Leonardo Barbieri

Leonardo Barbieri (1818–1896) was an Italian painter, who was active in the Americas in from 1840s to the 1860s. He is famous for his numerous portraits of Californios, produced between 1849 and 1853, considered to be California's most important collection of portraits from the 19th century, earning him the epithet as "California's Leonardo".[1]

Leonardo Barbieri
Bornc. 1818
Savoy, Italy
Died1896
Savoy, Italy
Occupation(s)Portraitist, daguerrotypist

Life
Portrait of Carlos Antonio Carrillo, 1852; Santa Barbara Historical Museum.
Portrait of Francisco Pérez Pacheco, 1852; De Saisset Museum of Santa Clara University.

Barbieri was born in 1818 in the Duchy of Savoy, Italy.[2][3] He was educated in Lyon.[4]

Argentina and Bolivia

Barbieri emigrated to the Americas in 1844, to Buenos Aires in Argentina, where he became a portraitist.[4] He subsequently taught drawing in La Paz, Bolivia.

California

By 1849, he had opened a studio in San Francisco, followed by Santa Barbara in 1850 and 1852,[4] and Monterey in 1852.[3] Barbieri is famed for his numerous portraits of Californios, including:[3]

Mexico

In July 1853, he accompanied Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon in a steamship from California down to Acapulco and then overland to Mexico City, during which he became a close friend of Raousset-Boulbon.

Peru

He was a portrait painter and daguerrotypist in Lima, Peru in 1861-1863,[2] He opened an art school, and his students included Peruvian painters Federico del Campo and Daniel Hernández Morillo.[3]

Later life

Barbieri returned to Europe in 1871.[4] He died in his home village in Savoy in 1896.[2]

Legacy

Although his tenure in California was brief, his oeuvre is considered to be the most important collection of portraiture of 19th century California, during a historically crucial period of its transition from Mexican to American rule.

The largest collections of his works make up part of the permanent collections at the De Saisset Museum of Santa Clara University and the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.[5][6]

References
  1. California's Leonardo - Portraits of Signor Barbieri
  2. Palmquist, Peter E. (2001). Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 9780804738835. OCLC 491314989.
  3. Kamerling, Bruce (December 1987). "California's Leonardo: The Portraits of Signor Barbieri". California History. 66 (4): 262–277. doi:10.2307/25177285. JSTOR 25177285.
  4. Redmon, Michael (June 8, 2016). "Portraitist Leonardo Barbieri". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  5. Lindsay, Emily (May 4, 2018). "Barbieri painting recently on loan to exhibition connected to Pacific Standard Time in Los Angeles". De Saisset Museum. Santa Clara University. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  6. "Carlos Antonio Carrillo". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
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