Angelo Secchi, ca. 1870

Plaster sculpture;
Height 600 mm

INAF-Palermo Astronomical Observatory

The Jesuit director of the Collegio Romano Observatory was a pioneer in astrophysics.
To him were due important studies on solar physics, as well as one of the first stellar spectra classification schemes. He played a key role for the Palermo Observatory as his collaboration with Pietro Tacchini, with whom he began a fruitful partnership, led to the foundation of Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani in 1871.
The bust was commissioned to Domenico Costantini, a disciple of the sculptor Valerio Villareale, after Secchi’s death, probably around 1870, and was donated to the Palermo Observatory. [i.c.]

Bibl.: Chinnici 2015, p. 15.