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CHAPTER 33
Italian Sculptors
in the Dominican Republic
By Myrna Guerrero Villalona
Director of the Bellapart Museum in Santo Domingo
•
he presence of Italian sculptors in the Dominican Republic dates back to the beginning of the twen-
tieth century, with the creation of important works of public art that have become iconic in the pub-
lic squares and emblematic spaces of Dominican culture. These works in bronze and marble have
enriched Dominican sculptural heritage through their use of techniques and materials that up until
that time were applied by few Dominican sculptors. Arturo Tomagnini (Pietrasanta, Lucca, Italy 1979–1957)
and Nicola Arrighini (Pietrasanta, Lucca, Italy 1905–1977) were the architects of the statues of leading figures
in national history, such as Juan Pablo Duarte and Gregorio Luperón, as well as the monumental ensemble of
Duarte, Sánchez, and Mella at the
Altar de la Patria
(Altar to the Homeland), in addition to various fountains,
and the
Monumento a la Caña
(Monument to Sugar Cane). Tommaso Gismondi (Anagni, Italy 1906–2003),
known as “the sculptor to the Popes,” was commissioned to create the bronze doors for the Basilica of Higüey,
a place of pilgrimage and a Catholic sanctuary where the Virgin of Altagracia, Protectress of the Dominican
people, is venerated. Another Italian sculptor, Aurelio Mistruzzi (Villaorba 1880 – Rome, Italy 1960) worked
for Rafael L. Trujillo and was the author of the dictator’s equestrian statue, a work destroyed in 1961—the year
of the “tyrannicide”—when all vestiges of the oppressor’s glorification were obliterated.
The Monument to Duarte by Arturo Tomagnini
After national independence was declared in 1944, the actions of the “Trinitarians”
1
were dismantled with the
physical elimination of some and the exile of others, among them Juan Pablo Duarte; consummation of the
Annexation to Spain under the directive of Pedro Santana (1861–63); and reestablishment of the republic after
two years of struggles during the Restoration (1863–65). With Gregorio Luperón as the head of the liberals,
the Dominican Republic transitioned into democratic life and proceeded along a path marked by rivalries be-
tween liberals and conservatives, groups or parties led by Gregorio Luperón and Buenaventura Báez, respec-
tively, who contended for control of the State until, in 1882, Ulises Heureaux-Lilís assumed the presidency.
Heureaux-Lilís remained in power until the end of the century (1899), excluding a few short intervals during
which other presidents held the office. Throughout this period, the figure of the national hero of independ-
ence, Juan Pablo Duarte, was plunged into oblivion, until February 27, 1884, when his ashes were deposited
in one of the chapels of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, in a solemn ceremony organized by the federal gov-
ernment, the city council, and the inhabitants of the capital city. Ten years later, Emiliano Tejera asked the
National Congress in a memorable speech, delivered on February 27, 1894, to erect a statue in honor of Juan
Pablo Duarte, the Trinitarian hero whomMsgr. Tomás de Portes e Infante, the first archbishop of the Domin-