Monument to Alessandro Bonvicino (Moretto)
Monument to Alessandro Bonvicino (Moretto)Piazza Moretto, 25121, Brescia (BS)
Monument to Alessandro Bonvicino, known as Moretto. A bronze and marble tribute to the great master of the Brescian Renaissance. Located in Piazza Moretto, the historic heart of the city, where art intertwines with civic memory.
THE CHARACTER AND HIS STORY
The Monument to Moretto celebrates Alessandro Bonvicino, known as Moretto da Brescia, one of the protagonists of the Italian Renaissance and a central figure in 16th-century Brescian painting. Born in Brescia around 1498 and died in 1554, Moretto is considered, together with Savoldo and Romanino, one of the great masters of the early Lombard Renaissance, known for his religious paintings and portraits with refined lines and spiritual intensity. His art has profoundly marked the visual culture of the city and continues to be studied and admired.
THE WORK AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
The monument is located in Brescia's central Piazza Moretto and is a sculptural group made of bronze and marble. It was designed to commemorate the artist and inaugurated on 3 September 1898 on the initiative of the University of Brescia. The sculpture is the work of sculptor Domenico Ghidoni, while the base was designed by architect Antonio Tagliaferri.
The sculpture depicts the painter standing on a high pedestal, with a palette and brushes in his hand, as if he were observing one of his paintings: a plastic symbol of his dedication to art. At the foot of the statue is a female figure symbolising art itself, elegant and composed.
Inside the base is a parchment with an epitaph written by the University, testifying to its intention to honour Moretto as “one of the most illustrious citizens of Brescia”.
This monument is not only an artistic tribute: it is a civic and cultural symbol that reaffirms the importance of Brescia in the history of the Renaissance and keeps alive the link between the city and one of its most illustrious sons.