Nivola's Work Brightens Quincy House

Sardinian-born sculptor Costantino Nivola has contributed two works to the uncompleted commons wing of Quincy. His graffito--a combination of fresco painting and engraving on white stucco--adorns the west wall of the main dining room, while a Nivola bas-relief covers the wall separating the stairwell from the dinning room.

The graffito, which the artist and his 15-year-old son Peter completed in one day late in August, is 30 feet wide and 16 feet high. Working behind a team of plasterers who spread a quarter inch of white stucco over the black wall, Nivola first outlined his figures in paint with a thin brush. Then he and his son filled in the outline with solid blues, yellows and orange. Finally Nivola scratched deep lines through the colors and plaster to the black wall.

The bas relief, 17 feet wide and 30 feet high, was cast earlier in the year at Nivola's studio in Long Island and was shipped to Cambridge in sections. Construction workers then mounted the sections on the wall with cement and brass wire ties.