Friday 15 November 2019

Rusconi's Masterpiece

Frank Rusconi born in New South Wales (NSW), Australia was the son of a Swiss goldminer and monumental mason.  After his mother's death, the family returned to Switzerland while Frank was a child. At 15 years of age he was apprenticed first in Italy and then Switzerland in the marble trade.
Frank returned to NSW in 1901.  He worked with his brother and father near Orange, NSW in a marble quarry they had discovered and developed.
Frank settled at Gundagai in 1905.  He died nearly 60 years later in nearby Cootamundra having been an active member of the Gundagai community since settling there.

Rusconi's Masterpiece took 28 years to build and was commenced in 1910 and finished in 1938. 
It is made entirely of NSW marble, in all, 20 different kinds.  The architectual design is the builder's own creation, yet he bore in mind the Baroque of the 17th Century, curves in preference to straight lines, heaving ornamentation, and the use of large amounts of varied coloured marble.

The masterpiece is a magnificent example of meticulous accuracy.  No plans of any kind were used during its construction.  Each section was finished then put away, for assembly on completion on the whole work.
Wikipedia and the Information centre in Gundagai.

We enjoyed looking at this masterpiece inside glass to keep it safe at the information centre.
Views of the masterpiece at different angles.  The colours of marble are just amazing when seeing it in reality.










This is another he did below.


41 comments:

  1. Amazing! I cannot even imagine doing that, but then again nor would I want to.

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  2. Para estar dentro de una vitrina de cristal. Las obras expuestas se ven bastante bien en las fotos, no se nota en demasía las reflexiones.

    Besos

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    1. Matter of standing in a good place to take the photo for me, and there was lightening above.

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  3. That is so amazing. How did he ever sculpt such tiny details and pieces out of such a hard substance!

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    1. I suppose he had a lot of patience and skill with the right tools, and a wonderful imagination of colour and design.

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  4. What a wonderful discovery of a work by a very talented and dedicated sculptor.

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    1. Certainly was good to see and find it in the information centre as we had no idea that such art work was there.

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  5. Wow!

    It is just amazing what people can do.

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  6. That is a wonderful, very complex, piece of marble work - it's no wonder that it took him so long to complete it.

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  7. That is an amazing piece of art, and made of Australian marble too, very impressive.

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    1. Not often we come across all Australian Rosie, so it makes me realise how many different colours of marble there is in Australia.

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  8. wow. what stunning work and amazing talent. i love your letterbox photo at the top of your page. :)

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  9. Yes--- remarkable, stunning, amazing. Truly he must have been nuts, but we're lucky for it.

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    1. So much patients he had, kind of nutty to want to fiddle with such small pieces.

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  10. Es cierto, una buenisima obra de arte.
    Un abrazo y buen fin de semana, Margaret.

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  11. Wonderful piece of art, the details are amazing.
    Hugs and all the best
    Maria

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  12. Bonita obra de arte, me encanta. Besitos.

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  13. Wow,that is so incredible! I wish I could see that in reality, thank you so much for your photos ☺

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  14. such an impressive job dear Margaret !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    special thanks for sharing this masterpiece ,knowing about such wonderful person and his creation is privilege indeed

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