Livia Canestraro showcases the full range of her talents with this exuberantly formed Madone cast in bronze, whose hues are shaped by the play of light. Describing the sculpture’s genesis, the artist explains: “It is the first sculpture I wanted to make in the workshop that my husband and I h...
Livia Canestraro showcases the full range of her talents with this exuberantly formed Madone cast in bronze, whose hues are shaped by the play of light. Describing the sculpture’s genesis, the artist explains: “It is the first sculpture I wanted to make in the workshop that my husband and I have just bought in Beausoleil. For several years we have been living in an apartment in Monaco, on Avenue de Grande-Bretagne, and when we walk along the Boulevard des Moulins, we pause to rest in the middle of the Barriera steps. There’s a lovely alcove in that spot, and I always promised myself that I would make a bronze virgin as the first sculpture I would gift to Monaco.” Ten years later, she and her husband Stefaan Depuydt created a sculpture dedicated to Princess Grace, which can also be seen on the sculpture path.
Born in Rome in 1936, Livia Canestraro is a Belgian sculptor and painter of Italian heritage. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and won a UNESCO scholarship that took her to Brussels, to the Institut National Supérieur du Bois of La Cambre, where she met her future husband, the Belgian sculptor Stefaan Depuydt. In 1958, she was awarded the first prize for Sculpture by the Academy of Rome, the first prize for religious sculpture at the third National Exhibition of Young Artists in Rome, and the gold medal at the National Exhibition. Between 1959 and 1966, she received numerous awards in Italy and Germany. For over a decade, the couple have spent part of the year living in Monaco, where they work - together or separately - creating figures, personal objects, and abstract pieces.
