Vincenzo Vela

Francesco Hayez played an active part in securing prestigious commissions for him from the liberal aristocracy and bourgeoisie of Lombardy, above all for works of a patriotic nature alluding to the Italian political situation.

His mature production is characterised by a repertoire of portraits and funerary monuments, and includes a naturalistic relief dedicated to the 199 workers killed during the construction of the Gotthard Rail Tunnel (1882–83).

He then won in a Venetian competition (gold medal and 60 zecchini) from among submissions from Northern Italy with a model for a sculpture depicting Christ resurrects that daughter of Jair.

Once the rebellion was staunched, Vela completed the marble statue of Spartacus breaking his Chains; the resonance of the theme would not have been lost on Italian patriots.

He exhibited an Ecce Homo in Rome in 1883, and it was reviewed in L'Illustrazione ItalianaThere is no question about Vela...His Ecco Homo, beautifully cast in bronze by Barzaghi, is one of the most admired statues at the Exhibition...the rhythm of the lines, the well-modelled limbs, the hands not glossed over but refined, the feet made by someone who knows how to overcome even the secondary but no less arduous difficulties of sculpture.

Spartaco willed the house and works in his father's studio to the Swiss government for the establishment of a museum: Museo Vincenzo Vela in Ligornetto.

Those of Lorenzo, include works of Ambrogio Preda (1839-1906), Luigi Scrosati (1814-1869), Giuseppe Landriani (1824-1894), Eleuterio Pagliano (1826-1903), Bartolomeo Giuliano (1825-1909), Federico Faruffini (1833-1869), and Mosé Bianchi (1840-1904).