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From 6 February to 26 October 2025 at Gallerie d’Italia – Naples, Intesa Sanpaolo presents David by the Italian artist Jago.

The artwork has been installed in the museum’s monumental atrium, which periodically hosts exceptional pieces, either from Intesa Sanpaolo’s art collections or from major Italian and international museums, as part of an ongoing exchange and collaboration initiative.

The sculpture was unveiled by Michele Coppola, Executive Director of Art, Culture, and Historical Heritage at Intesa Sanpaolo, and Don Antonio Loffredo, President of the Fondazione San Gennaro, which manages additional services at the Jago Museum—the institution from which the artwork originates. The Jago Museum is housed in the Church of Sant’Aspreno ai Crociferi, located in the Sanità district of Naples, where Don Antonio serves as rector. The church was reopened in 2023, giving rise to numerous social and cultural inclusion projects that are vital to the local community, thanks in part to the support of Intesa Sanpaolo.

THE ARTWORK
The sculpture David is a nearly two-meter-tall plaster piece created by Jago in 2024. As in his other works, Jago draws from classical iconography and the tradition of the great masters, reinterpreting the myth of David and Goliath in a contemporary way to tell a different story—one still rich in courage and resilience. The iconography is recognizable through the woman’s proud stance (evoking Michelangelo’s famous David), as well as the presence of the sling and stone—symbols featured in Jago’s latest masterpieces—ready to be launched. The David project began in 2020 when Jago hand-sculpted the first clay sketch. From that initial vision, he later created a plaster model, which will eventually be carved into marble from a Carrara block over four meters tall.

THE ARTIST
JAGO is an Italian sculptor born in Frosinone in 1987. His artistic approach is rooted in traditional techniques while establishing a direct connection with the public through videos and social media, sharing his creative process. At 24, he was selected to participate in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale, exhibiting the marble bust of Pope Benedict XVI (2009). The youthful sculpture was later reworked in 2016, renamed Habemus Hominem, and became one of his most well-known works. In 2019, during the ESA’s Beyond mission, Jago became the first artist to send a marble sculpture (The First Baby) to the International Space Station. In November 2020, he created the installation Look Down, initially placed in Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples before being exhibited in the Al Haniyah desert in Fujairah (UAE). On October 1, 2021, Jago installed his Pietà in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Montesanto, in Piazza del Popolo (Rome), and on March 12, 2022, he inaugurated the exhibition JAGO – The Exhibition at Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome. On May 20, 2023, his workshop in the Church of Sant’Aspreno ai Crociferi (Naples) opened to the public as the Jago Museum.

Gallerie d’Italia – Naples
Via Toledo 177 Italy

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