Giovanni Dupré was born in Siena. He made his name with a figure (1844) of the dead Abel. which was bought by the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna of Russia and is now in the Hermitage Museum. Other important works include:
-
✴“Saffo abbandonata” (1857) in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Rome; and
-
✴the Pietà (1862) in the funerary chapel of the Bichi-Ruspoli family in the Cimitero della Misericordia, Siena.
However, his monument (1865-73) to Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour, the architect of the newly united Italy, was badly received when it was unveiled in Turin in the presence of King Victor Emanuel II.
Giovanni Dupré left a vivid testimony in his book (1879) called "Pensieri sull' Arte e Ricordi Autobiografici" ("Thoughts on Art and Autobiographical Memories".
Assisi
SS Francis and Clare (1881-8)
-
✴The design of the statue (1881) of St Francis left was the last work of Giovanni Dupré. His daughter, Amalia Dupré completed the work and gave it to San Rufino on the 700th anniversary of the birth of St Francis. (A bronze copy stands outside the Palazzo Vescovile.)
-
✴Amalia Dupré also sculpted the pendant figure of St Clare (1888), in front of the first pillar on the right. St Clare appears holding the pyx with which she repelled a Saracen attack on Assisi in 1240.
Orvieto
Ludovico Gualterio (1853)
