Cincinnato Baruzzi

Born to Louis and Vincent Tadolini Maria , daughter of the architect Francesco Tadolini , completed his first studies in his native city . In 1814 he entered the School of Ornate Anatomy and Figure elements of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna , headed at the time by James De Maria.

In 1819 he won the dell’alunnato , who gave him the opportunity to attend a four-year graduate course in Rome at the studio of Antonio Canova. At the master’s death ( October 13, 1822 ) took over the direction in agreement with the sole heir , Monsignor Giovanni Battista Sartori, and the superintendent of the study, the Chevalier Antonio d’ Este.

Among the many works produced remarkable is the story of the group of the Pietà of which Canova had made a plaster model and the abbot Sartori entrusted in 1825 to the transposition marble Baruzzi , but after just one year, the commission withdrew opting for a bronze casting by Bartolomeo Ferrari , which today can be admired in the Temple Canova in Possagno . The completion of the work in marble was borne by the Baruzzi , who managed only to sell it in 1832 to Pope Gregory XVI, that the fate of ‘ the church of the Holy Savior in Terracina.

In September 1831 he was recalled to Bologna Baruzzi to hold the chair of sculpture at the Academy, left vacant following the abandonment of De Maria and renunciation of the designated successor Adam Tadolini . In Bologna , he established his residence in a villa on the hill of San Mamolo , the Elysium or Villa Baruzziana to restructuring devoted his whole life , with the intention of making a sort of house-museum , where giving a fitting home the works carried out and collected over the years.

The inauguration of the villa took place in 1836 , on the occasion of her marriage with the painter Primodì Carolina , daughter of Francis Primodì . During the attack of the Austrian troops in Bologna in 1849, the Elysium was transformed into a fortress : in just twelve days of occupation the house was looted and destroyed and many works were damaged or lost .

As they reached the financial aid promised by the Government, Baruzzi personally went to Rome, Naples and Paris, to place some of his works , but the gains received were not sufficient to cover the amount needed to restore the Baruzziana .

Between 1857 and 1859 , the sculptor went back to Rome to present a project to the completion of the facade of San Petronio in Bologna together with his friend Pelagius Palagi . In 1859 he was the victim of the purge initiated by Luigi Carlo Farini to the detriment of individuals judged supporters of the old regime and was forced to retire .

A year later, his wife Carolina, died without giving him no heir Baruzzi and spent the rest of his life closed in the beloved home , where he died Jan. 28, 1878 . The sculptor in recent years took care to shape off the forbidden fruit that Eve (1873-1878) , his last work devoted to the family grave in the Certosa di Bologna and unfortunately stolen by unknown assailants in 1992.

With holograph of 5 April 1873 , he appointed heir of Bologna City Hall , the bond investment of the heritage for the establishment, within five years after his death, an award for young artists. The villa was sold to Count Henry Casalini in 1882 , but the choices made in the administration of income and in the management of inherited property was not able to avoid the dispersion and, in some cases , the loss of the immense artistic heritage collected and produced by the sculptor Imola . The archive staff and work of Cincinnatus Baruzzi is located at the Biblioteca Comunale of Bologna dell’Archiginnasio . Source: Wikipedia .