Eight etchings by Luigi Bartolini enter the Uffizi collections.

Eight etchings by one of the greatest engravers of the twentieth century, Luigi Bartolini (Cupramontana 1892- Rome 1963), are joining the Uffizi collections. The works were purchased at an auction, in Florence by Pananti, which was attended personally by the director of the Uffizi Galleries, Eike Schmidt.

The newly acquired etchings, including Il davanzale piccolo (1927), Poesie scritte di sera (1952) and the highly poetic La fragile conchiglia (1936), constitute a concise but significant nucleus of works useful for understanding the refined art and dry, unmistakable style (as well as well as their changes over time) of the Ancona-born engraver; they will be added to the collection of the museum’s Cabinet of Drawings and Prints, where twelve other works by the artist are already preserved.

Luigi Bartolini was also a poet, writer and author in 1946 of the novel Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves), from which Cesare Zavattini drew the screenplay for Vittorio De Sica’s film of the same name.

In addition to having written dozens of novels and poetry collections, Bartolini, along with Giorgio Morandi and Giuseppe Viviani, is considered among the greatest Italian engravers of the 20th century: his intense artistic activity unfolded over more than four decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Pictured is The Fragile Shell.

Eight etchings by Luigi Bartolini enter the Uffizi collections.

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