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Manzù’s early works were nudes, portraits, and biblical subjects, executed in a style that at first was influenced by Etruscan, Egyptian, and medieval art. However, he soon adopted the Impressionist techniques of the Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso. Manzù visited Rome in 1934, a trip that inspired him to concentrate on religious themes. In 1938 he sculpted the figure of a Roman Catholic cardinal, initiating a series of more than 50 seated or standing cardinals. He also sculpted many tender portrayals of female nudes. Manzù’s most noteworthy work of the war years was Francesca, a seated nude that won the Grand Prix of the Rome Quadriennale in 1942.
In 1948 Manzù was awarded the first prize for Italian sculpture at the Venice Biennale. Two years later he was commissioned to create a set of monumental bronze doors for St. Peter’s in Rome. The portal was dedicated in 1964, after the death of Pope John XXIII whose official portrait Manzù had executed.