Self-Portrait
Literature : Gerard de Kamper and Chris de Klerk (2012) Villa in Bronze, Pretoria: University of Pretoria, another casting from the edition illustrated in colour on page 8.
Notes : Fresh from his studies at the Scuola D’Arte Andrea Fontoni in Bergamo, Edoardo Villa was conscripted by Mussolini, and saw action on the North African front. Wounded, captured by British forces, and hospitalized in Egypt, he was moved to Zonderwater, the prisoner of war camp on the eastern outskirts of Pretoria, in 1942. Given some access to materials there, Villa produced a small number of works during his internment, including carefully moulded busts, large-scale figural studies, a depiction of the crucifixion for the chapel at Zonderwater, and even a Pieta put forward for the South African War Cemetery in Castiglione (which was rejected). The current lot, a dashing and rare self-portrait, is his first recorded work made in South Africa. It catches the youthful and handsome artist in a defiant stare, with his fringe swept back, his lips sharply defined, and his face still gaunt. With the express permission from the artist, this evocative example was cast in the winter of 2008 by the Vignali Artistic Foundry in Pretoria. Other castings are held by the artist’s heirs and the University of Pretoria.
