Fante (1926), ERCOLE DREI (Faenza, 1886 – Rome, 1973)

ERCOLE DREI
(Faenza, 1886 – Rome, 1973)

Infantryman (1926)

Gypsum

Height 29 cm
Base 10×11 cm
Signed on the bottom “DREI”

Bibliography:

Ercole Drei – Modeno eternal classical language.

Echoes from the twentieth century 6 – Studiolo, Milan 2020

edited by G.Cribiori, table 11

This figure probably represents the sketch of the Infantryman later used for the Monument to the Fallen of the First World War in Faenza.
The model shows us a soldier in a proud attitude, wearing the classic helmet used by the army in the first conflict, and a rain cape, with the rifle resting on the ground whose plastic grandeur brings to mind the soldiers subsequently created by Eugenio Baroni for the Monument to Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta, in Turin.
Here too the workmanship is minimal and the shapes only hinted at.
Drei offered his work to his city for free, asking only for the costs of raw materials in exchange. The monument was inaugurated on 21 November 1926. The previous year Drei had created the large monument to the fallen of Fusignano, melted down in 1942 for the recovery of war material; in 1927 he created the monument of San Lorenzo di Lugo, also in Romagna.