Raffaello Romanelli Biography
Raffaello Romanelli was born in Florence on 13 May 1856. As a child he attended his father's studio, where he acquired his first drawing skills. He intermittently attended the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1876, Raphael won the Academy's annual prize with a bas-relief depicting "Jacob and Rachel at the well", and three years later he obtained a scholarship to Rome. He received commissioning portraits of the Demidoff Princes and other illustrious clients, becoming a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts after his father's death in 1887. Raphael continued his father's work, completing his unfinished works and creating numerous famous works such as the monuments to Garibaldi in Siena, to Carlo Alberto in Rome, to Donatello in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence, the bust of Benvenuto Cellini on the Ponte Vecchio, the monument to King Charles I of Romania, the portrait of Pope Benedict XV and many others Raphael's production was so vast that, starting from 1894, he rented a second atelier in the cenacle of the Santo Spirito convent and worked extensively for Romania, becoming the official sculptural medallion of the royal family and creating numerous small works. and medium sizes of religious, allegorical and animal subjects. In 1913 he won the competition to create the monument to Tsar Alexander II. Raphael was a tireless worker, with a production that numbered over 2300 works. He died in 1928, passing the baton to his son Romano.
