Torquato Tamagnini (Perugia, 1886 - Rome, 1965) was an Italian sculptor and medallist.
He is best known for his numerous monuments to the fallen soldiers of the First World War.
Trained at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, Tamagnini was the author of several small bronzes in Art Nouveau style, [1] including a 1919 statuette entitled ''The Inquisitor,'' preserved in the collections of the Quirinal Palace. [2] In 1921 he participated with two works in the First Roman Biennial and, in the same year, participated in the First Naples Biennial. [3] A bronze plaque made by the sculptor featuring, in relief, the Victory Bulletin and an allegory with female figures, donated to Marshal Diaz by the Roman amputees, [4] earned words of admiration from the general. [5]
After the first commissions from the various committees that had been created to honor the fallen soldiers, in 1922 he founded the ''Corinthia'' art house in Rome, through which, in collaboration with Neapolitan and Roman foundries, he started a workshop and produced numerous monuments in many Italian regions. [5] The catalogue of "Corinthia", [6] as well as other competing catalogues, [7] offered municipal administrations and civic committees a wide range of monuments, either already made elsewhere or in the form of sketches. The "variety of types of monuments devised by this kind of memorial industry" allowed a choice to be made according to financial availability. [5] However, although the catalog was rich in proposals and variations were often introduced to the various types of monuments especially in the plinths, resemblances were inevitable. In some cases the resemblance is evident, for example: in the figures of Perugia [8] and Scanno; [9] in the sentinels of Sacrofano, [10] Tocco da Casauria, [11] Calasetta [12] and Parenti; [13] in the monument of Forli del Sannio [14] and that of Casalciprano, [15] similar in concept; in the "Sorrowful Victory" of Parrocchietta [16] already present together with a dying soldier in Ceprano [17] as later reproduced in Guardia Perticara, [18] in Terranova da Sibari, [19] in Dasà, [20] in Colle Sannita [21] and, probably, [22] in Castropignano. [23] In others an iconography common to other artists of the period is discernible, [24] as in the case of the monument in Montepulciano, [25] and the so-called "quadriga briosa" depicted on the 1 lira coins of the war period.
The list is organized by: year, municipality and province. [25] The description is limited to the main sculptural works of each monument.