Pompeo Coppini facts for kids

Pompeo Luigi Coppini (born May 19, 1870, died September 26, 1957) was a famous sculptor. He was born in Italy and later moved to the United States. You can find his amazing sculptures in Italy, Mexico, and many U.S. states. But most of his art is in Texas! He is well-known for his large monument called Spirit of Sacrifice (also known as The Alamo Cenotaph) at Alamo Plaza. He also created many statues of important people from Texas.

Quick facts for kids Pompeo Coppini
Pompeo Coppini 1929
Born	Pompeo Luigo Coppini (1870-05-19)May 19, 1870 Moglia, Mantua, Italy
Died	September 26, 1957(1957-09-26) (aged 87) San Antonio, Texas
Nationality	Italian (naturalized as U.S. citizen in 1902)
Education	Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno Augusto Rivalta
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Partial listing - Sculptures, except where noted Italy The King Humbert Tablet, Royal Museum, Monza Mexico Mexico City Bust of President Porfirio Diaz George Washington Monument Kentucky 1911 John Hunt Morgan Memorial, Lexington Michigan 1925 John Ball and Children, Grand Rapids New Jersey Neptune Fountain, Orphan Asylum, Carney New York 1900 William McKinley 1930 Spirit of the Rotary 1931 150th Anniversary Masonic Grand Lodge Plaque, Utica 1934 Bust of Dr. John Robert Gregg 1935 Woodrow Wilson 1933 Memorial to Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge, Statten Island 1941 George B. Cortelyou Texas 1934 Texas Centennial Half Dollar Austin 1901 Texas Confederate Monument, Capitol Grounds 1903 Victims of the Galveston Flood, UT campus 1907 Terry’s Texas Rangers, Capitol Grounds 1910 Hood's Brigade, Capitol Grounds 1912 Stephen F. Austin, Texas State Cemetery 1915 Joanna Troutman-Designer of the Texas Flag, Texas State Cemetery 1933 Littlefield Fountain and free-standing statues, UT campus: Jefferson Davis Robert E. Lee James Hogg Albert Sidney Johnston John H. Reagan Woodrow Wilson 1955 George Washington, University of Texas Ballinger 1919 Charles H. Noyes, Courthouse lawn Beaumont 1912 George O’Brien Millard, Pipkin Park Cameron 1922 Mr. and Mrs C.H. YOE College Station 1919 Lawrence Sullivan Ross, TAMU Campus Corpus Christi 1914 Queen of the Sea Dallas 1936 Prospero Bernardi, Fair Park Galveston 1904 Woodmen of the World, Lakeview Cemetery Gonzales 1910 Come and Take It! Huntsville 1911 Sam Houston Memorial, Oakwood Cemetery McKinney 1911 James W. Throckmorton, McKinney Courthouse Lawn Palestine 1911 John H. Reagan Memorial Paris 1903 Confederate Monument San Antonio 1926 Scottish Rite Cathedral doors 1929 Enlightening of the Press, Entrance of the San Antonio Express Publishing Company 1939 Spirit of Sacrifice (a.k.a. The Cenotaph), Alamo Plaza 1946 Genius of Music (w Waldine Tauch), Brackenridge Park 1953 Coppini Memorial Sunset Memorial Park (Coppini’s gravesite), 1972 George Washington Brackenridge (sculpted by Coppini 1930's, cast by Waldine Tauch, bureaucratic red tape delayed installation until 1972) Winn Family Gravesite, City Cemetery #1 Shiner 1919 Julius A. Wolters Victoria 1912 Firing Line, DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand Waco 1905 Burleson Memorial, Baylor Campus 1938 R.E.B. Baylor, Baylor Campus
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth di Barbieri

Early Life and Art Training

Pompeo Coppini was born in Moglia, Italy, on May 19, 1870. His father, Giovanni, was a musician. His mother was Leandra Raffa Coppini.

When Pompeo was ten, his family moved to Florence. He started working, making ceramic horses that were also whistles. Later, he worked for a sculptor who made copies of famous artworks for tourists.

At age sixteen, Pompeo studied art at the Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno. His teacher was Augusto Rivalta. After he finished his studies, Coppini opened his own studio. He made busts (sculptures of heads and shoulders) of local famous people for free.

Moving to the United States

In March 1896, Coppini moved to the United States. He arrived with only a trunk of clothes and $40. He found a job in New York, sculpting figures for a wax museum.

He met Elizabeth di Barbieri, who came to model for one of his projects. They fell in love and got married. In 1902, Coppini became a citizen of the United States.

Even though he found work in New York, Coppini wanted to be more famous. So, in 1901, he moved to Texas. He joined another sculptor named Frank Teich.

Sculpting in Texas

Coppini was asked to create figures for a monument at the Texas state capitol. For the next fifteen years, he lived and worked in San Antonio.

He later spent time in Chicago and New York City. There, he worked on a big project for the University of Texas at Austin. He helped design the Littlefield Fountain and sculpted six statues for the campus.

George Washington (1955), University of Texas at Austin.

Around 1910, a sculptor named Waldine Tauch began helping Coppini. She was born in Texas. Tauch became like an adopted daughter to him. She was also his student and learned a lot from him. She worked with Coppini until he passed away.

In 1911, a group called the United Daughters of the Confederacy asked Coppini to design a statue. This statue, called Last Stand or Firing Line, honored Confederate soldiers. It was placed in De Leon Plaza in Victoria, Texas, in 1912.

Famous George Washington Statues

Coppini sculpted three different statues of George Washington.

• The first one was for Americans living in Mexico. It was put in Mexico City in 1912. But during the Mexican Civil War, the statue was pulled down.
• The second statue was made for Portland, Oregon, in 1927.
• The third statue was for the University of Texas at Austin. It was installed in 1955.

Later Life and Honors

In 1931, Italy honored Coppini with a special award called the Commendatore of the Order of the Crown of Italy. This was for his great contributions to art in America.

In 1934, he was chosen to design the Texas Centennial half dollar coin. In 1937, Coppini opened his studio in San Antonio. There, he worked on his famous Spirit of Sacrifice monument at Alamo Plaza.

Baylor University gave Coppini an honorary doctor of fine arts degree in 1941. From 1943 to 1945, he led the art department at Trinity University in San Antonio. In 1945, he and Waldine Tauch started an art group called the Classic Arts Fraternity. It was later renamed the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts in 1950.

Many of Coppini's sculptures are in Austin, Texas. You can see them at the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. His statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, a Texas Governor and president of Texas A&M University, is very popular. Students often put coins at its feet for good luck on exams.

Coppini also created a marble statue of Senator James Paul Clarke for the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. He made two bronze sculptures at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. One is of former Baylor President Rufus C. Burleson (1905). The other is of Baylor University's founder, Judge R.E.B. Baylor (1939).

One of Coppini's favorite works was a bronze sculpture of John Reagan. Reagan was a U.S. Senator from Palestine, Texas. This monument, made in 1911, is in Reagan Park in Palestine.

Pompeo Coppini passed away in San Antonio on September 26, 1957. He even designed his own tomb for his resting place in Sunset Memorial Park.

Selected Works

Littlefield Memorial Fountain (1920–1928), University of Texas at Austin.

• Jefferson Davis (1901–1903), Confederate Monument, Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas.
• Confederate Monument (1903), Paris, Texas:
  • Bust of Jefferson Davis.
  • Bust of Robert E. Lee.
  • Bust of Stonewall Jackson.
  • Bust of Albert Sidney Johnston.
• Rufus C. Burleson (1903), Burleson Quadrangle, Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
• The Victims of the Galveston Flood (1903–04), University of Texas at Austin.
• Terry's Texas Rangers Monument (1905–1907), Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas.
• Hood's Texas Brigade Monument (1910), Texas State Capitol, Austin.
• Come and Take It Monument (1910), Gonzales, Texas.
• Sam Houston Grave Monument (1910–11), Huntsville, Texas.
• John Hunt Morgan Memorial (1911), (former) Fayette County Courthouse, Lexington, Kentucky.
• John H. Reagan Memorial (1911), Palestine, Texas.
• Bust of Thomas Mitchell Campbell, Governor of Texas 1907-1911, (1911), Private Collection, Palestine, Texas
• Statue of George Washington (1911–12), Mexico City, Mexico.
• Confederate Monument (1911–12), Deleon Plaza, Victoria, Texas.
• Queen of the Sea monument (1914), Corpus Christi, Texas
• Bust of William Rufus Shafter, (1919), Galesburg, Michigan,
• Lawrence Sullivan Ross (1917–1919), Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
• The Spirit of the Texas Cowboy (1918–19), Charles H. Noyes Memorial, Ballinger, Texas.
• George W. Littlefield Commission (1920–1928), University of Texas at Austin:
  • Littlefield Memorial Fountain, Paul Cret, architect. A World War I Memorial.
  • John H. Reagan.
  • Robert E. Lee.
  • Albert Sidney Johnston.
  • James Stephen Hogg.
  • Jefferson Davis.
  • Woodrow Wilson.
• Senator James Paul Clark of Arkansas (1921), National Statuary Hall Collection, United States Capitol, Washington, DC.
• Bronze doors (1926), Scottish Rite Cathedral (Masonic), San Antonio, Texas.
• Statue of George Washington (1926–27), Friendship Masonic Lodge 160, Portland, Oregon.
• Texas State Fair Hall of State (1935–36), Fair Park, Dallas, Texas:
  • Stephen F. Austin.
  • Thomas J. Rusk.
  • William B. Travis.
  • James W. Fannin.
  • Mirabeau B. Lamar.
  • Sam Houston.
• Cenotaph to the Heroes of the Alamo (1937–38), Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, Texas.
• Coppini Tomb (1953), Sunset Memorial Park, San Antonio, Texas.
• Statue of George Washington (1955), University of Texas at Austin.

Gallery

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  Rufus Burleson (1903), Baylor University, Waco, Texas.

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  Terry's Texas Rangers Monument (1905–1907), Texas State Capitol.

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  Hood's Texas Brigade Monument (1910), Texas State Capitol.

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  Sam Houston Grave Monument (1910–11), Huntsville, Texas.

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  John Hunt Morgan Memorial (1911), Lexington, Kentucky.

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  John H. Reagan Monument (1911), Palestine, Texas.

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  Confederate Monument (1911–12), Victoria, Texas.

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  Lawrence Sullivan Ross (1917–19), Texas A&M University.

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  General William Rufus Shafter (1919), Galesburg, Michigan.

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  James Paul Clark (1921), United States Capitol, Washington, DC.

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  Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston (1935–36), Hall of State, Dallas, Texas.

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  Alamo Cenotaph (1937–38), San Antonio, Texas.