Pompeo Coppini

Pompeo Coppini
Pompeo Coppini 1929
Born	Pompeo Luigo Coppini (1870-05-19)May 19, 1870 Moglia, Mantua, Italy
Died	September 26, 1957(1957-09-26) (aged 87) San Antonio, Texas
Nationality	Italian born 1902 Naturalized AmericanUnited States citizen
Education	Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno Augusto Rivalta
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Partial listing - Sculptures, except where noted Italy The King Humbert Tablet, Royal Museum, Monza Mexico Mexico City Bust of President Porfirio Diaz George Washington Monument Kentucky 1911 John Hunt Morgan Memorial, Lexington Michigan 1925 John Ball and Children, Grand Rapids New Jersey Neptune Fountain, Orphan Asylum, Carney New York 1900 William McKinley 1930 Spirit of the Rotary 1931 150th Anniversary Masonic Grand Lodge Plaque, Utica 1934 Bust of Dr. John Robert Gregg 1935 Woodrow Wilson 1933 Memorial to Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge, Statten Island 1941 George B. Cortelyou Texas 1934 Texas Centennial Half Dollar Austin 1901 Texas Confederate Monument, Capitol Grounds 1903 Victims of the Galveston Flood, UT campus 1907 Terry’s Texas Rangers, Capitol Grounds 1910 Hood's Brigade, Capitol Grounds 1912 Stephen F. Austin, Texas State Cemetery 1915 Joanna Troutman-Designer of the Texas Flag,Texas State Cemetery 1933 Littlefield Fountain and free-standing statues, UT campus: Jefferson Davis Robert E. Lee James Hogg Albert Sidney Johnston John H. Reagan Woodrow Wilson 1955 George Washington, University of Texas Ballinger 1919 Charles H. Noyes, Courthouse lawn Beaumont 1912 George O’Brien Millard, Pipkin Park Cameron 1922 Mr. and Mrs C.H. YOE College Station 1919 Lawrence Sullivan Ross, TAMU Campus Corpus Christi 1914 Queen of the Sea Dallas 1936 Prospero Bernardi, Fair Park Galveston 1904 Woodmen of the World, Lakeview Cemetery Gonzales 1910 Come and Take It! Huntsville 1911 Sam Houston Memorial, Oakwood Cemetery McKinney 1911 James W. Throckmorton, McKinney Courthouse Lawn Palestine 1911 John H. Reagan Memorial Paris 1903 Confederate Monument San Antonio 1926 Scottish Rite Cathedral doors 1929 Enlightening of the Press, Entrance of the San Antonio Express Publishing Company 1939 Spirit of Sacrifice (a.k.a. The Cenotaph), Alamo Plaza 1946 Genius of Music (w Waldine Tauch), Brackenridge Park 1953 Coppini Memorial Sunset Memorial Park (Coppini’s gravesite), 1972 George Washington Brackenridge (sculpted by Coppini 1930's, cast by Waldine Tauch, bureaucratic red tape delayed installation until 1972) Winn Family Gravesite, City Cemetery #1 Shiner 1919 Julius A. Wolters Victoria 1912 Firing Line, DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand Waco 1905 Burleson Memorial, Baylor Campus 1938 R.E.B. Baylor, Baylor Campus
Website	Coppini Academy

Partial listing - Sculptures, except where noted

Pompeo Luigi Coppini (May 19, 1870 – September 26, 1957) was an Italian born sculptor who emigrated to the United States. Although his works can be found in Italy, Mexico and a number of American states, the majority of his work can be found in Texas. He is particularly famous for the Alamo Plaza work "Spirit of Sacrifice" a.k.a. The Alamo Cenotaph, as well as numerous statues honoring Texas heroes.

He was born in Moglia, Mantua, Italy, the son of musician Giovanni Coppini and his wife Leandra (Raffa) Coppini.

The family moved to Florence where at the age of ten, Pompeo was hired to make ceramic horses shaped like whistles. From there, he worked for a sculptor who made tourist knock-offs of great works of art. At age sixteen, he studied at Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno under Augusto Rivalta. Upon earning a degree, Coppini opened a short-lived studio making gratis busts of local celebrities. While working for a cemetery monument sculptor, Coppini tried to become co-owner of the business by courting the owner's daughter. The girl's mother balked, and the resulting situation got Coppini denounced from a local priest's pulpit.

He emigrated to the United States in March, 1896 with nothing but a trunk of clothes and $40 to his name. Coppini got a job in New York sculpting figures for a wax museum. Elizabeth di Barbieri of New Haven, Connecticut arrived, accompanied by a chaperone, to model for Coppini's memorial to Francis Scott Key. He fell in love and married his model. Coppini became a United States citizen in 1902.

While he managed to find work in New York, Coppini was frustrated the fame and greatness escaped him. He moved to Texas in 1901, to join with Germany-born sculptor Frank Teich. He was then commissioned to do the figures for the Confederate monument for the state capitol grounds. For the next fifteen years, he lived and worked in San Antonio. After spending a short time in Chicago, Illinois, he then spent three years in New York City overseeing the Littlefield commission for the University of Texas at Austin. He collaborated with architect Paul Cret on the Littlefield Memorial Fountain, and sculpted six statues for the campus.