Il Cardinale Seduto

While visiting Rome in 1934, Manzù saw Pope Pius XI sitting among the College of Cardinals in Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the scene left a lasting impression on him. With their rigid posture and stillness, the Cardinals seemed to him as statues. From 1938, Manzù created a series sculptures on the theme of the Cardinale Seduto.
The artist produced over three hundred versions. The minimalist statue forms a sort of pyramid with the mitre at its summit. The cardinal’s immobile stance and fixed expression combine with the power of the material modelling the liturgical vestments to capture the churchman’s great spirituality. Created in 1982, the sculpture was acquired by the Principality of Monaco in 1989.

Giacomo Manzù was an Italian sculptor born in Bergamo on 22 December 1908. One of twelve children from a poor family, Giacomo Manzù’s talent for drawing was clear from a very early age. He was set to work for a decorator in Bergamo and at thirteen, he took evening classes with a stucco artist. Largely self-taught, he developed an interest in sculpture during his military service.
During World War Two, he produced numerous reliefs on the theme of the Crucifixion and the Descent from the Cross. He decorated a number of religious buildings, including the Door of the Dead in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the central door of Salzburg Cathedral, the Door of Love and later the Door of Peace and War at Saint Lawrence Church in Rotterdam, and the central door of Orvieto Cathedral. He created the Monument to the Partisan in his native town of Bergamo, in 1977. Produced in 1989, his last monumental sculpture, Mother and Child, was presented by the Italian Government to the United Nations in New York. Giacomo Manzù died in Rome on 17 January 1991.