About the Artist

(1781-1835) Italian  “Bartolomeo Pinelli was an Italian printmaker, painter, sculptor and draughtsman. He learned the rudiments of sculpture from his father, a maker of cheap religious statuettes. This early training encouraged Pinelli to emphasize plasticity and expression over the Neo-classical values prevalent in Rome. Only a few of his terracotta figures survive (e.g. Man Playing Morra, Rome, Pal. Venezia).  

He did produce a volume of etchings, Gruppi pittoreschi (Rome, 1834), depicting rustic groups. Its emphasis on naturalism and everyday subject matter is also characteristic of his sculptures. Although he studied both at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome and at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna, helped financially by Conte Lambertini, Pope Benedict XIV’s nephew, Pinelli was not interested in pursuing the traditional path to artistic success via religious or history painting. On returning to Rome in the late 1790s, he chose to peddle his works at the cafés frequented by tourists.” Grove Dictionary of Art