The Piccirilli Brothers Carved America in Stone

Until just a few minutes ago I had never heard of the Piccirilli Brothers, and did not know how many of America's most famous stone sculptures came from their studio. I discovered them thanks to a wonderful feature in the Times by John Freedman Gill (Lincoln Memorial, Washington)

The story begins in 1888, when Giuseppe Piccirilli (1844–1910), a stone carver from Massa, brought his family from Italy to New York City. The Piccirillis, it is said, had been stone carvers since the 1500s, and since that was the main business in Massa it is certainly plausible. In New York Piccirilli and his six sons – Ferruccio, Attilio, Furio, Masaniello, Orazio, and Getulio – set up in business as carvers. Their main business was carving works designed in clay or plaster by other sculptors, notably David French, but they also designed and carved many architectural details and two of the brothers were noted sculptors in their own right. (Above, pediment of the New York Stock Exchange)

The brothers.

Washington as Commander in Chief, from the arch in Washington Square.

Allegorical figure of America outside the Customs House.

Three of the hundreds of figures they executed for Riverside Church.

Pediment on the US House of Representatives.

One of the famous lions outside the New York Public Library.

A detail from one of the very strange allegorical sculptures outside the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, which puzzled me to no end when I saw them. What, I wondered, is that supposed to be? But that was before smart phones so I left without ever finding out and never got around to looking them up. I now learn that  this thing is titled Love and Labor: The Unbroken Law, while the other is The Burden of Life: the Broken Law. But I suppose the blame for this fiasco rests, not with the Piccirilli brothers, but with the designer, George Grey Barnard.

The Piccirilli studio.

Statue of railroad tycoon Samuel Spencer in Atlanta.

The Outcast, original work by Attilio Piccirilli, said to be a response to anti-Italian prejudice

Figures from the USS Maine Monument.

I love these, but it makes me sad to think that the Piccirilli Brothers studio closed in 1950 and public sculpture has been mostly a grim wasteland ever since.