Francesco Bartolozzi

Lemuel Francis Abbott, Portrait of Francesco Bartolozzi. Tate, London.
A detail of one of Bartolozzi's prints, showing the tonal effects of the technique of stipple engraving, in which he was an expert
Queen Charlotte painted by William Beechey, engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi.
The Hours; after Maria Cosway.
Bartolozzi's engraving of Lady Meutas after Holbein.

Francesco Bartolozzi RA (Florence, 21 September 1727 – 7 March 1815, Lisbon) was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London.

Early life

Bartolozzi was born in Florence. He was originally destined to follow the profession of his father, a gold- and silver-smith, but he manifested so much skill and taste in designing that he was placed under the supervision of two Florentine artists, including Ignazio Hugford and Giovanni Domenico Ferretti who instructed him in painting. After devoting three years to that art, he went to Venice and studied engraving. He particularly admired the work of Joseph Wagner.[1]

Early career

His first productions in Venice were plates in the style of Marco Ricci, Zuccarelli, and others, while working for Wagner, which began to draw attention. He then moved for a short time to Rome, where he completed a set of engravings representing frescoes at Grottaferrata by Domenichino depicting the life of St Nilus. He soon returned to Venice and left for London in 1764.

Career in London

He lived in London for nearly forty years. He produced an enormous number of engravings, including Clytie after Annibale Carracci, and of the Virgin and Child, after Carlo Dolci. A large proportion of them are from the works of Cipriani and Angelica Kauffman. Bartolozzi also contributed a number of plates to Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery. He also drew sketches of his own in red chalk. Soon after arriving in London, he was appointed 'Engraver to the King' with an annual salary of £300. He was elected a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768, and in 1802 became the founding President of the short-lived Society of Engravers.

His pupils were Michele Benedetti, Ignatius Joseph van den Berghe, Thomas Cheesman, Lambertus Antonius Claessens, Daniel Gardner, Christiaan Josi, Johan Fredrik Martin, Conrad Martin Metz, Luigi Schiavonetti, John Keyse Sherwin, Heinrich Sintzenich, Peltro William Tomkins, Don Bernardo Zilotti,[2] and Gabriel Scorodomoff.[3]

Bartolozzi was not the inventor of the so-called crayon manner of engraving, which imitated the subtleties of chalk drawings, but he made it the fashion.

Later life

In 1802, Bartolozzi accepted the post of director of the National Academy of Lisbon, the city where he died. His son Gaetano Stefano Bartolozzi, born in 1757, was also an engraver, and the father of Madame Vestris.

Works

Ticozzi and Bryan both published lists of his output, including:

Original etchings

Etchings after masterworks

Etchings after Cipriani

Engravings after Angelica Kauffman

Others

Notes

  1. ↑ Ticozzi, p117.
  2. ↑ Francesco Bartolozzi in the RKD
  3. ↑ https://art.famsf.org/gabriel-scorodomoff
  4. ↑ Lord Mansfield (after Sir Joshua Reynolds), 1786.
  5. ↑ Mary, Queen of Scots, with her Little Son James I (after Zuccaro), 1779.

References

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