Bernardo Balestrieri, Palermo 1884-1965, was a great Italian sculptor The bronze sculpture depicts a crying baby's head, from the second decade of the 20th century Dimensions: H approx. 17 cm including marble l 14 cm Approx weight, including marble, 2 kg Signature in the back of the head “Balestrieri“ Highly valuable collectors item Tracked shipping Bernardo Balestrieri studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo, attending Francesco Lojacono and Ettore De Maria Bergler’s lessons, Vincenzo Ragusa was his sculpture teacher. In 1904 he moved to Rome and participated in the national competition for the National Artistic Pensioner of sculpture, winning the second prize with the group "Il lavoro"; in Rome, he graduated from the School of the Art of the Medal, at the Mint of the Kingdom. He came in contact with other well-known Sicilian masters, such as Mario Rutelli and Ettore Ximenes, active in the capital for several years; in 1921 he exhibited, in Rome, "The ball player". He returned to Palermo towards the end of the 20s, and he worked as a decorator, creating architectural friezes, and as a portraitist, mainly for the urban bourgeoisie; in 1928 and the following year he participated in the exhibitions of the Sicilian Fascist Union of Fine Arts. He became a professor at the art school of Palermo, thinning out his exhibition activity over the years. He maintained in his sculptural style, a strong nineteenth-century imprint. His favourite themes were taken from everyday life; common figures which, thanks to the style of southern verism, manage to communicate the poetry within, the feelings of everyday life. This is also evident in this bronze head, exhibited in 1955 at the I Exhibition of Figurative Arts of the Sicilian Regional Fine Arts Union at the Circolo Artistico of Palermo.