Piccirilli Brothers

The Piccirilli Brothers were renowned marble carvers of a large number of the most significant marble sculptures in the United States, including Daniel Chester French’s colossal Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

In 1888 Guiseppe Piccirilli (1844-1910), a well-known stone carver, brought his family to New York from Massa Carrara, in Tuscany, Italy. The entire family, father and six sons -- Attilio (1866-1945), Furio, Feirrucio, Getulio (Giulio), Masaniello, and Orazio -- were trained as marble cutters and carvers.

Attilio and Furio would further distinguish themselves as sculptors in their own right. They lived in a brownstone on 142nd Street in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx and set up an atelier next to their home that would eventually occupy an entire city block.

A selection of their commissions includes: The Four Continents by D.C. French, and twelve allegorical statues on the cornice of the U.S. Custom House at Bowling Green; the N.Y. Stock Exchange Pediment by J.Q.A. Ward; the Senate Pediment of the U.S. Capital Building; tympana bas-reliefs at the Frick Mansion, (both sculpted by Attilio); thirty large allegorical figures for the cornice of the Brooklyn Muscum, the Indian Literature and Indian Law Giver by Attilio; the Civic Virtue Statue-Fountain by Frederick MacMonnies now at Queens Borough Hall; the Maine Monument, Central Park and Firemen’s Monument, Riverside Park, both sculpted by Attilio, and The Joy of Life and Youth Leading Industry (cast in Pyrex Glass), Palazzo d’Italia, both at Rockefeller Center, by Attilio; and the carving of the pediments (2), attic sculptures (6), and Lions at The New York Public Library.

th: pro: 07-31-03