Fonderia Chiurazzi, Napoli (XIX-XX Secolo) Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Family of foundry workers and artists whose forefather, Gennaro, was born in Naples in 1842. Pupil of P. Masulli at the Institute of Fine Arts, he began his activity, also in Naples, in a workshop for the casting of works of art set up in some rooms of the real hotel for the poor made available to Gennaro by the same administration. Read the full biography

Fonderia Chiurazzi, Napoli (XIX-XX Secolo) Biography

Family of foundry workers and artists whose forefather, Gennaro, was born in Naples in 1842. Pupil of P. Masulli at the Institute of Fine Arts, he began his activity, also in Naples, in a workshop for the casting of works of art set up in some rooms of the real hotel for the poor made available to Gennaro by the same administration. Already at the end of the century, according to De Gubernatis, he acquired great fame, not only in Italy but also abroad, for the perfection of his bronze reproductions and for the high quality of his work which was expressed in the casting of works of contemporary artists and in reproductions of bronzes and classical works from the Vesuvian cities and preserved in the museums of Naples. Gennaro also had to increase his fame with works released from his foundry and sent to various international exhibitions. In this regard, De Gubernatis also recalls that he was awarded a gold medal at the exhibitions in New Orleans and Turin in 1884 - he also received recognition at the exhibition in Saint Louis in 1904 - and underlines visits to the foundry by figures from the Italian and foreign royal families as well as commissions from abroad, such as the reproduction of the Farnese Bull group for the representative of the Chilean Republic. In 1891, probably driven by the intensification of the activity of his workshop, C. also opened a first exhibition room for his production, in Piazza dei Martiri, and in 1894 a second, more important one, under the Principe di Napoli gallery. The following year - 1895 - he associated his two sons Federico and Salvatore with the management of the foundry, born from his marriage to Rosa Caiaffo Carafa, who probably also participated in her husband's activity, being a chiseller. He died in 1906.