Details of Sculptor

Surname

Bazzanti

Alternative Surname

First Name

Pierre and Nicholas, of Florence

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1823-45

Year of Death

Biographical Details

The Bazzanti family owned a sculpture shop, Galleria Bazzanti, in the Lungarno Corsini, Florence, where, over many years, they sold copies of well-known works of sculpture as well as originals by various Italian sculptors. Their copies of works by English sculptors included busts of Wellington and Scott after Sir Francis Chantrey. In the first half of the 19th century they were responsible for a number of British funerary monuments. Those to Isabella Cave and Mary Jones are signed by Nicholas and both have reliefs in the classical tradition (2, 3). The monument to Lady Sophia Pierrepoint is the work of Pierre (1). Gunnis noted that the model for this work and the correspondence surrounding its dispatch to England survives in the collection of the Duke of Wellington. The letters are signed by Pierre Bazzanti and his partner, Joseph Moise, who gave their address as ‘pres du Palais Corsini’. In the grounds of Scarisbrick Hall, Lancs are a number of bronze copies of classical works signed by Pierre Bazzanti and his undated statue of Aphrodite kneeling is in the Wellcome Institute collection. Examples of their work in Italy include a marble statue of Orcagna, carved by Nicholas for the Uffizi in 1843, and several monuments in the Old Protestant Cemetery in Florence.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 43; Rowan 1973, 1158; Sicca and Yarrington 2000, 12
Archival References: GPC; NP/RG