Acquired from the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence a bust of Napoleon made by Lorenzo Bartolini

The Accademia Gallery in Florence enriches its collections with a new work: it is a marble bust depicting Napoleon Bonaparte made by Lorenzo Bartolini. As of today, the recent acquisition will be visible in the new display of the Gipsoteca.

The sculpture had been spotted at the Milanese antique dealer Carlo Orsi during the XXXII Biennale dell’Antiquariato, which was held in Florence last September.

“The choice of this work is my personal gift to Lorenzo Bartolini,” commented Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Accademia Gallery in Florence, “who was, throughout his career, an enthusiastic fan of Napoleon, of whom we had no portrait. Our Gipsoteca holds numerous plaster busts of Napoleon’s family members but not one depicting him. This effigy showing him depicted without the imperial insignia, rendered in his individuality, finally comes to fill this lack.”

Lorenzo Bartolini executed numerous portraits of Napoleon. With his transfer, in 1808, to the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, he was given the post of “director of the Elysian bank for the statuary part” and was responsible for the mass reproduction of Napoleon’s busts, inspired by the prototype of the colossal bronze one made in 1805 for the entrance of the Museé Napoléon, as the Louvre was called at the time. With the Restoration, the artist continued to make portraits of the emperor at the request of nostalgic patrons and private admirers.

This bust, signed on the right side L. Bartolini, corresponds to this period: it is in fact very different from the large official busts, where Napoleon was presented with heroic attributes, crowned with laurel, with clear references to ancient sculptures. In this case it is stripped of all celebratory elements, distant from traditional idealizations, showing the attention the artist paid in those years to the natural datum in order to capture facial features through refined modulation, and restoring to the figure of Napoleon a melancholy and brooding gaze.

Bartolini’s only other marble bust in the museum is the one depicting Giovanni Battista Niccolini, donated in 2017 by the Association of Friends of the Accademia Gallery.

Pictured is Lorenzo Bartolini’s bust of Napoleon recently acquired by the Accademia Gallery in Florence. Photo Serge Domingie

Acquired from the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence a bust of Napoleon made by Lorenzo Bartolini

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.