Awesome Sculptures

When the Piccirilli Brothers arrived in New York from Italy in 1888, they brought with them a skill—artistry and passion for stone-carving unrivaled in the United States. At their studio at 467 East 142nd Street, in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, the brothers turned monumental slabs of marble into some of the nation’s recognizable icons, including the Senate pediment of the US Capitol Building and the statue of Abraham Lincoln that sits resolutely in the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall. The sculptor Daniel Chester French had this kind of relationship with the Piccirillis. French’s statue of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial would be the brothers’ most celebrated carving, but it was just one of dozens of his designs they executed.

Altogether there are six brothers—Attilio, Ferrucio, Furio, Getulio, Masaniello, and Orazio. They were born in Massa, Tuscany, near the renowned marble quarries of Carrara, where their father, Giuseppe, was a master carver. He taught them the trade and sent them to the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome.

The eleven figures in the pediment of the New York Stock Exchange were their creation.

The “four continents” that adorns the Customs House at Bowling Green.

The two majestic lions guarding the New York Public Library.

The two statues of George Washington for the Arch at Washington Square.

As well as the more than 500 individual carvings at Riverside Church.

The brothers were renowned from coast to coast in all metropolitan towns, wherever architects and sculptors assembled “when they opened the nation’s largest sculpture creations." The American Magazine of Art observed in 1921 that the brothers’ work “celebrates the natural relationship between art and craftsmanship as they produce marble wonders from their Bronx studio. The entire art, skill, science, and business of releasing the angel from the stone has been brought to us from their homeland.”

Getulio was praised for carving the pediment sculptures of the New York Stock Exchange at the age of 18; Ozario, Attilio, and Furio each received the Ellin P. Speyer Memorial Prize from the National Academy of Design; and Attilio, who went on to become the most well-known of the brothers, was commissioned to both carve and design a number of sculptures throughout New York.

Among them

The Fireman’s Memorial on Riverside Drive

The Marine Memorial at Columbus Circle (pictured above)

Youth Leading Industry at Rockefeller Center

Every individual honor was viewed by the Piccirillis as a shared prize, and they always referred to their artwork as "we." Their working style was reflected in that camaraderie. Attilio frequently prepared lunch for the workshop, and the brothers would sing as they carved. Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and William Howard Taft were among the thousands of people who visited their studio. Unfortunately, the world was not always very hospitable.

The brothers faced some anti-immigrant sentiment even as they worked to realize some of the United States’ most patriotic sculptures. For example, the Art Commission of Virginia rejected Attilio’s sketches for a bust of Thomas Jefferson, noting that the name Piccirilli would not be welcome in Virginia. Similarly, the Lincoln Memorial Commission rejected French’s suggestion to have “Piccirilli” inscribed on the pedestal of the Lincoln Memorial.

When Orazio, the last surviving Piccirilli brother, died in 1954, the Washington Evening Star reflected on the brothers’ contribution to American art, noting that “people who perhaps never heard their name have reason to be grateful for their labors.”

In the 21st century, grateful New Yorkers have worked to recognize those labors and honor the Piccirilli brothers. East 142nd Street Between Brook and Willis Avenues was renamed Piccirilli Place on March 25, 2004.