All round bronze sculpture depiting "Ortensio". Signed MAGONI EMILIO VINCENZO

Bronze sculpture in the round depicting "Ortensio". Signed MAGONI EMILIO VINCENZO

Quintus Hortensius Ortalo was a Roman orator and lawyer, an exponent of 'Asianism'.

Asianism is a stylistic movement in ancient Greek and later Roman rhetoric, which originated in the Hellenistic age and was traditionally opposed to Atticism. It represented a new style that wanted to distinguish itself from the previous purist tradition.

Magoni Emilio Vincenzo (Castrezzato, 1868 - Brescia, 27 February 1922). He first attended the Brescia School of Nude (1887), then enrolled in the sculpture courses at the Brera Academy in Milan, imposing himself in 1891 at the Exposition of the same Academy with 'Iniuste damnatus', a life-size statue depicting a recluse in the penal bath, with his feet chained up, arousing criticism and discussion, with 'Un disoccupato' and 'Le prime riflessioni di un trovatello'. In August 1889, he exhibited a high relief depicting an episode of the Battle of Dogali at 'Arte in Famiglia'. In the same year, in December, he presented a sketch entitled 'Unemployed' at the 'Esposizione aperta a S. Raffaele' in Milan. In 1893 he received the biennial pension from the Legato Brozzoni. In August 1894, he exhibited 'Povera Arte!' in Milan, a statue depicting a standing artist with his hands dangling over his upturned pockets, his head bent over his chest and a shattered statue at his feet. This was followed by a brilliant success at the Fumagalli Prize in Milan, to which some of the greatest Brescian artists linked their names. In the same year, he competed for the monument to Nicola Spedalieri in Rome. In 1896 he presented a bust of Francesco Crispi at the Turin Triennial Exhibition with the inscription 'Maledetta l'Africa!' later changed to 'Colloquio africano'. A sketch displayed in the windows of a shop on the Corso in Rome, mistaken as a bust of the king was seized, and Magoni interrogated on suspicion of insulting the person of Umberto I. In the same year, Magoni worked on a 'Christ Driving Merchants from the Temple' and a gigantic 'Samson'. At the Milan Triennale in May, he was awarded the Fumagalli prize of 4,000 lire. In the meantime, he also practised painting, completing a portrait of a Milanese macchietta called 'paciasass'. In September 1898, he participated in the Exhibition of Modern Art in Brescia. Having moved to Rome for a few years, De Gubernatis wrote, he made himself known as a 'skilled modeller and original artist'. However, he was also always present in Brescia, distinguishing himself in 1898 in the exhibition at Palazzo Bargnani, of 'Arte in Famiglia' with the two sculptures 'Povera arte!' and 'Iniuste damnatus'. For Arte in Famiglia at the 'Esposizione Bresciana' in June 1904, he presented 'Bivio', which was a great success. At the Exhibition of Modern Art in the same month and year, he exhibited a statue depicting the 'Tempo Giudicato' (Judged Time), modelled with artistry and superbly set out, as well as a head, a bust of G. Zanardelli and an original inkwell. In 1909 he won the Fumagalli prize and was with Calandra and Ximenes in the trio for the award of the competition for statues at the Palace of Justice in Rome. In September of the same year, he exhibited 'Il Giureconsulto Papiniano' and 'Il Ghiottone' (The Wolverine), 'Il Perdono' (from 1903) and a high relief depicting the Botteghino Elettorale (The Electoral Barrel) for 'Arte in Famiglia' at Palazzo Bargnani. On this occasion, Pietro Feroldi warned that Magoni's fortune was not equal to his genius. His participation in the May and December 1916 exhibitions at the Ridotto del Grande, alongside Giovanni Asti, Claudio Botta, Achille Regosa and Angelo Righetti, was later noted. Recently, Dr. Panazza revealed to us other works by Emilio Magoni, proposing at the exhibition "Post-Romantic Brescia and Art Nouveau" "The Unemployed", a small bronze sculpture from a private Brescian collection cast after the artist's death, "Lady in Meditation" which can be dated around 1910, however, taken later from the original plaster cast, as well as "Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple", an unusual motif rendered "with strength of modelling and a dynamic and severe approach at the same time". The Da Como Foundation, in the end, has a plaque designed by our sculptor in 1919 to honour the well-known scholar and senator who gave birth to the well-known cultural institution in Lonatello. He was also a restorer and in 1911 presented a cast of the 'Victory' that he restored at the Rome Exhibition. He also illuminated parchments, which he exhibited at the Exhibition of Modern Art in 1898. His sculptures are numerous. In addition to those mentioned the busts of Gabriele Rosa (for the Ateneo di Brescia), of Prof. Marino Ballini, (Palazzo Bargnani 1905), of Giuseppe Zanardelli (for the Credito Agrario Bresciano, 1908), of the lawyer Giuseppe Tovini (for the Collegio Arici), of the Hon. Massimo Bonardi (at the Cimitero Vantiniano), 'S. Giovanni Battista' or 'Il Tempo' for the tomb of the Gadola-Deretti family. And again 'Forgiveness' (1913). His are the war memorials in S. Eufemia della Fonte (inaugurated in 1924) and Bagnolo Mella.

He had a rather unhappy and poor life that ended by throwing himself under a hay wagon. He had praise from Giorgio Nicodemi and other authoritative critics. He has been described as 'an author of scapigliate works capable of a verismo fused with floralism and a man of rare sensitivity. It has also been written that the sacred motif is rendered by him with strength of modelling and a dynamic and severe approach at the same time'. The statue of the Madonna delle Grazie that stands in front of the Basilica is also his. He sculpted a bronze bust of G. Zanardelli for the Gardone V.T. Town Hall. A few months after his death, an exhibition was organised in July 1922 in his studio in Via XX Settembre. He also dabbled in technical inventions. In June 1899, at the Como Exhibition, he presented a project for the utilisation of the force of sea waves, consisting of a device with powerful floating paddles, which, rising and falling by the force of the waves, set in motion the pistons of sturdy hydraulic pumps. These, by means of movable pipes, pushed water into a vast reservoir, from which the water, falling from a considerable height, set a dynamo in motion. In 1909 Magoni himself presented a model of an unsinkable boat. In 1909 he exhibited an aeroplane model at the Aeronautics Exhibition.

Restorations

Dimensions in centimetres

Length 29

Depth 29

Height 44