Pietro Paoletti (Belluno 1801 - 1847)

Created by Pietro Paoletti, the volumes were designed as keepsakes for the traveller returning from the Grand Tour, enabling them to live with an encyclopedic visual record of Italy’s artistic heritage. As Count Hawks Le Grice observed of Paoletti’s works, “Although the Impronte are but miniature copies, yet they exhibit all the fidelity and beauty of the originals, and convey to the eye a better idea of sculptured works of art than the most finished engravings.”¹

Each volume titled, Museo Vaticano, Museo Capitolino, Villa Albani e Museo di Firenze, Museo di Napoli, Museo Sommariva, Monumenti in Vari Luoghi and Opere di Canova e Thorwaldsen, focuses on some of the most recognizable Italian sculptures, personalities, and buildings. Some sets produced by Paoletti are more specialized, at times concentrating on themes, including collections devoted exclusively to erotic sculpture.

Pietro Paoletti and his father, Bartolomeo Paoletti, enjoyed an exceptional reputation in their lifetime and counted among their patrons Catherine the Great and Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The family firm continued to operate after Pietro’s death, remaining active until at least 1865. Today, examples of Paoletti's casts are preserved in major public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Yale Center for British Art.