Michael Gaspard RizzelloOBE (2 April 1926 – 28 September 2004) was a sculptor,medallist, and designer.[1]
Rizzello was born in London of Italian parents.[2] His father was a tailor. He attended theLondon Oratory School and did not want to follow his father's profession. He enlisted in the army in 1944, and was demobbed in 1948. He was a good baritone singer and had to choose between music and drawing; he chose the latter. He attended theRoyal College of Art winning both the Drawing Prize and Travelling Scholarship in Sculpture. This led to him studying sculpture in Rome for two years and he was awarded the Prix de Rome 1951 for Sculpture atThe British School at Rome. He began his career making wax heads forMadame Tussauds.[1]
Rizzello served an unprecedented term of two five-year periods as President of theRoyal Society of British Sculptors.[2] His public statuary includesDancer with Ribbon in Oxford Street, London (the Plaza, the oldBourne & Hollingsworth). HisDavid Lloyd George stands inCathays Park, Cardiff,[3] and other portrait busts includeNelson Mandela.[2] His 1996 bronze portrait ofLady Astor is in the Speakers' House of thePalace of Westminster in London.[4]
Rizzello also designed coins and medals, including theConspicuous Gallantry Cross and the£2 coin commemorating the 50th anniversary of theUnited Nations, both in 1995.[1]
Rizzello was made anOBE in the1977 Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours list.[1] He died in London, England.[5] A posthumous exhibition of his work was shown in theMall Galleries in April 2005.[6]
He married Sheila Maguire in 1950; she died in 2002. They had one daughter, who survived them.[7]
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