Chapter A sculptor and a spy: Francesco Giambaldi (1867-1918) from Lecce to Paris

Overview & Synopsis

Francesco Giambaldi, an Italian sculptor, went to live and work in Paris shortly before the 1900 Universal Exposition, becoming an acquaintance of Rodin and a friend of Anatole France and Ernest La Jeunesse. Man of letters, well introduced into the circle of Bohemian life in Paris, his works included sculptures of figures such as Baudelaire, Gautier, Verlaine, Beethoven, Nietzsche, and Sappho. He collaborated with the journal Cocorico and helped create an innovative means of representing sculptures on postcards known as photosculptogravure. Giambaldi, however, had a second, covert, existence as a highly successful component of the Italian spy network in France. Codenamed Foulard, he infiltrated the anarchists and denounced them directly to the Italian ambassador in Paris. The article sheds light on this curious, somewhat behind the scenes, figure and, for the first time, recognises some twenty-eight of his oeuvres.