SERPOTTA, GIACOMO. - Sculptor, b. in Palermo on 10 March 1656, d. there on 27 Feb. 1732.
A distant ancestor of his was a certain Guglielmo S. of the 16th century, followed by a line of craftsmen, down to Gaspare S., sculptor and stucco-worker, the father of Giacomo. S. began working in stucco in the workshop of his brother Giuseppe; the journey to Rome is doubtful, although reflections of and references to the Roman art of the period are found in his work.
Most of his work is in Palermo; the six statues of the church of the Giusino, coming from the oratory of the Carità, date back to 1679. From these works sprang the one for the equestrian monument to Charles II in Messina (1681), destroyed in 1848 (a sketch is in the Sieri Pepoli Museum in Trapani). In 1682 he executed the statues of Sts. Peter and Paul in the church of S. Maria del Carmine Maggiore, then in 1685 he began one of his most famous decorations: the stuccoes of the oratory of S. Cita, completed in various periods. In 1690 he modelled the statue of the Virgin for the College of the Jesuits; in 1691 the stuccoes for the chapel of St. Stephen in S. Sebastiano alla Marina and that of the Annunziata in S. Onofrio. In 1694 he went to Agrigento to execute there the admirable putti of the church of S. Spirito; later to Alcamo, where he left four of his most beautiful Allegories, while it is uncertain whether he went to other centers of the island that boast Serpottian works without reliable documentation. In 1696 S. undertook the decoration of the church of S. Orsola, later restored by his son Procopio, himself also a stucco-worker, and prepared the wax models for the mysteries of the Rosary of the convent of S. Cita, later sculpted by Vitagliano. In 1698 he adorned the small chapel of the hospital of the priests and in 1699, framing the paintings of Caravaggio, he set his hand to the stuccoes of the oratory of S. Lorenzo which, together with those of the oratory of the Rosary of S. Domenico, slightly later, are among the master's major works. In 1707 the Princess of Roccaflorita had herself portrayed in a stucco medallion by S. In the following year S. adorned the church of the Pietà and in 1711 that of S. Agostino. A short time later the decoration of the church of S. Tommaso dei Greci was executed. From 1720 to '28 the artist modelled the statues of the church of S. Agostino, where reminiscences of Bernini are evident, and finished the oratory of S. Francesco ai Candelari, seat of the Confraternity of the Forensi, his last work.
S., a sculptor among the greatest of his time, had a very notable sense of environmental decoration, modulating in his lively representations an infinite series of motifs. These take on unity also through the magical play of shadows that give and receive value from the precious candor of the luminous material used by the artist.
SERPOTTA, GIACOMO - Stucco decoration, with scenes from the Life of St. Lawrence and St. Francis, symbolic statues and putti, in the interior of the oratory of S. Lorenzo (1687-96) - Palermo.(phot. Anderson)
nando he prepared himself for the missions among the Indians. From 1750 to 1758 he was a missionary among the Indians of Sierra Gorda, north of Querétaro. He translated the catechism into the language of the Pame Indians. Recalled to Mexico, he worked there (1758-67) with fruit as a popular missionary. When in 1767 the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish possessions, the Franciscans took over the missions of lower California and S. asked to go there. Appointed superior, he landed with 15 companions at Loreto, center of the Jesuit mission of lower California. In those years the Spaniards began to worry about the possession of upper California, until then completely neglected. With the expeditionary corps, sent in 1769 to occupy the land definitively, S. sailed with 4 Franciscans, to whom others were later added. The task was to win to the faith the Indians of the region, who were of the lowest culture. Continuing the method followed by the Franciscans in Sierra Gorda, S. founded a series of missions: S. Diego (16 July 1769), S. Carlos (3 June 1770), S. Antonio (14 July 1771), S. Gabriel (8 Sept. 1771); S. Luis Obispo (1 Sept. 1772), S. Francisco de Asís (8 Oct. 1776); San Juan Capistrano (1 Nov. 1776); S. Clara (12 Jan. 1777); S. Buenaventura (31 March 1782); from his missions originated the principal cities of California, such as Los Angeles, S. Francisco, S. Diego, Monterey, S. Barbara and others. S. was the father of the Indians and for this reason California celebrates him as a national hero and his statue appears, as representative of the State of California, in the Hall of Congress in Washington (1 March 1931). The process of beatification, constructed in the diocesan curia of Fresno, is already under study at the S. Congregation of Rites.
Bibliography6 works
Nicola Kowalsky