Sirio Tofanari: The Rediscovered Animalier Sculptor

Sirio Tofanari (Florence, 1886 – Milan, 1969) was an Italian sculptor specializing in animal subjects. Orphaned at 16, he briefly studied at Florence's Accademia di Belle Arti before leaving to travel Europe. In 1906 he observed animals at London Zoo and studied anatomy at the Natural History Museum. His career launched in 1908 when King Umberto I acquired his bronze gazelle at the Promotrice di Belle Arti in Turin. Tofanari exhibited regularly at the Venice Biennale from 1909 to 1936, and internationally in San Francisco (1916), Buenos Aires (1923), and Brussels (1928), where the Belgian royals purchased works. He was friends with artists Galileo Chini, Antonio Maraini, and Arturo Dazzi, and critics Ugo Ojetti and Roberto Papini. He had a solo room at the 1925 Rome Biennale and participated in the first (1931) and second (1935) Rome Quadriennale. In the 1960s he focused on bronze religious reliefs. Long forgotten, his work was included in the 2021 group show 'Laocoon Zoo' at Galleria del Laocoonte in Rome.