''Renato Bertelli'' (1900 in

Lastra a Signa Lastra a Signa is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the metropolitan city of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about west of Florence. Main sights *Hospital of Sant'Antonio (1411) *"Brunelleschi" Walls, although the attribution to the ...

– 1974 in Florence) was an Italian

Futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

artist. His most, and perhaps only, noted work is the 1933

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

bust of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

in the ''aeroceramica'' style, ''Profilo continuo del Duce'' (also cited as ''Profilo contino del Duce''). The title is sometimes given as "Head of Mussolini" but is better known as "Head of Mussolini (Continuous Profile)", "Continuous profile of Mussolini", or "Continuous Profile – Head of Mussolini". The sculpture is one block with the Mussolini's distinctive profile continuing around 360 degrees. The sculpture was later

mass produced Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. ...

in several versions, in bronzed

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

, wood, and aluminium. Mussolini, with his taste for self-commemoration, approved it as an official

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

References

Marco Moretti, ''Renato Bertelli'', monografia critica, Masso delle Fate Edizioni, Signa, 2007, pp. 160.

External links

The "Continuous Profile" at a ceramics exhibition
at the

Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The gallery was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporatio ...

"Profilo continuo del Duce"
Wolfsonian Museum
Images of "Profilo continuo del Duce"
on the internet art auction site

artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City. It is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly-traded company based in Berlin that is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Ex ...

Card advertising "Profilo continuo del Duce, opera dello scultore Bertelli ('work of sculptor Bertelli') "in various sizes and materials
from an Italian

Militaria Militaria, also known as military memorabilia, are military equipment which are collected for their historical significance. Such items include firearms, swords, sabres, knives, bayonets, helmets and other equipment such as uniforms, military ...

website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertelli, Renato 1900 births 1974 deaths People from Lastra a Signa 20th-century Italian artists Futurist artists