Gaetano Trentanove (Italian, 1858-1937), Marble Statue of a Flamenco Dancer

Hand-carved white marble, incised signature "G. Trentanove / Firenze", nicely rendered near life-size female dancer holding castanets in her hands, standing atop a round marble pedestal base.

55 1/2 x 18 x 22 in.

Born in Florence, Gaetano Trentanove was the son of a goldsmith. He studied at the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts and was a pupil of Italian sculptor Giovanni Dupré (1817-1882). For the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Trentanove sculpted a large white marble sculpture, Otriade or Last of the Spartans. William E. Cramer, ed­i­tor of the Evening Wis­con­sin, pur­chased the Spar­tan statue for the Lay­ton Art Gallery in Mil­wau­kee, Wisconsin. This patronage proved pivotal for Trentanove's career, as he would go on to settle in Milwaukee teach classes at the Lay­ton Art Gallery, and open a thriving sculpture studio there. Trentanove would spend most of his career between Milkwaukee and Italy working on many private portrait commissions, public figural monuments, funerary and memorial sculptures throughout the United States. In 1897, Trentanove was awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy, Knight.

Overall good condition; some small chips and marks along posterior dress and lower base edge; a few shallow small surface nicks to arms.