Monument to Donizetti, Bergamo

The monument was inaugurated in 1897, at the centenary of his birth and in his birthplace, and commemorates the opera composer Gaetano Donizetti. Jerace was elected via a competition to complete the monument. The statuary group is atop a plain plinth engraved only with the composers name. The monument is surrounded by a Basin. Atop, Donizetti sits, realistically depicted, and bound to present world, in the corner of a curved bench. A short distance away stands the lyrical muse, Melpomene, strumming her lyre. The artist, with eyes closed, listens to his inspiration. The statue mixes both realism and the allegory to classical mythology; also expressing the sense that the artists communicates with a superior realm.[1][2] Donizetti's funereal monument in Bergamo, erected in 1856, also features a mournful lyrical muse.