The Artist

THE ARTIST: GAETANO TRENTANOVE

Trentanove was born in Florence in 1858.  He studied art in Florence and Rome and became a member of the fine arts academies at Parma and Florence.  His bust of Victor Hugo brought him recognition when it was awarded a prize at the 1889 Paris Exposition.  A similar honor was conferred upon his marble group Last of the Spartans at the Colombian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.  It was apparently the exposition that brought him to America.  The Layton Art Gallery of Milwaukee purchased Last of the Spartans.  This led to contact with prominent members of the Milwaukee community which may have put him in a favorable position for the Marquette statue.  Trentanove’s  connection with the State of Wisconsin continued, and he completed many works throughout the state.  He divided his time between his studio in Florence and the United States, becoming a naturalized  U. S. citizen in 1892.  For a time he operated a studio in the City of Washington.

Other known works of Trentanove include: The Boy Raphael; Bust of Vallani; Bust of David Adler; Bust of Guido Pfister; Bust of Senator M. H. Carpenter; Bust of William E. Cramer; Bust of Benjamin Weil; Bust of James G. Blaine (U. S. Capitol);  Bust of Frederick Layton (Layton Art Gallery, Milwaukee); Art (Layton Art Gallery); ); Bust of Mary Pabst (Milwaukee); Bust of Christian Wahl (Milwaukee); Portrait Relief of Mrs. John G. Gregory (Milwaukee); Brigadier General Albert Pike Monument (Washington); Daniel Webster Monument (Washington); Chief Oshkosh (Oshkosh, Wisconsin); Kosciuszko Monument (Oshkosh); Soldiers’ Monument (Oshkosh); Christian Wahl (Wauwatosa, Wisconsin); Fitzhugh Lee (Virginia State Capitol); Henry Rice (Minnesota State Capitol); Monument to Confederate Soldiers (Springfield, Missouri); Governor Nelson Dewey (Lancaster, Wisconsin); Soldiers’ Monument (Appleton, Wisconsin); Tadeusz Kosciuszko (Cleveland); Bust of Peter White (Marquette).  In 1903 Trentanove also completed a small marble replica of the Marquette Statue for Marquette University.  Trentanove died in Florence in 1937.  He had recently completed an equestrian statue of Mussolini.  His obituary noted that the original model of the Marquette Statue had been requested by the Holy See and was exhibited in the Lateran Museum, Rome.  List of works compiled from Pere Marquette Edition of the Daily Mining Journal 15 July 1897 and: Anton Rajer and Christine Style. Public Sculpture in Wisconsin: An Atlas of Outdoor Monuments, Memorials & Masterpieces in the Badger State.  (Madison: SOS! Save Outdoor Sculpture, Wisconsin, 1999);  “Letter Brings Word of End of Trentanove,”  The Milwaukee Journal  11 July 1937.  Written communication with Thomas Jablonsky, Marquette University, 3 March 2000.