Giovanni de Angelis grew up in a family of artists on Ischia. His talent and his interest in the fine arts were therefore encouraged early on. At the young age of eleven, he was already considered a “wunderkind” and won his first prize (the Milan “Primo Premio del Fanciullo Artista”, the “First Prize for a Boy Artist”), and the next year, the twelve-year-old spent time at the studio of the renowned sculptor Alexander Zschokke in Basel. De Angelis’ academic instruction began first at the Istituto d’arte di Napoli, and in 1960 he was ultimately accepted to the Accademie d’arte di Firenze. Here and at the Munich Art Academy, which he attended on a scholarship from the Federal Republic of Germany, he finished his studies. Even these “years of apprenticeship” were accompanied by several prizes and brought the young artist to the attention of collectors and major museums. For instance, the famous Wallraf Richartz Museum in Cologne acquired in 1962 a work by the then 24-year-old (a “pregnant woman”, which has been part of the Ludwig Collection since 1986). In the following decades, de Angelis produced an extensive oeuvre of small and large sculptures, up to monumental ensembles. The artist prefers to work in Carrara marble (he even lived for a few years near the quarries) and in lava rock. From both, he manages to unlock quite classic shapes and forms which reviewers have repeatedly described as “to be experienced with the senses”.