The Meteor in the Sicilian Sky In the golden, sun-drenched landscape of seventeenth-century Sicily, a singular brilliance emerged that would forever alter the texture of Baroque ornamentation. Rudolf Wittkower famously christened Giacomo Serpotta as a “meteor in the Sicilian sky,” a metaphor that perfectly captures the sudden, dazzling impact of an artist who rose from provincial roots to achieve a level of mastery rarely seen in the history of sculpture. Born in Palermo in 1656, Serpotta did not seek the grand stages of Rome or Florence; instead, he remained anchored to his native island, t…