By Anne Leader
Italian sculptor Giosuè Argenti was born 7 February 1819 Viggiù near Como. Argenti studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan (Accademia di Belle Arti) under the tutelage of neoclassical artist Pompeo Marchesi (1783-1858), one of Antonio Canova’s finest students.
He was in Rome from 1850 to 1856 and later settled in Milan. Argenti earned numerous honors during his long career, including prizes at national and international exhibitions in Florence, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Philadelphia, and Santiago. He died on 29 November 1901 at the age of 82.
For more on Argenti see Renata Cipriano’s entry in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 4 (1962).
Modesty, marble, 1866, private collection.
Self-Portrait, before 1900, marble. Viggiù, Museo della scultura viggiutese dell’Ottocento.
Resting Beauty, 1872, marble. Sotheby’s (2013).
With Ercole Villa, Statue of Cavour, Piazza Cavour, Vercelli.