Pietro Calvi

Alfonso Panzetta,Nuovo dizionario delgi scultori Italiani. Dell’ottocento e del primo novocento, Milan, 1990, vol. 1, p. 193;
The Colour of Life. Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to Present, exh. cat. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2008, pp. 160-161;
The Colour of Sculpture 1840-1910, exh. cat. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 1996, pp. 125-126

Born in Milan, Pietro 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 - some of his most famous works feature marbles of different colours.  Calvi worked, like so many of his contemporaries, on the decoration of Milan Cathedral for which he carved the statue of the St Valeria.  He also worked in the nearby Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel.  Most of his Ideal busts explore theatrical and operatic subjects.  Selika (see lot 40, Sotheby's London, 26 November 1998) and  Aida (see lot 68, Sotheby's London, 9 December 1993) are well known examples.  Calvi's American sojourn resulted in his much reproduced busts of Uncle Tom and The Minstrel (Sotheby's, London, 9 July 2002, lot 160).

RELATED LITERATURE
Alfonso Panzetta,Nuovo dizionario delgi scultori Italiani. Dell’ottocento e del primo novocento, Milan, 1990, vol. 1, p. 193;
The Colour of Life. Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to Present, exh. cat. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2008, pp. 160-161;
The Colour of Sculpture 1840-1910, exh. cat. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 1996, pp. 125-126