Ettore Cadorin

Junipero Serra, National Statuary Hall Collection

Ettore Cadorin (March 1, 1876 – June 18, 1952) was an American sculptor and teacher born in Venice.^[1] His father, Vincenzo Cadorin was a woodcarver and his first teacher. He went on to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice where he studied with Antonio Dal Zotto, (1841-1918) followed by further studies in Rome and Paris.^[2]

Arriving in the United States in 1915, Cadorin first settled in New York City, securing a position as a lecturer on Italian at Columbia University. In 1925 he relocated to California, where he remained for the rest of his life.^[3] While living in California he was selected to produce his best known work in the United States, the 1930 bronze statue of Junipero Serra located in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the Capitol Building, Washington D.C., one of the two statues representing his adopted home state. Also located in Washington D.C. are his three "large stone statues of the patron saints" located at the National Cathedral.^[4] In the creation of these figures, St. Peter, St. Paul and St. John, Cadorin was assisted by Marian Brackenridge and they were carved by Italo Fanfani.^[5]

Cadorin created numerous funerary monuments in Europe. located in cemeteries in Venice, Paris, Budapest, Bukarest and the Netherlands as well as Woodlawn, Cemetery in New York City^[6]

He was a member of the National Sculpture Society.

He was married to an Australian contralto, Erna Mueller, who trained at the Bendigo Conservatory.^[7] The image of his statue Venus tying her sandals (1913) is now used as the logo of the Bendigo Art Gallery.^[8]

References

1. Opitz, Glenn B., Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Books, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1988
2. McKay, James, The Dictionary of Sculptors in Bronze, Antique Collectors Club, London, 1995
3. Bostick, Virginia L., ‘’The Public Monuments & Sculpture of Morristown, New Jersey’’, New Jersey State Council of the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, 1978 pp. 78-79
4. McGlauflin, Alice Coe, editor, ‘’Who’s Who in American Art: Volume II, 1938-1939’’, The American Federation of Arts, Inc., Washington D.C., 1937
5. ‘’Guide to the Washington Cathedral: The Cathedral Church of Peter and Paul’’, National Cathedral Association, Washington D.C., 1969 p. 15
6. National Sculpture Society, ‘’Exhibition of American Sculpture Catalogue’’, National Sculpture Society, NY 1923
7. NSW Art Gallery. Retrieved 21 May 2016
8. The Age, 19–20 December 2003, Review, "Work of the Week", p. 7