{"id":85846,"date":"2019-12-05T14:23:42","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T13:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/ecomsite\/vincenzo-gemito-at-the-petit-palais\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:31:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T12:31:34","slug":"vincenzo-gemito-at-the-petit-palais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egidimadeinitaly.com\/en\/vincenzo-gemito-at-the-petit-palais\/","title":{"rendered":"Vincenzo Gemito at the Petit Palais"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Vincenzo Gemito<\/strong> Sculptor of the Neapolitan soul at the Petit Palais<\/h1>\r\n

Vincenzo Gemito (1852-1929) abandoned as an orphan, raised at the religious institution Santissima Annunziata in Naples.<\/p>\r\n

At the age of 17, created and sold a statue to King Victor Emmanuel II for his palace in Capodimonte.<\/p>\r\n

Stirred up a scandal in France in Paris at the Society of French Artists. Took part in the Universal Exhibition in Paris<\/strong> in 1878 and 1900.<\/p>\r\n

Friend to painters Antonio Mancini<\/strong> (1852\u20131930), Ernest Meissonier<\/strong> (1815\u20131891), and Filippo de Pisis<\/strong> (1896\u20131956).<\/p>\r\n

Inspired brilliant artists the caliber of Edgar Degas<\/strong> (1834\u20131917) and Auguste Rodin<\/strong> (1840\u20131917).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Opened an artistic foundry with a baron.<\/p>\r\n

Admitted to a psychiatric clinic.<\/p>\r\n

If this were the plot of a television drama, we might think that the writers had gotten a little carried away.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

But sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.<\/p>\r\n

Exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

This was the real life of the great Neapolitan artist Vincenzo Gemito (1852\u20131929). France is paying tribute to him with an exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris from October 15, 2019 to January 26, 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The wonderful retrospective illustrates the artistic path of this sculptor who was also a sublime painter as we can see in “Il Piccolo Pescatore,” (The Little Fisherman<\/strong>), an absolute masterpiece in Milan in Sergio Baroni’s collection<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n

Neapolitan Realism<\/h2>\r\n

Vincenzo Gemito’s strength was his sincerity, termed by art critics, in their obsessive need to categorize, “Neapolitan Realism<\/strong>.”<\/p>\r\n

He simply portrayed what he saw around him, which were not always happy scenes.<\/p>\r\n

From a young age, he frequented the Archaeological Museum of Naples. Here, alongside the classical ancient remains found in Herculaneum and Pompeii, he admired the incomparable works in the Farnese collection<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n