Details of Sculptor

Surname

Bartoli

Alternative Surname

First Name

Domenico

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1761-1805

Year of Death

Biographical Details

He and his partner John Augustus Richter were the leading scagliola makers in London in the 1770s. Bartoli came from Leghorn. The earliest evidence of his presence in England is a court record of 1761, in which he is described as a carver, with an address in Newman Street, Westminster. He was probably the first inlayer of scagliola to work in England, although Charles Clerici was engaged in producing architectural work such as columns, pilasters and wall panels as early as 1737. Some indication of his materials is given by bills in the Burton Constable Accounts which itemise a silk sieve, a small quantity of ‘Terra Sciena’ and cuttle fish bone. These may have been fixatives.
In the years 1763-66 Bartoli was employed as a stuccoist by William Constable at Burton Constable, where he was paid a guinea a week and the cost of his materials (1, 2, 16, 27-29). A receipt in Bartoli’s hand states that on 13 December 1764 he received ‘Fifty Four pounds twelve shillings in full for a year's work’ (2). The work he produced was remarkably accomplished and the chimneypiece he made for the state bed dressing room at Burton Constable appears to be the first time scagliola was inlaid into white statuary marble, as opposed to the coloured marbles used by the Florentine school.
In 1767 Bartoli went into business with Richter, working from premises in Great Newport Street, near Leicester Square. Although they are frequently spoken of as an enduring entity, the partnership appears to have been a relatively brief one, lasting only 10 years, from 1767 to 1777/8. Their work was almost exclusively for Robert Adam (3, 4, 6, 10, 33). After the partnership was dissolved both men continued working for the architects James Wyatt at 15 St James’s Square (25), Thomas Leverton at Watton Wood (12) and George Steuart at Attingham (15) amongst others. In 1794-95 Bartoli went to Ireland to work for James Wyatt at Castle Coole in Co Fermanagh (26).
The last record of his work is a receipt dated 11 March 1805 for a pair of table tops for Carlton House, London (36). On 24 March 1807 a half-circular slab he supplied to Carlton House was returned to him, ‘not being approved of’ (Jutsham). (Add inf. Gerardine Mulcahy)
Donald Cameron
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 41; Wragg 1957, 718-21; Tite 2001, 143; Harris 2001, 9; Cameron 2004, passim
Archival References: Middx sessions papers, London Met Archives SP 1761/02/011(1761); Royal Archives RA GEO/25189 (request for payment), 25190a (payment of £84)
Miscellaneous Drawings: Design for an inlaid table top, Burton Constable acc 1610 (1765)