The Tuscan sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850): an introduction  by Dr David Wilson

Regarding British scholarship, in 1978 John Kenworthy-Browne wrote, ‘When Canova and Thorvaldsen were worshipped, Bartolini was thought inferior, probably because he refused to bow to the antique. Yet he should rightly be recognised as one of the great sculptors of his age.’ Since then, Bartolini’s position in European art has been considered afresh through exhibitions and in articles and book chapters by historians from several countries including Britain. In 1814, following Emperor Napoleon’s first abdication, the Grand Duke of Tuscany was restored to his throne from which Napoleon had deposed him in 1801. Having earlier been in the service of Napoleon’s family at Carrara, in 1814 Bartolini established his practice in Tuscany’s capital, Florence, remaining there until his death. Florence’s post-Napoleonic political and social landscape contributed to Bartolini’s early commercial success there, despite resentment towards him from his competitors and the Academy. Canova died in 1822, and after the return to Denmark in 1838 of Thorvaldsen, Canova’s chief competitor in Rome, Bartolini undoubtedly was the most important sculptor in Italy. He enjoyed a large clientele, especially from Britain and Europe, with a mix of aristocratic, political, diplomatic, military, industrial, literary, and artistic backgrounds. This talk, a general introduction to Bartolini’s career, will note some of his British patrons.

David Wilson, has published widely on sculpture and paintings, and is completing the writing for a book about Bartolini. He has identified the sitters in many of Bartolini’s model portraits in the Florentine Galleria dell’Accademia (Bartolini did not systematically record his patrons). He has also located many hitherto missing works by Bartolini, and discovered information that fundamentally challenges existing commentaries on some of Bartolini’s major works regarding their dates, patrons, and circumstances of commissioning (see Sculpture Journal in 2022, with two further publications this year). His book addresses Bartolini’s work at Carrara and then examines the sculptor’s career in Florence, his oeuvre, artistic legacy, personality, and business practices. It provides a nuanced assessment of Bartolini’s departure from classical precedent in the modelling of his sculptures and his promotion of naturalism over the conventional formulaic methods of instruction to students that were based on copying classical models or live models arranged in classical poses. All those matters are discussed through case studies of Bartolini’s works for British, Irish and other patrons.

Between Canova and Ingres: Lorenzo Bartolini’s Career in Italy and France by Francesco Zagnoni

Lorenzo Bartolini (1777–1850), a pivotal figure in nineteenth-century Italian sculpture, has been reassessed in the past fifteen years and rightly positioned within the broader context of European art. The Tuscan sculptor enjoyed international acclaim, not only due to his training in the prestigious Parisian atelier of Jacques-Louis David, but also because, upon returning to Italy, he successfully attracted an international clientele to his Florentine workshop, including kings, politicians, aristocrats and some of the most renowned writers and musicians of his time.

This talk aims to restore Bartolini’s international profile by examining his relationships with two central figures in the European artistic scene: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Antonio Canova. Ingres, a fellow student and close friend, shared patrons, stylistic preferences and theoretical views on art with Bartolini. While Bartolini has often been seen as an alternative voice within the Italian artistic landscape compared to Canova, a closer examination of documents and sculptures reveals a far more complex and nuanced relationship between the two.

Furthermore, the analysis of some of Bartolini’s most significant sculptures commissioned for France and Italy will provide an opportunity to assess his connections with these artists and his role in the artistic scene of his time.

Francesco Zagnoni graduated in Visual Arts at the University of Bologna in 2020. He continued his studies at the Scuola di specializzazione in Beni storico artistici of the same university, earning his degree in 2022. Currently, he is a PhD candidate at the University of Bologna researching the work of the nineteenth-century Italian sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini. He has already published two papers on this artist, one of which, dedicated to Bartolini’s portrait of Jérôme-Charles Baciocchi, appeared in the Italian journal Bollettino d’Arte. Since 2021 he has been working in collaboration with the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica of Bologna.