Pompeo Luigi Coppini (19 May 1870 – 26 September 1957) was an Italian and American sculptor. Although his works can be found in Italy, Mexico and a number of U.S. states, the majority of his work can be found in Texas. He is particularly famous for the Alamo Plaza work, Spirit of Sacrifice, a.k.a. The Alamo Cenotaph, as well as numerous statues honoring Texan figures, such as Lawrence Sullivan Ross, the fourth President of Texas A&M University.
Early years
Coppini was born in Moglia, Mantua, Italy, the son of musician Giovanni Coppini[18] and his wife, Leandra (Raffa) Coppini. The family moved to Florence where at the age of ten, Pompeo was hired to make ceramic horses shaped like whistles.[18]
From there, he worked for a sculptor who made tourist knock-offs of great works of art. At age sixteen, he studied at Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno under Augusto Rivalta. Upon earning a degree, Coppini opened a short-lived studio making gratis busts of local celebrities. While working for a cemetery monument sculptor, Coppini tried to become co-owner of the business by courting the owner's daughter. The girl's mother balked, and the resulting situation got Coppini denounced from a local priest's pulpit.[18]
Coppini emigrated to the United States in March 1896 with nothing but a trunk of clothes and $40 to his name. He got a job in New York sculpting figures[18] for a wax museum. Elizabeth di Barbieri of New Haven, Connecticut arrived, accompanied by a chaperone, to model for Coppini's memorial to Francis Scott Key. He fell in love[19] and married his model. Coppini became a United States citizen[2] in 1902.
While he managed to find work in New York, Coppini was frustrated the fame and greatness escaped him. He moved to Texas in 1901, to join with German-born sculptor Frank Teich.[20]
By 1910, Coppini was assisted by sculptor Waldine Tauch,[21] who had been born in Schulenburg, Texas. Tauch became more-or-less his adopted daughter, student and protégée, and he, after extracting a promise from her that she would never marry, molded her into a devotee of classical sculpture. She collaborated with Coppini until his death.[22]
The William P. Rogers chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy raised $5,000[16][17] in 1911 and commissioned Coppini to design and erect the 1912 Confederate soldier memorial statue named Last Stand, a.k.a. Firing Line, in De Leon Plaza, Hiring Otto Zirkel of near the San Antonio studio to build the stone portion of the monument.
He sculpted three distinct statues of George Washington. The first, commissioned by Americans living in Mexico to commemorate the 1910 centennial of Mexican Independence, was installed in 1912 in the Plaza Dinamarca (renamed Plaza Washington) of the Colonia Juárez section of Mexico City. The Mexican Civil War was just beginning. Two years later, in reaction to the April 1914 United States invasion of Veracruz, the statue was toppled from its pedestal and dragged through the streets. The second statue was created to commemorate the 1926 sesquicentennial of the Declaration of Independence. It was installed in 1927 in Portland, Oregon.[23] The third statue was commissioned by the Texas Society, Daughters of the American Revolution to commemorate the 1932 bicentennial of Washington's birth. Fund-raising problems delayed the project for years, and it was installed in February 1955 on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.[24]
In 1931, Italy decorated Coppini with the Commendatore of the Order of the Crown of Italy for his contribution to art in America. The Texas Centennial Committee awarded Coppini the 1934 commission to design the [25]Texas Centennial half dollar. In 1937, Coppini opened his San Antonio studio on Melrose Place, in order to work on what would become the [15][26]Spirit of Sacrifice (a.k.a. The Cenotaph) at Alamo Plaza. Baylor University awarded Coppini an honorary doctor of fine arts degree in 1941. From 1943 to 1945 he was head of the art department of Trinity University in San Antonio. In 1945 he and Tauch cofounded the Classic Arts Fraternity in San Antonio (renamed Coppini Academy of Fine Arts in 1950).[citation needed]
Many of his works are in Austin, Texas, displayed on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and on the campus of The University of Texas. Coppini's statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Texas Governor and third president of Texas A&M University is considered one of the most revered works on the A&M campus in College Station and students often place coins at the statue's feet for good luck on exams. Coppini's marble statue of SenatorJames Paul Clarke stands in the U.S. Capitol. Coppini also designed two bronze sculptures at Baylor University in Waco, Texas—those of former Baylor University President Rufus C. Burleson, located on the Burleson Quadrangle on the Baylor campus (1905), and Baylor University namesake and founder Judge R.E.B. Baylor (1939). One of Coppini's best works, as stated by the artist, is the bronze sculpture of John Reagan, former U.S. Senator from Palestine, Texas, located in that city's Reagan Park (1911), featuring the personification of the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" seated at the base of the monument.[citation needed]
Coppini died in San Antonio on 26 September 1957. He designed his own crypt in Sunset Memorial Park.[citation needed]
^Matthews, Gary R (2005). Basil Wilson Duke, CSA: The Right Man in the Right Place. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 302. ISBN978-0-8131-2375-2.
^"Outdoor Art Inspirations"(PDF). City of Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
.png){kind=small}
.jpg)
