Pietro Tenerani

1789 – 1869

Italian sculptor. From 1803 he trained under Lorenzo Bartolini at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara, where he was also influenced by his uncle, Pietro Marchetti (active 1789-1850), the professor of sculpture, and by the French painter Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Desmarais (1756-1813). In 1813 he won a scholarship to study in Rome and moved there in 1814. He visited art exhibitions and museums, took lessons in painting the nude at the Académie de France and attended the studio of Gaspare Landi. As a fundamental test for all aspiring sculptors, he copied one of The Dioscuri, colossal Roman statues of Castor and Pollux located on Monte Cavallo (now Piazza del Quirinale), though he destroyed his copy. In 1816 he received significant recognition by winning the Premio dell'Anonimo, instituted by Canova, for his much-acclaimed Risen Redeemer (untraced). Towards the end of 1815 he came into contact with Bertel Thorvaldsen and worked with him in his studio in the Piazza Barberini. He became famous with his Psyche Abandoned (c. 1817, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Florence). In collaboration with Thorvaldsen, Tenerani executed different monuments and works on mythological subjects. He also created various bust portraits of prominent people of the epoch.

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