Ponciano Ponzano

Ponciano Ponzano y Gascón
Ponzano by Federico de Madrazo (1841)
Born	19 January 1813 Zaragoza, Spain
Died	15 September 1877(1877-09-15) (aged 64) Madrid
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Sculptor
Known for	Congreso de los Diputados

Ponciano Ponzano y Gascón (19 January 1813 — 15 September 1877) was a Spanish neoclassical sculptor. A prolific artist, in his day he was highly esteemed. His work is now largely forgotten, although it can still be seen in many public locations.

Ponciano Ponzano was born in Zaragoza on 19 January 1813. His father was a guard at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Luis, and he grew up among works of art. As a child he showed a great love of drawing and painting. He studied sculpture in the neoclassical style under José Álvarez Cubero at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. In 1832 he was awarded a gold medal. Impressed by a historical relief that he had made, the Academy of San Fernando awarded him a grant to study in Rome. There he was able to study sculpture from the Greco-Roman era under masters such as Bertel Thorvaldsen and Pietro Tenerani, and achieved some success with his own dramatic works. One of these, Ulysses recognized by Eurycles, gained such good reviews that on his return to Spain in 1838 he was named an academic of merit.

On his return to Spain Ponzano established a workshop in Madrid. He received many commissions, particularly for busts of members of the government and the royal family. He was appointed the official sculptor of the court of Queen Isabella II of Spain, and his career blossomed. He became a prolific sculptor of reliefs, statues and memorials. In 1848 he won a competition to decorate the pediment of the Congress of Deputies. In 1862 he was commissioned by the Queen to create the Pantheon of the Princes of the Monastery of El Escorial, but he was unable to complete the work. He was appointed a professor of the Madrid School of Fine Arts in 1871. Ponzano died on 15 September 1877 in Madrid.

In his day Ponciano Ponzano was one of the most highly regarded of Aragonese sculptors. He moved in high social circles, and was considered to be of excellent moral character. However, his work has been criticized as not being authentically creative. The neoclassical tradition was essentially sterile and he lived in a period when Spanish and European sculpture was in decline, with little innovation. Due to changes of fashion, his work has now been largely forgotten, although it is still preserved in private collections and in public monuments such as San Lorenzo de El Escorial.