Alessandro Mazzucotelli (Lodi, December 30, 1865 - Milan, January 29, 1938) was an Italian craftsman, particularly known as a master ironworker and decorator. A specialist in wrought iron, Mazzucotelli linked his fame to the decorations of the works of the major exponents of Art Nouveau in Italy and abroad.
Biography
Mazzucotelli was born in Lodi to Giovanni Valente, an ironmerchant originally from Locatello di valle Imagna, and Rosa Caprara.[1]
At the age of 18 he moved to Milan as an apprentice with his brother Carlo in the blacksmith store of Defendente Oriani, which he later took over in 1891.[2] From 1902 to 1908 the company running the shop was called Mazzucotelli-Engelmann; later he worked alone, first in via Ponchielli and then in 1909 at Bicocca.
Mazzucotelli used to make a sketch by observing nature, then returned to his workshop to rework it by making a life-size drawing on cardboard and then cut out, so as to have a more concrete vision of his project.[2]
His activity intensified after the opening of his new company in Bicocca, in 1909, where he began to work with South American clients and to intervene on celebratory buildings such as the Expiatory Chapel in Monza, the city named a street after him.
In 1922 he founded and directed the Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA) in Monza, where he had as a student and successor to the chair of wrought iron Gino Manara; he was president of the International Biennial Exhibition of Applied Arts in 1923 where he presented the gate "Groviglio di serpi".
Bossaglia, Rossana, Hammacher, Arno M. , Mazzucotelli: l'artista italiano del ferro battuto liberty, Ed. italiana, inglese e tedesca, Milano, Il Polifilo, 1971 - ISBN
Giuseppe Maria Jonghi Lavarini, Franco Magnani, Sette secoli di ferro: Manuale pratico per riconoscere gli stili e giudicare la qualità del ferro battuto Con un'appendice su Alessandro Mazzucotelli, Milano, Di Baio Editore, 1991 - ISBN
Ferro e liberty: Alessandro Mazzucotelli, architettura, fabbri di oggi, a cura del Gruppo architettura storia dell'arte, Comune di Monza, Biblioteca civica, Milan, Magma, [1979?]
L'ISIA a Monza una scuola d'arte europea, a cura di Rossana Bossaglia e Alberto Crespi, Cinisello Balsamo (Milano), Amilcare Pizzi, 1986.
Augusto Vecchi, "Il grande libro del ferro battuto", New Book, La Spezia, 2004 - ISBN