Giovanni Battista Lombardi Italian, 1823-1880

Giovanni Battista Lombardi is representative of the Italian school of romantic realism which developed after around 1850. This movement was an important factor in the decline of Neo-classicism which had remained more or less unchanged since the 1820's.

Lombardi began his career in his father's marble workshop, before studying at the scuola di Disegno di Rezzato and then in Milan under Lorenzo Vela, Vincenzo's brother. He continued his studies in Rome, where he took life-drawing classes under Pietro Tenerani and set up a studio with his brother Giovita.

Traces of Neo-classicism remained in Lombardi's work, particularly in the funerary monuments for which he was well-known. However, the exoticism of his marble figures of biblical subjects, such as Susanna, and the gentle sentimentality which pervades his figures of children both reflect a more modern interest in detail, mood and realism.

RELATED LITERATURE
Vicario, p. 614-619; Panzetta, vol.1, p.167