Atelier Pellini

Studio Pellini, now known as Atelier Pellini in Milano, was founded by Eugenio Pellini in 1903. Later taken over by Eros Pellini, two artists madly in love with their subjects. Today, the atelier is run by Martina Pellini, as a cultural hub in the heart of Porta Romana with a rich history and beautiful sculptures.

Eugenio Pellini was born in 1864 in Marchirolo, Varese. His career in the arts began with the Scapigliatura movement at the end of the 1800s. This movement started in Milan, its early stages developing after the Risorgimento period—Scapigliatura was fundamentally a literary and artistic movement. The word Scapigliatura, meaning "bohemian," was derived from the novel La Scapigliatura e il 6 Febbraio by Cletto Arrighi, one of the forerunners of the movement.

The main inspiration of the Scapigliati was the anti-conformist writer Giuseppe Rovani, a pivotal figure in the literary world in Milan. The movement's purpose was to revive Italian culture by accepting foreign influences from figures such as Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, and many others alike.

Eugenio Pellini, a fellow Scapigliato, primarily worked as a sculptor. His works, currently on display at the Atelier, all came from two main themes of inspiration. In the early days of his career, we can see Eugenio's anti-conformist views on society heavily represented through his art. His main goal was to draw attention to the socio-economic inequalities of the late 1800s.

During the Scapigliatura movement, Eugenio was not recognized by the art community in Milan, due to his social and political views. Openly expressing his views through his art unfortunately compartmentalized his work to a limited group of people, which ultimately failed to introduce him into the mainstream community. Eugenio's monuments were not exhibited in any public spaces due to the scrutiny surrounding his political views at the time of his career.

Prior to opening Studio Pellini in 1903, Eugenio traveled around Europe, including Paris and towns all around Italy. In 1897, he received The Tantardini Prize for his sculpture Madre in Milan. This sculpture holds great significance in his career as it later on takes the form of his future wife, Dina. After receiving the award for Madre, his work started gaining wider recognition and acceptance within the Italian art scene. That's when he opened Studio Pellini.

Photograph of Madre by Eugenio Pellini, sculpted 1897. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

In 1900, when he met Dina Mangani, his work started taking on different shapes as he was inspired by a new muse—the matriarch. Slowly, we see his work transitioning into family-centered themes, more intimate sculptors involving the figure of the mother. His favorite subjects from that point on were Dina and their three children.

Interestingly enough, he created Madre right before meeting Dina. When they fell in love, he decapitated the statue and sculpted a new head for it—Dina’s. The version of Madre we see today is not the original, but the one with Dina’s head.

Photograph of Salomé by Eugenio Pellini, sculpted 1920. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Eugenio passed away from an illness in 1934 in his atelier. One of Eugenio’s three children, Eros, took over Studio Pellini after the passing of his father. He opened the second part of the studio, ‘the laboratory,’ where he spent most of his time working on the sculptures exhibited in the atelier today. Sculpting from sketches, a skill he learned from his father, was his primary method of working.

Much like Eugenio, Eros had recurring themes of love, family, and the significance of female figures within family life. He learned sculpting from his father and simultaneously from Accademia di belle arti di Brera. Eros started his career in sculpting towards the end of the 1920s.

Inspired by his father’s work, Eros had a series of sculptures on dancers, drawing inspiration from the female figure. The female figure was his primary muse in his work for the atelier's private collection. While both he and his father drew inspiration from the same subjects, their styles are notably very different—from technique to execution. After falling in love with Rosa Cerri, a fellow classmate he met at Accademia di belle arti di Brera, she became the main muse in his life. They were both students of Adolfo Wildt, who taught them sculpting.

Apart from creating public monuments, he also created sculptures commissioned by churches, in which we see many of his religious themes. There is also a vast amount of Eros’ work in Cimitero Monumentale in Milano, as well as Eugenio’s.

Photograph of The Lovers by Eros Pellini, sculpted 1978. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Contrasting to his father, his career was quite a successful one and far from public ostracism—he sculpted many public monuments all across Italy. One of the most notable ones, standing today in Alassio, Liguria, is The Lovers.