Lot 89: Pietro Calvi , Italian 1833-1884 Touareg bronze, dark brown patina and white marble

the bust signed CALVI - MILANO . bronze, dark brown patina and white marble

measurements height 27 1/2 in. alternate measurements 70 cm

Pietro Calvi was a sculptor of international standing during the last quarter of the 19th century. He exhibited widely outside Italy and worked for a time in the United States. Born in Milan, Calvi studied at the Accademia, but the greatest formative influence on the young artist was his collaboration with Giovanni Seleroni. It was Seleroni who encouraged Calvi's coloristic experiments. Calvi worked, like so many of his contemporaries, on the decoration of Milan Cathedral, for which he carved the statue of the St. Valeria. He also worked in the nearby Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel. Most of his busts explore theatrical and operatic subjects. Selika (see lot 40, Sotheby's London, November 26, 1998), Aida (see lot 68, Sotheby's London, December 9, 1993), and Aleydah and Ali-Ben Ladiar (see lot 142, Sotheby's London, June 27, 2007) are well-known examples. Calvi's American sojourn resulted in his much reproduced busts of Uncle Tom and the Minstrel (Sotheby's, London, July 9, 2002, lot 160).