LO SCHIAVO, VIRGIL (1909-1971)

**PRICE ON APPLICATION**
 
"Industry (Tom Thumb)" (1953) 
oil on canvas
152.5 x 376cm 
*Sulman Prize Finalist, 1953 
*Commonwealth Bank, Bankstown
*private collection, Sydney
 
Lo Schiavo was an award-winning Italian-born Australian Muralist, known as 'Michaelangelo Of The Antipodeons". He was born on Salina in Sicily in 1909, & emigrated with his family as a child. He studied at the Art School at Sydney University under Antonio Dattilo Rubbo, joining the Australian Art Society & graduated in 1932. He left for Europe in 1933, & was the first Australian to graduate from the Accademia Reale di Belle Arti in Roma. In 1934, he was commissioned to paint his first mural in the Church of San Lorenzo in Malfa, his birthplace. He also began studying at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze. In 1936, he returned to Sydney, taking on numerous commissions in churches across Australia, including the San Francesco Church in Paddington, Cerretti Chapel in Manly & St. Stephens Cathedral in Brisbane. In 1939, he had his first solo exhibition at the Italian Club, & later that year moved to Bombay, India in search of artistic inspiration, completing 27 murals in the New Ritz Hotel. In 1946, he won the acclaimed Sulman Prize, Australia’s greatest mural prize, for his inspirational ‘Tribute To Shakespeare’ commission at Sydney University. He would complete two more large murals at the University, & two at St. Mary’s Cathedral, with dear friend, Academy Award-winning actor, Peter Finch, as a model.In the 1950s, the Commonwealth Bank commissioned Vergil to complete murals in three main branches; Sydney City, Newcastle and Bankstown. The works, collectively known as ‘Industry’ were Sulman Prize finalists, and depicted the progress of agriculture & industry in Sydney & Newcastle, & the Birth of Modern Australia following the landing of the First Fleet.
 
This huge 3.5m wide mural was commissioned by the Commonwealth Bank in 1953, and hung in the Bankstown Branch for twenty years. Originally part of a diptych, it shows colonial explorers George Bass & Matthew Flinders setting off on the Tom Thumb to explore Port Jackson, Botany Bay & up the Georges River in 1796, leading to the settlement at ‘Banks’ Town’ (Bankstown). The work was a finalist in the 1953 Sulman Prize.