ITALIANS IN LONDON PISTRUCCI (Filippo, 1777-1857, Artist, Engraver, Poet & Teacher, elder brother of the medallist Benedetto)

Autograph Letter Signed to Signor PACINI, in Italian with translation, saying that his brother Benedetto PISTRUCCI, (1783-1855), "returned last Wednesday and ... told me that the following day they would begin to strike the medals ... I believe that at present the work will be going ahead, but it always takes a substantial time for the operation, I am not very familiar with such things", he will write to him "this evening" and also gives Benedetto's address as "at the Royal Mint", he sends greetings "to your lady daughter, and to Signor PAGANINI", (Niccolò, 1782-1840, the great violinist), "After his first public appearances we shall see each other", the writer means "to come and pay him my respects shortly", 1 side 8vo., no place [London], no date, circa (Translation)
Signor Pacini,
My brother returned last Wednesday and came to see me in the evening and told me that the following day they would begin to strike the medals, whence I believe that at present the work will be going ahead, but it always takes a substantial time for the operation, I am not very familiar with such things.
This evening I will write to him; but here is his address:
To Signor B. Pistrucci
at the Royal Mint.
My greetings to your lady daughter, and to Signor Paganini. After his first public appearances we shall see each other, I mean to come and pay him my respects shortly.
Yours most sincerely
F. Pistrucci

Both Filippo Pistrucci and his brother Benedetto, born in Rome, had precocious talent. They studied at the Museum on the Capitol, excelling in drawing and wax modelling respectively. (Benedetto came to London to work in 1815 and later modelled the famous St George and the Dragon, still used on gold coins).
Filippo stayed in Italy and at Milan in 1819 and 1821 re-published Cornelius Ripa's Iconologia, a famous source book for artists and poets, in two magnificent volumes with coloured illustrations. He was also a political activist, plotting to free Lombardy from the Austrians, and had to flee, joining his brother in London in 1822. An English version of Ripa was not so successful, but Filippo continued making fine paintings and etchings.
In Milan Filippo had bought a Bible for its illustrations. Now in London he read it closely, and turned to Evangelical Protestantism, like others of the Risorgimento such as Mazzini, exiled in 1837 also in London. They became close friends - Mazzini spent his first Christmas Day in England with Filippo. From 1841 to 1848 Filippo was headmaster of Mazzini's Italian Free School, and his painter son Scipione campaigned with Mazzini during the revolutions in Italy of 1848, acting for a while as his secretary. Another close friend was the poet Gabriele Rossetti, whose family he painted.
Paganini visited London between 1831 and 1834.

Item Date:  1831

Stock No:  56131      £375

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