Silvio P. Zoratti Adam and Eve Sculpture

Circa 1963: Silvio Peter Zoratti (1896-1992) was an Italian immigrant who came to America after being released from a WWI German prisoner of war camp. He had been trained as a stone carver in Europe and settled in Ohio, where, in 1923, he took a stonemason position on the Nickel Plate Railroad and worked there until his retirement in 1961. Zoratti did a few folk art stone sculptures for himself starting in 1958, and he began working in wood after his retirement and would continue carving until the 1980s when he stopped because of failing eyesight. Zoratti completed around 300 sculptures and had them displayed outside in his garden and around his tool shed. Because the carvings were kept outside and survived the harsh northeastern Ohio winters along Lake Erie, they are often more weathered on the side that faced the oncoming winds. This 11.25"H x 9.5"W oak carving is impressed "Adam & Eve About To Fall" on the front and "Silvio P. Zoratti 1963" on the reverse. There are remnants of original red and green paint decoration and original varnish on the front, but the back is still almost fully varnished, a sign that it was displayed under the eave of Zorratti's tool shed. The original base is attached with two large screws. Oak is a hardwood and is extremely difficult to work, and the attention to detail that Zoratti pays in this beautiful portrayal of Adam and Eve in their final moment in the Garden of Eden is a testament to his paramount carving skills and his intimately personal artistic vison.