Monteverde Angel

The Angel of Monte Verde (Italian Angelo di Monte Verde) - also called Angel of the Resurrection - is an angel statue, which ( that of the Oneto family) adorns one of the most monumental graves at the cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa. It is one of the most famous works of the Italian sculptor Giulio Monteverde, in 1882 at the height of his artistic maturity created the statue with the monumental grave. Among the sculptures of angels (a large number of them decorate the graves in the cemetery of Genoa ), this angel called one of the greatest of this genre.

Commissioned the work was Francesco Oneto, a wealthy businessman and president of the Banca Generale, who wanted to preserve the memory of his family in this way.

From the representation of the angel, a strong expression of sensual emotionality goes out, which breaks with the then usual sculptural schemes: Although he holds the horn of Judgment with the right hand, making his posture and his unfathomable look anything but a comforting sense of how one would expect from an angel figure. In contrast, it appears removed and distanced from the event, the silent witness he is.

The uniqueness of the masterpiece Monte Verde (which was 1868 in Staglieno the Monumento Prato Longo created and in 1893 the Tomba Celle) has captured the imagination of many sculptors in the sequence, and developed into a unique style. Many imitations - even on the part of the artist himself - found both at the cemetery of Staglieno as in other cemeteries in Europe and America.