Bongiovanni - Vaccaro

Reparto Bongiovanni - Vaccaro, "L'ora del pasto", terracotta group composed of four figures, the base bearing the inscription: Bongiovanni.Vaccaro da Caltagirone Premiale Nella Universale Esposizione de Londra 1862 (Bongiovanni.Vaccaro de Caltagirone awarded at the London Universal Exhibition in 1862) Top. total: 29.5 cm / width: 34 cm / depth: 21.5 cm 2nd half of the 19th century. (small accidents and losses) Giacomo Bongiovanni (1772 - 1859) was born in Caltagirone (in Catania), where the art of ceramics was very flourishing. Naturally inclined to render characters, he was introduced to the traditional technique of terracotta figurines by his older brother, Salvatore, a sculptor in Rome. He opened a workshop in 1794. Born in 1809, Giuseppe Vaccaro († in 1889), his sister's son, joined him in his workshop-boutique in Caltagirone which took the name "Bongiovanni-Vaccaro". Insightful and endowed with a keen sense of observation, fine and witty, their sculptures represent the humble actors of the towns and villages of Sicily in natural postures, with realism and great liveliness of expression. They thus share with us short moments of the life of shepherds, farmers, fishermen, shoemakers... of popular, bourgeois and family life of the 19th century. Convincing testimonies of Sicilian traditions, their works have taken place in the public and private collections of Caltagirone, Palermo... As well as in Europe. [in ref. : "Genti di Sicilia, opere dalla bandega Bongiovanni-Vaccaro a palazzo Arrezo Donnafugata", ("People of Sicily, works from the Bongiovanni-Vaccaro workshop at the Arezzo Donnafugata palace"), Ragusa, Italy, from May 15 to June 30, 2021 ]