Achille Simonetti

Achilles Simonetti (1838-1900) was a sculptor. Born in Rome, the son of sculptor Louis Simonetti, he trained as a religious sculptor. He migrated to Australia at the instigation of Dr James Quinn, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, and moved to Sydney in 1874 to teach at the NSW Academy of Art. Simonetti made the statue of Governor Phillip for the Botanic Gardens in Sydney and completed numerous other commissions for public works. His work was shown in the NSW sections of the Sydney and Melbourne International Exhibitions of 1879-80 and almost a century later, in Early Australian Sculpture, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 1976. He was also included in the 1976 exhibition, Australian Art in the 1870s, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He won the NSW Academy of Art Sculpture Prize in 1874 and 1875, as well as the sculpture prize at the International Exhibition in Sydney in 1879. Simonetti is represented in the Art Gallery of NSW, at the University of Sydney, University of Adelaide and in the Queensland and NSW State Houses of Parliament.