Lorenzo Bartolini: The Purist Sculptor Rediscovered in Milan

The Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan is hosting a fall 2024 exhibition dedicated to Lorenzo Bartolini (1777–1850), the leading Italian sculptor after Canova and key figure of Purism. Born in Savignano near Prato to a blacksmith father, Bartolini's rebellious nature led him to abandon the Florentine Academy. He trained under Giovanni Insom and later in Volterra with an alabaster worker. In 1799, he traveled to Paris with General Macdonald's army, studied under Jacques-Louis David, and befriended Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, with whom he shared a studio. Bartolini won second place in the 1802 Prix de Rome and created major works like the bust of Napoleon for the Louvre and the Battle of Austerlitz bas-relief. His Napoleonic ties earned him the directorship of the Scuola di Scultura at the Accademia di Carrara in 1808 but also local hostility. After Napoleon's fall, he fled to Florence, where he catered to Grand Tour tourists. His masterpiece, Fiducia in Dio (1833), at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, depicts a praying servant girl as an allegory of faith. Another key work, Carità educatrice (1835), commissioned by the Grand Duke, is at Palazzo Pitti. Bartolini finally obtained a professorship at the Florentine Academy at age 62, teaching until his death from fever in 1850. His Purist style rejected Neoclassical idealism in favor of naturalistic representation, even using a hunchback as a model. The exhibition runs through autumn 2024.