Rinaldo Barbetti (29 March 1830 - 1904) was an Italian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

, designer and illustrator. He created designs with different

art mediums Arts media is the material and tools used by an artist, composer or designer to create a work of art, for example, "pen and ink" where the pen is the tool and the ink is the material. Here is a list of types of art and the media used within those ...

such as leather, gold and wood.

Early life

Barbetti was born 29 March 1830 in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

, Italy. When he was ten years old he was working as a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

. In 1841 the Barbetti family moved to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

and he worked with his father who was a successful wood carver. His father Angelo Barbetti ran one of the most successful

Wood carving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

shops doing work for wealthy Europeans, including Anatoly Demidov and the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

. The Barbetti's also exhibited their work in competitions and won two medals at the

1851 Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

in London: for furniture and sculpture. At night he Rinaldo Barbetti worked as an apprenticed under designer Ulysses Owens carving picture frames.

Career

Barbetti was considered one of the leading artisits in Florence, Italy. He was called on to produce artwork throughout Florence. He worked with stamped leather in the Villa Paolina. He was also an expert engraver and was known for the precision of his work. He did work on the facade of the Florentine Duomo. In Florence, 1900 he was commissioned by Desiderio Chilovi, to create an urn for the poet

Dante's Dante's is a nightclub and live music venue in Portland, Oregon. The venue, located along Burnside Street, West Burnside Street and owned by Frank Faillace, hosts a variety of acts ranging from burlesque to rock music. Dante's is housed in an unr ...

ashes, or what was referred to as "Dante's dust". Barbetti designed the urn but it is not known if he ever created it. The urn has never been found and there are no pictures of it. His design was also used on the

Italian lira The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually ...

currency for the 1943 banknote known as the Grande M or Mille Lire. In 1876 Barbetti renovated the giant Apennine Colossus statue. The woodwork in the library of

Les Ambassadeurs Club The Les Ambassadeurs Club (popularly known as "Les A") is a club and casino located at 5 Hamilton Place in Mayfair, London. It was established in Hanover Square in 1941 by John Mills, and has had several owners since Mills’s sale of the club ...

was completed in the Florentine studios of Rinaldo Barbetti.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbetti, Rinaldo 1830 births 1904 deaths Italian sculptors