#85. PRAISE FOR PICCIRILLIS

#85. PRAISE FOR PICCIRILLIS 

The Washington Square Arch is covered with sculptural details: eagles, crossed swords, spandrels of angels, draped fabric, and garlands of branches and leaves. Who carved them all? The Piccirilli brothers, who also carved the lions in front of the New York Public Library on 42nd Street and the seated Lincoln in his Memorial in Washington. 

Six Piccirilli brothers, trained by their master carver father, immigrated from Italy to New York City in 1888. They soon became known as the carvers of choice for American sculptors.

Don’t sculptors carve their own works, like Michelangelo? At that time most in the U.S. did not. Sculptors created the original work in clay, made a plaster model from that, and sent it to the Piccirilli brothers, who carved it from marble or limestone or granite. 

Their home and studio were in the Bronx. The Piccirillis were modest about their work, but their studio became an important center for American art, visited by famous sculptors and by public figures like Teddy Roosevelt, Enrico Caruso, John D. Rockefeller, and Fiorello LaGuardia, a close friend of the family.