| Davide Calandra | |
|---|---|
Monument to Bartolomé Mitre in Buenos Aires (Argentina) |
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| Born | 21 October 1856 Torino |
| Died | 8 September 1915 (aged 58) Torino |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Field | Sculpture |
| Training | Accademia Albertina |
| Movement | Symbolism Realism |
| Patrons | Odoardo Tabacchi |
Davide Calandra (21 October 1856 – 8 September 1915) was an Italian sculptor and cabinet maker.
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Davide Calandra was born in Turin into a wealthy family. His father, besides his professional activities of lawyer and hidraulic engineer, was an archaeologist and a well known collector of ancient weapons. Davide's eldest brother, the writer Edoardo Calandra, is the author of the novel La bufera, a famous example of historical fiction.
After attending the Liceo Calandra followed the art lectures of the Accademia Albertina and then joined as a volunteer the cavalry where he attained the military rank of Sottotenente (Sub-Lieutenant). In 1878 he worked with his father and his brother to an excavation of the Lombard archaeological site of Testona (Moncalieri).
Calandra began his sculptor activity in 1880, when he showed his work Penelope at the Turin's Esposizione di Belle Arti (fine arts exhibition). In 1902 he established with his fellow artists Leonardo Bistolfi, Giorgio Ceragioli, Enrico Reycend and Enrico Thovez L'arte decorativa moderna, a journal devoted to decorative arts. From 1912 he was appointed president of the Piedmontese Society of Archaeology and Fine Arts (Società Piemontese di Archeologia e Belle Arti). He died in Turin in 1915.[1]
His sculptures include a Giuseppe Garibaldi statue in Parma and an equestrian monument of Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, sponsored by the Turin municipality and located in the park of Valentino. Also from him is the monument to Umberto II of Italy in Villa Borghese (Rome), completed after the sculptor's death. Calandra also realised in Buenos Aires a large monument devoted to the Argentinian politician and writer Bartolomé Mitre.[1]
His vast artistic production also includes some Italian coins made between 1908 and 1916 during the rule of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.[2]
The municipal museum Antonino Olmo of Savigliano houses the Gipsoteca Davide Calandra which shows several of his plasterworks.