The architect of the Vittoriano portrayed by Eugenio Maccagnani, his favourite sculptor
The bust depicts the architect of the Vittoriano, Giuseppe Sacconi (1854-1905). Originally from Montalto in the region of Le Marche, Sacconi arrived in Rome in 1874 and completed his training here. Still very young, the architect took part in the first competition for the Vittoriano and won the second one in 1882.The victory decreed his rapid success: during the following years he designed the new layout of Piazza Venezia and obtained a series of prestigious commissions from the Royal House: it is he who is responsible, among other things, for the bier in the Pantheon for the funeral of Umberto I and the Expiatory Chapel in Monza at the place where Umberto had been killed.
The author of the bust is Eugenio Maccagnani (1852-1930), a friend and close collaborator of Sacconi. A native of Lecce, Maccagnani studied with his paternal uncle who specialised in papier-mâché statues: in 1871, at the age of 19, thanks to a scholarship, he went to Rome. In the capital, the young man completed his education, attending both the courses of the Academy of San Luca and the studio of the realist sculptor Ettore Rosa. At the beginning of the eighties Maccagnani obtained his first significant awards, triumphing first at the national exhibition in Turin and then at the international one in Rome.
The encounter of Maccagnani with Sacconi probably dates back to the early eighties. The architect used him to prepare the model for the 1882 competition. From that moment an intense relationship developed between the two, based on professional esteem and friendship. Sacconi tried in every way to have Maccagnani entrusted with the execution of the statue of the king on horseback.
Maccagnani worked intensively in the Vittoriano, both under Sacconi's supervision and after his death. The sculptor created, among other things, The Philosophy and The War on the Doors of Liberty and Unity, two of the bases of the triumphal columns and the so-called frieze of the Eagles in the attic of the Main Colonnade. However, his most important contribution was the base of the statue of the king on horseback. In the bust, Maccagnani represents Sacconi wrapped in a coat while he is intent on drawing. The architect appears to be already old. The sculptor is able to grasp and translate that torment of perfection that pushed him to redefine even the smallest decorative detail: Sacconi's habit of drawing on the construction site in front of the workers so that they fully understood his project is well known.