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 Giovan Battista Nicolini - Florence, Italy Posted by:  neoc1
N 43° 46.121 E 011° 15.714
32T E 682051 N 4848667
The grave of Italian poet and playwright Giovan Battista Nicolini is located in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy.
Waymark Code: WM15WWA
Location: Toscana, Italy
Date Posted: 03/12/2022
Views: 2
The grave Giovan Battista Nicolini is marked by a monument with a marble sculpture called The Liberty of Poetry created by Pio Fedi. The sculpture is quite similar to the Statue of Liberty. However this sculpture was installed in 1877 and predates the Statue of Liberty, the head of which was first displayed by Bartholi at the 1878 Paris World's Fair. The dado on the base of the sculpture is inscribed in gold letters: A G.B. NICOLINI (To G.B. NICOLINI).
A sign describes and explains the monument. It is inscribed in English and Italian. The English inscription is:
Pio Fedi
Memorial Monument to Giovan Battista Nicolini
1877
The Statue of Liberty (whose official name
is Liberty Enlightening the World) illumi-
nates New York with her torch and has a
precursor in the Basilica of Santa Croce in
Florence.
The Florentine statue represents The Lib-
erty of Poetry, and thus the freedom of art
and of creative genius in general; inher
left hand she holds a lyre and a crown of
laurel and in her right hand wich is heald
aloft are the remnants of a broken chain,
the symbol of defeated tyranny. She dif-
fers from her stern American cousin in her
more feminine form, in the gentle grace of
her pose.
The possibility that this statue, sculpted
by Pio Fedi, was the inspiration, or one of
the sources of inspiration, for her bigger
sister cannot be dismissed: a plaster cast
of Santa Croce statue — identical to the
final statue - had already been completed
1872, after the preparatory drawings
had been in circulation in contemporary
artistic circles for some time. The statue in
marble was commissioned for the tomb of
Giovan Battista Niccolini (1782-1861) on
the tenth anniversary of his death; it was
completed by 1877 and installed in the
Basilica and inaugurated in 1883 in honor
of this hero of the Italian Risorgimento.
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