Giovanni Maria Benzoni died on April 28, 1873. The neoclassical sculptor trained in Rome and established a workshop where he produced works of art that appealed to collectors on the Grand Tour. Copies of his sculptures appear in collections around the world including at the High Museum in Atlanta, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hector and Andromache (1871) was gifted to the Met by Mrs. Lawrence Kip in 1899.
Benzoni’s Flight from Pompeii at the Art Institute of Chicago was finished in 1873, the year of Benzoni’s death. It is just over 45″ tall and features a family shown running towards the viewer. The woman holds her child close to her chest while the man seeks to pull drapery over their heads to protect them from the ash falling from Mt Vesuvius.
References:”Hector and Andromache” (the Met); “The Veiled Rebekah” (High Museum of Art); “Flight from Pompeii” (The Art Institute of Chicago)
Image credits:
Hector and Andromache, 1871, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Wikimedia Commons)
Veiled Rebekah, 1864, Atlanta, High Museum (Wmpearl, Wikimedia Commons)
Flight from Pompeii, 1873, Chicago, Art Institute (Sharon Mollerus, Wikimedia Commons)
Further reading: Arqué, Sabine and Marc Walter. The Grand Tour: The Golden Age of Travel. Cologne: Taschen, 2017; Trusted, Marjorie. The Return of the Gods. London: Tate Publishing, 2008.
The veiled Rebecca intrigues me that the museum in Hydrabad is not mentioned. Many refer this to a sculpture by GMBenzoni. You seem to realise that th Hydrabad sculpture is by his son. GB Benzoni 1876 on the plinth.
I have a small sculpture by marked G.B.Benzoni 1876 Roma. I would love to know more about GBBenzoni and if he was his son. It would seem numerous sculptures were virtually mass produced by the GM Benzoni factory.
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your interest. We will endeavour to post more material concerning Benzoni.