Mod.). He was also commissioned to produce the equestrian monument to Ferdinando, Duke of Genoa (1863-77) and the monument to Massimo D'Azeglio (1873), both in Turin. In 1866 Balzico was appointed sculptor to the royal court. After 1875 he lived in Rome, but he began to lose the favour of the royal family and his style became colder and more academic (e.g. the monument to Vincenzo Bellini; 1886; Naples, Piazza Bellini). In 1880 he participated, without winning, in the competition for an equestrian statue to be erected in Rome as a monument to Victor-Emanuel II. In 1900 he won the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, with the statue Flavio Gioia, later placed in Amalfi.

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