(Rome, 1886 [1881, 1889]; Florence, 1963)
He studied Law but loved Art thanks to his father’s prolific activity as a patron of the Arts. His father’s house was a meeting place for intellectuals and artists. At first he frequented Bargellini and Prini’s studio, and then from 1910 to 1915 Zanelli’s studio with whom he collaborated on the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome His debut piece «Perseo», appeared in Brusselles in 1910, and denoted his initial adhesion to the Symbolism of Bistolfi, in support of the German Secession. In 1912, he married Yoi Pawlosky, and moved to Florence. In the same year he won the competition for the commission of the monument to Adelaide Ristori in Cividale del Friuli, the following year he showed his piece «Ara Dantis» and two portraits at the Exhibition of the Roman Secession. In 1915 he took part in the International Exhibition of San Francisco and became the editor of “La Tribuna”. After the war, the tone of his works became more intimate, and he began to embrace the poetics of Andreotti..
In 1922 he was asked to create three polychrome wooden statues for the Savoia Theatre in Firenze, while in 1924 a personal show was dedicated to him at the Venice Biennale. From the second half of the 1920s Maraini was commissioned to realize important public and private works which included two bas reliefs for the tomb of Giacomo Puccini in Torre del Lago and the decoration of the bronze door of the Basilica di San Paolo outside the walls of Rome. In the meantime he was nominated General Secretary of the Biennale, a position he kept until 1942, and which was followed by other prestigious public offices.
In the 1930s he realized the monument to the Fallen in Prato and showed in Bucharest and Budapest. He collaborated with his architect friend Piacentini for the realization of, amongst others, the «Arengario» of Brescia, the Palazzo delle Corporazioni in Rome and the bas relief for the Palazzo di Giustizia in Milan. His activity ended in the 1950s when he retired from public life and went to live in his villa in the hills surrounding Florence.
Teresa Lorusso