This page is to give a continuing look at the research I am attempting to put into discovering more information on the works of Pietro Magni, a Milanese artist known for pieces such as “The Reading Girl” (from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.) and “A Girl Reading” from the Atlanta art gallery.

In 2004, some friends and I from Florida took a trip to Washington D.C. During the trip, we visited the National Gallery of Art. I had never been there, and we only had about an hour till the end of the day to visit, so I was quickly moved through rooms, trying to plan out a return visit for the next day. During my “run” through the museum, I traveled downstairs (apparently in Zone 5) in the West Gallery, moving through a variety of interesting and beautiful sculpture, one particular piece caught my eye. That piece was “The Reading Girl.” After taking several pictures (unfortunately, a lot of people were looking at it, so I couldn’t get close-ups at this time), I noted the location of the sculpture for my return.

The nest day, I made time for a return to the Gallery, whereupon I proceeded immediately to the sculpture to get some close-up pictures.

It is difficult to say why exactly this sculpture grabbed my attention. At the time, it partly reminded me of my girlfriend Elizabeth at the time, who had been preparing through study for law school in Boston. I found that in many ways, the sculpture resembled her as I imagined she would look in her room, reading a book in preparation for class (in as much as one can look like such a classical style). More than that though, the piece was so finely carved with a realism that I’ve personally rarely seen in sculpture. The statue itself appears to be white marble, but there is fine detail in the marble, including the pages of the book she is reading, and the detail of her clothing and features.

Unfortunately, much of the information on this sculpture is difficult to find. Upon my return to Orlando, I spent a great deal of time researching this piece and the artist. While I found a few sites which talked about finding this piece in the National Gallery, there was very little background on the artist or his works, other than to mention that there was a similar sculpture by Magni in an Atlanta art gallery (with a similar title). The information below is what I’ve managed to scrap together from a conglomeration of sites. I try to credit where I found the information when possible, and if anyone has any clarifications or news, I would be interested in hearing about any of it.

Pietro Magni was born in Milan in 1817 (reportedly on October 21). He studied art in Milan, but later was an understudy of a sculpter b the name of Sangiorgio. Over several years, he would study under a number of different sculptors and artisans. His first noted piece was a sculpture of the biblical character David, in the scene of launching the slingshot at Goliath (as of yet, I have not seen any pictures of this piece). His second exhibited piece was a sculpture of Socrates, which was shown at the 1853 Brera Exhibition. “A Girl Reading” was exhibited in the 1856 Brera Exhibition. Although I cannot find proof online, I surmise that based on the plaque on “The Reading Girl” that it was probably exhibited at the 1862 Brera Exhibition. Magni worked on several more pieces, although none had the acclaim that he reached with “A Girl Reading.” He passed away in 1877 after having worked on statues for the Milan Cathedral’s exterior.

I have included a link here to my flickr set containing pictures of "The Reading Girl" as taken by me. I'm fairly certain that I took all these pictures, although its possible I might have found one online somewhere. You are welcome to share these pictures, so long as they're only used to inform and I'm credited for their use on webpages. The set is located here: Flickr Link

There is also a poem written online that I found about this statue, found at this link.

Information on the National Gallery's Zone 5 (where I think the sculpture is currently located) can be seen here.

I will update this page as I find more information, or receive an opportunity to see other Pietro Magni works.