Charles Hutchinson
October 3, 1828
August 9, 1893
Emily Smith Hutchinson
February 25, 1833
January 30, 1911
The Hutchinson monument in the Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois, displays a stylized bronze bas-relief of Christ surrounded by four attendants. The title of the sculpture is “Man of Sorrows” which is a traditional devotional image that developed in the 13th Century.
This painting by Meister Francke, created around the year 1430, is a traditional rendition of a “Man of Sorrows” image. The painting depicts Christ with the wounds of His Passion. The painting also features four angels attending to the Messiah.
This sculpture differs from the iconic images produced at that time. The artists of Northern Europe usually depicted Christ naked above the waist prominently displaying the wounds of His Passion often shown wearing the Crown of Thorns and sometimes attended by angels. Here, Italian-born artist, Alfeo Faggi, depicts a seated Messiah with four attendants but no visible marks from the Passion.
Alfeo Faggi’s sculptures, like many other great artist’s works, can be found in North American cemeteries, including those sculpted by Daniel Chester French, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Aldabert Volck, Felix Weihs de Weldon, Karl Bitter, Martin Milmore, Alexander Milne Calder, T. M. Brady, Albin Polasek, Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, William Wetmore Story, Edward V. Valentine, Nellie Walker, Lorado Taft, Sally James Farnham, Adolph Alexander Weinman, Solon Borglum, and John Gutzon Borglum, a veritable who’s who in the art world. These artists were able to earn a living creating sculptures, public and private.
Alfeo Faggi was born in Florence, Italy on September 11, 1885. He studied art with his father—a fresco painter, as well as, studying at the Academia Belle Arti. In 1913, Faggi immigrated to the United States to begin his art career. Faggi is most well-known for his stylized forms and anti-Classical religious sculptures and paintings. Faggi died October 17, 1966 at Woodstock, New York.
Gravely Speaking 