Pietro Calvi

Pietro Calvi was a sculptor of international standing during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.  He exhibited widely outside Italy and worked for a time in the United States.  His dramatic bust of Othello is one of the masterpieces of the coloured sculpture tradition.

The present bust exploits the same striking colouristic effects as the Othello, contrasting white and coloured marbles with rich bronze. Paired with a bust of the Romantic heroine Aleydah, the model of Ali-Ben Ladiar was exhibited first in Turin in 1884 and then at the Paris Salon in 1885. The present version is particularly attractive and rare in its use of yellow marble for the shoulders.

Born in Milan, Calvi studied at the Accademia, but the greatest formative influence on the young artist was Giovanni Seleroni, with whom he collaborated. It was Seleroni who encouraged Calvi's colouristic experiments.  Like many of his contemporaries, Calvi worked on the decoration of Milan Cathedral, for which he carved the statue of the Saint Valeria. Most of his ideal busts explore theatrical and operatic subjects.