Vincenzo Gemito

Vincenzo Gemito was a self-taught Italian sculptor, who was abandoned by his mother at the dell’Annunziata orphanage only one day after his birth. From his orphanage he was given the surname Genito, which later changed into Gemito. Two weeks later he was adopted by a young family who has recently lost a child. Gemito apprenticed as a youth in the studios of Emanuele Caggiano and Stanislao Lista. Also taught by his adoptive father in his early years, he went to Paris in 1877 where he was influenced by Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier, but he returned to Naples after his death.

Through his unconventional work, Gemito made a name for himself in his youth. His preparatory sketches are also considered independent works of art. Later he mainly worked with terracotta and bronze. After a mental breakdown, interspersed with periods in a mental hospital, he worked on drawings for almost 20 years before returning to sculpturing in 1909. His later works were silver- and goldsmiths.

The works date from decades before the 1924 Olympic Games: there are two bronzes with the title La Sorgente (The Source from 1909/1912 and 1924, respectively). The latter version is 56 cm high. Nettuno Giovinetto (Neptune’s Youth is a 34 cm high bronze figure from 1910. The Water seller is usually referred to as Acquaiolo (Water carrier). The bronze statuette from 1881 is 54 cm high. Copies include those at the Musée d’Orsay and the Michelangelo Museum in Tuscany. Gemito created several heads of boys. The Busto di fanciullo (Bust of a boy), created around 1919, is a 35 cm tall - sometimes gilded - bronze bust. Several versions of Medallions of Alexander the Great were made from different materials. It is not known which of these were exhibited in 1924.