Francesco Bartolozzi
Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1815), Italian engraver,
was born at Florence.
He was originally destined to follow the profession
of his father, who was a gold- and silver-smith; but he manifested
so much skill and taste in designing that he was placed under the
superintendence of two Florentine artists, who instructed him in
painting. After devoting three years to that art, he went to Venice
and studied engraving. He made very rapid progress, and executed
some works of considerable importance at Venice. He then removed
for a short time to Rome, where he completed a set of engravings
representing events from the life of St Nilus, and, after returning
to Venice, set out for London in 1764.
For nearly forty years he resided in London, and
produced an enormous number of engravings, the best being those
of Clytie, after Annibale Caracci, and of the Virgin and Child,
after Carlo Dolci. A great proportion of them are from the works
of Cipriani and Angelica Kauffmann. Bartolozzi also contributed
a number of plates to Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery.
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