Born in Turin in 1858, Medardo Rosso relocated with his family to Milan, where he enrolled at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in 1882. However, his experience at the academy was short-lived as he was expelled in 1883, the same year he participated in the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Rome. Rosso’s artistic journey commenced within the Milanese Scapigliatura movement, a literary and artistic movement that vehemently criticized Italian Romanticism and the culture of the Risorgimento, embracing instead French models of naturalism and Baudelairian-style damnation.
During this period, Rosso primarily exhibited his sculptural works in Paris, showcasing them at prestigious venues such as the Salon des artistes français, the Salon des Indépendents, and the Galerie Thomas et Georges Petit. In 1888, he showcased his works in London at the Italian Exhibition organized by Alberto Grubicy. Rosso returned to Paris in 1889 and established permanent residency there. At the World’s Fair held in Paris, he presented five bronzes including El locch, Gavroche, Ruffiana, Carne altrui and Aetas Aurea, which garnered critical acclaim and attention from fellow artists.
In 1893, Rosso held his first solo exhibition in Paris, attracting notable figures like Auguste Rodin. However, his relationship with Rodin evolved into a complex dynamic marked by both friendship and controversy, particularly concerning disputes over the primacy of Impressionist sculpture. This controversy was extensively examined by Edmond Claris in a 1901 article for La Nouvelle Revue and later in the volume De l’Impressionisme en sculpture (1902).
Rosso’s years in Paris saw him experimenting with bronze casting and wax works in his studio on rue Caulaincourt. He also opened a public studio on Boulevard des Batignolles. After obtaining French citizenship in 1902, several of his works were acquired by the French state, including Ecce puer and Femme à la voilette for the Musée du Luxembourg and Aetas aurea for Musée du Petit Palais.
Throughout the early 20th century, Rosso continued exhibited his works in Holland (Amsterdam, Utrecht, the Hague and Rotterdam), Germany (Dresden, Berlin and Lipzig), in Brussels (1907) and Moscow (1908). A few years earlier, in 1905, Medardo Rosso also inaugurated a solo exhibition in Vienna, showcasing sculptures and replicas of ancient works. This love for reinterpreting ancient subjects resurfaced in 1906, when he held a solo exhibition at the Eugène Cremetti Gallery in London. The exhibition featured twenty-two works including wax sculptures, bronzes, drawings, and replicas of ancient pieces.
In Italy, the first major exhibition on Impressionism, featuring Mesardo Rosso, opened in 1910. The following year, Rosso once again participated in the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Rome. Already acclaimed by the Futurists the year before as a sculptor of modernity, Rosso began to cultivate increasingly close ties with the movement over the subsequent years. He settled in Milan in 1920, and six years later, Margherita Sarfatti dedicated a personal room to him showcasing eleven sculptures during the exhibition on Italian twentieth-century art at the Permanente in Milan.
Medardo, the sculptor whose ultimate goal was to make matter forget and dissolve, created works in wax, terracotta, bronze, and plaster. He was praised by the Impressionists and became a model for the succeeding generation, particularly the young Futurists. In one of his final exhibitions, eight years before his passing, Rosso presented Bambino malato, il Bambino ebreo, la Portinaia and Ecce Puer at the Venice Sacred Art Exhibition, intentionally renaming the subjects as San Giovannino, San Luigi, Sant’Orsola and Enfant de Nazareth. Thus, as his life drew to a close, the artist showcased one of the subjects that had captivated him most: the purity, freshness, and innocence of children. A copy of Ecce Puer was even placed on his grave at Milan’s Monumental Cemetery.