FRANCESCO

1914 – 1921

PIETRO P.

1915 – 1918

VINCENZO

1917 – 1917

SALERNO

This monument was created for three boys born in 1914, 1915, and 1917 to the Salerno Family. None lived into adulthood.

The sculptured likeness of 7-year old Francesco Salerno sits atop the monument in the Mount Carmel Cemetery at Hillsdale, Illinois.

The gravestone was created in the Victorian style of memorializing children in funerary statuary.  The realism of the statue is remarkable. The white marble carving is a likeness of Francesco recreated from the photograph on the front of the base of the monument. While the settee on the monument is not an exact replica from the photograph, the carving of young boy is modeled after the picture right down to the shirt pocket and the position of the book he is holding in his lap to read.

Along with the picture of Francesco is a picture of his brother Pietro.  Unfortunately, there is no picture of their infant brother, Vincenzo.