In Fonderia 2 2024

ARTE E FONDERIA
Gian Battista Forchino ed Emilio Sperati. Il varo della nave, Bronzo Collezione
Sperati, Consiglio Regionale del Piemonte, Palazzo Lascaris, Torino.
Gian Battista Forchino and Emilio Sperati. Launch of a Ship, Bronze, Sperati
Collection, Piedmont Regional Council, Palazzo Lascaris, Turin.
scolari. Quadri e bronzetti si inseriscono perfettamente
in tale clima culturale, caratterizzato in
campo artistico dalla crescita del mercato e da
una maggiore richiesta di opere d’arte da parte
di una fiorente borghesia; in particolare, i bronzetti
spesso “multipli” di opere d’artisti famosi, si
presentano di dimensioni adatte ad appartamenti
di città, di prezzo abbordabile e di grande
arredo.
Molti di questi bronzetti sono andati dispersi sul
mercato antiquario dove, a tutt’oggi, sono assai
ricercati. Il nucleo principale è però fortunatamente
approdato nella storica sede del Consiglio
regionale del Piemonte: Palazzo Lascaris a
Torino. Nel 1980 con generosa munificenza Luisa
Sperati, figlia di Emilio, ha infatti donato alla Regione
Piemonte tutte le opere d’arte che aveva
ereditato dal padre: 85 fra quadri e miniature,
100 bronzi, 45 oggetti in porcellana e terracotta.
La raccolta di bronzetti è composta per la
maggior parte da opere di artisti che Sperati
conobbe direttamente e di cui divenne amico,
frequentando l’accademia a Brera nel decennio
1870-80.
In rapida sequenza, segnaliamo tra le opere
maggiori, la Slitta di Paolo Troubetzkoy plasmata
con sensibile gusto pittorico, piena di vitalità e in
grado di trasportare magicamente l’osservatostatue
of the Tsar was destroyed. Despite the difficulties,
in 1906 Sperati managed to open a new
workshop and to cast the ill-fated statue, which
had gone through a series of complex events,
first placed in Znamenskaya Square. It was then
removed and ended up in the warehouses of the
Russian Museum (the Marble Palace of St. Petersburg),
from which it was removed in 1953
to be then placed in the courtyard of the same
building where it is still located today .
The cast earned him much praise and the Order
of St. Anna, awarded to him by the tsar. When
the political conditions in Russia became dangerous,
Sperati decided to return to Italy. Worn out
by those experiences, he retired to Turin where
he stopped producing large-scale castings, dedicating
himself only to the creation of exquisite
bronzes, to painting, and to collecting the works
of his painter friends. He died, almost forgotten,
on 30 August 1931.
A man of notable artistic culture, Sperati was,
therefore, also a refined collector.
His collection, in line with the personal history
and events of the man who built it, perfectly expresses
the ephemeral time of the Belle époque,
between 1880 and 1915. The painters and sculptors
who are part of the collection with dates between
the 1880s and the 1920s are all romantic
or crepuscular. Paintings and bronzes fit perfectly
into this cultural climate, characterised in the
artistic field by market growth and a greater demand
for works of art by a thriving bourgeoisie;
in particular, the often “multiple” bronzes of works
by famous artists are of a size suitable for city
apartments, of great furnishings and affordable
in price.
Many of these bronzes were dispersed in the antiques
market where they are highly sought after
to this day. However, the main nucleus has fortunately
ended up in the historic headquarters of
the Piedmont Regional Council: Palazzo Lascaris
in Turin. In 1980, Luisa Sperati, Emilio’s daughter,
generously donated to the Piedmont Region all
the works of art she had inherited from her father:
85 paintings and miniatures, 100 bronzes,
45 porcelain and terracotta objects.
The collection of bronzes is composed mostly of
works by artists that Sperati knew directly and
became friends with, attending the academy in
Brera in the 1870-80s.
In rapid sequence, notable among the major
works is Paolo Troubetzkoy’s Sleigh, shaped with
sensitive pictorial taste, full of vitality and capa-
104 In Fonderia