Claude’s Death in Malgrate (1923)

Claude Valsuani died on September 9, 1923, in Malgrate, a small town on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy. He was forty-seven years old, cut down at the height of his career, having built one of Paris’s most respected bronze foundries.

Death Certificate Details

• Full Name: Valsuani Claudio
• Age: 47 years
• Profession: “industriale” (industrialist)
• Residence: Paris
• Spouse: Maria Giovanna Valsuani
• Father: “figlio di fu Carlo” (son of the late Carlo)
• Mother: Adelaide Casale

Evidential Significance

Even at the moment of Claude’s death, the official ecclesiastical record confirms what every other document demonstrates: his father was named Carlo. The phrase “fu Carlo” (the late Carlo) acknowledges that Carlo had predeceased his son, consistent with Carlo’s documented death in 1886, thirty-seven years earlier.

The Description “Industriale”

The death certificate’s characterization of Claude as an “industrialist” residing in Paris reflects his status as proprietor of a significant manufacturing enterprise. The Valsuani foundry, by 1923, had become a landmark institution in the Parisian art world, a transformation Claude had achieved from humble origins as the orphaned son of an Italian civil servant.

Legacy Continuation

Following Claude’s death, the foundry passed to his son Marcel, who would continue operations and maintain the family’s reputation for casting excellence through subsequent decades.