Giacinto Melillo (1845 to 1915)
At the age of seventeen, Giacinto Melillo was appointed by Allessandro Castellani to manage the Castellani work shop in Naples at 54/55 Piazza dei Martiri. This was testament to the early development of Melillo’s talent, given that he had completed only half of his apprenticeship at the time. Melillo took over the workshop as his own in 1870, continuing to produce jewelry in the “Archaeological Style” as inspired by the Castellanis. In 1900, he won the Grand Prix and Legion D’honneur for work shown at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900. Recognized as a master of granulation and other ancient techniques, Melillo was said to have produced much of the jewelry Allessandro Castellani displayed, bearing his own hallmark, in the 1878 Paris exposition.
Information courtesy of Skinner Inc. June 2003