Giacomo Serpotta (1656-1732) – the Stucco Master of Palermo

All photos unless otherwise stated: Per-Erik Skramstad © Wondersofsicily.com

The Sicilian sculptor Giacomo Serpotta (1656–1732), mainly working in stucco, was born and died in Palermo. He is known for the excellent stucco decorations in the Oratory of San Lorenzo (1690/98–1706), the Oratory of Santa Cita (1668–1718), the Oratory of Rosario di San Domenico (1710–17).

 

   

Oratory of Santa Cita.

 

Serpotta's most important works include:

• Oratory of San Lorenzo (1690/98–1706)
• Oratory of Santa Cita (1668–1718)
• Oratory of Rosario di San Domenico (1710–17)
• the chapel for the Ospedale di Palermo
• (Cappella Palatina, Castelbuono)
• the Archbishop's Palace in Santa Chiara
• the Badia Nuova and the Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano in Alcamo

Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita, Palermo

Serpotta putto in Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita, Palermo.

 

 

Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita, Palermo

 

 

Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita, Palermo

 

 

The terror of war: Giacomo Serpotta's (1652–1732) child with helmet in a stucco detail in Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita.

 

 

The terror of war: Young Sicilian boy looking at the guns and the headless soldier. Detail of the wall depicting the Battle of Lepanto. (Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita, Palermo)

 

 

Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita, Palermo: The Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571). A fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of European Catholic maritime states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. It was the largest naval battle in Western history since classical antiquity. It was of great symbolic importance. (Wikipedia)

 

 

The Battle of Lepanto (detail).

 

 

Oratorio di Santa Cita.

 

 

Oratorio del SS. Rosario di San Domenico

Stucco putti by Giacomo Serpotta (1656-1732) in Oratorio del SS. Rosario di San Domenico, Palermo.

 

 

On the golden column to the right, you can see a lizard - Serpotta's signature. ('Sirpuzza' means a small serpent in Sicilian.)

Oratorio di San Lorenzo, Palermo

Stucco by Giacomo Serpotta in the Oratorio di San Lorenzo, Palermo.

 

Serpotta decorations in Cappella Palatina in Castelbuono

The small Cappella Palatina ("Palace Chapel"), also known as the chapel of St Anne, in Castello Ventimiglia (the castle in Castelbuono) is attributed to the brothers Giuseppe and Giacomo Serpotta. Donald Garstang, however, writes in his monumental work on Serpotta and his times, that «until documents relating to the decoration of the chapel have been found, the attribution to the Serpottas must remain hypothetical».
Donald Garstang: Giacomo Serpotta and the Stuccatori of Palermo 1560-1790

 

 

The unrefined quality of some of the figures in the "Serpotta Chapel" at Castelbuono Castle supports Garstangs doubt about Giacomo Serpotta having had anything to to with this.

 

Chiesa di Sant'Orsola, Palermo

Stucci by Giacomo Serpotta in Chiesa di Sant'Orsola, Palermo.

Photo: Per-Erik Skramstad / Wonders of Sicily

 

Giacomo Serpotta in Palermo: stuccoes in churches and oratories

• La casa dei Crociferi (Via Maqueda)
• Chiesa di Santa Ninfa dei Crociferi (Via Maqueda)
• Oratorio dei Santi Pietro e Paolo (behind the Cathedral)
• Chiesa del Gesù (Piazza Casa Professa)
• Chiesa del Carmine
• Chiesa dell'Assunta (Via Maqueda)
• Chiesa di Sant'Orsola (Via Maqueda)
• Chiesa di Sant'Anna
• Chiesa di San Francesco d'Assisi
• Oratorio di San Lorenzo (Piazza S. Francesco d'Assisi)
• Chiesa di S. Maria degli Angeli (La Gancia) (Via Alloro)
• Chiesa della Madonna della Pietà (Via Torremuzza)
• Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico (Via dei Bambinai)
• Oratorio del Rosario di S. Cita (Via Valverde)
• Chiesa di S. Sebastiano (Piazza della Fonderia)
• Oratorio di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria (Via Monteleone)
• Chiesa di S. Agostino (Via S. Agostino / Via Maestri d'acqua)
• Chiesa di San Matteo (Via Vittorio Emanuele)

Source: Claudia Nasta's blog Na sta Sicilia. Published with permission.