DUPRE, GIOVANNI (1817-1882), Italian sculptor, born in Siena on March 1, 1817. After having learned the craft of his father, a carver in wood, he worked in Siena, Pistoia, Pisa, Livorno and in Florence, where he associated with the sculptor Cambi. By drawing and modelling in his spare time he succeeded in winning the prize-competition of the academy in 184o without having attended the academy schools. His first work of importance was "Abel" (1842, Pitti, Florence) . It attracted much notice. He was befriended by L. Bartolini, a distinguished sculptor; the grand duchess Maria of Russia commissioned him with a statue of "Cain" (1844, Pitti) ; the grandduchess of Tuscany with "Giotto" (1845, Arcades of the Uffizi, Florence) . The mourning Sappho (1857) is his most famous work of this period. His success was due to his lifelike and original interpretation of form at a time when Italian sculpture was deteriorating into a mannered imita tion of Canova. A visit in 1856 to Naples and Rome, where he admired Canova's monument to Pius VI., influenced him towards a more ideal conception of form, contrasting with the naturalism of his early period. Among his later work we may mention a "Pieta" in the cemetery of Siena, executed for the Bichi-Ruspoii family and the monument of Cavour in Turin. His realistic treat ment of form here seems to conflict with the allegorical elements of the composition. Dupre also executed many portrait busts. He died in Florence on Jan. 1o, 1882.
His autobiography Pensieri sull' Arte e Ricordi Autobiographici (1882) was translated into English by Peruzzi.