Luigi Bartolini

Luigi Bartolini (Cupramontana, Ancona, 1892 -Rome, 1963) was a famous Italian engraver, painter, and writer. Through his etchings, which often accompany his writings, the artist led a research on light and on the signs of expressionist intonation. Among the literary works: Ladri di Biciclette (1946); Il mezzano Alipio (1951); Racconti Scabrosi (1963). 

Only after World War I, he dedicated himself entirely to engraving, achieving his first success in 1932 at the Italian engraving exhibition in Florence. Etching, with him, became again an effective means of poetic expression.  When he was young, he attended courses in literature and medicine in Rome, Siena, and Florence. He participated for the first time in the Venice Biennial in 1928. 

At the First and Second Quadriennale of Rome (1935 and 1939), he received the award for the best etching. He won another prize at the exhibition of Italian engraving at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in 1932. 

In 1942, he participated in the XXII Venice Biennial, where he won the first prize for engraving. His illustrations and etchings are preserved in museums like the Uffizi Gallery, National Gallery of London, Bibliothèque National of Paris, Calcografia Nazionale of Rome, and in various galleries of Rome, Milan, and Turin. Several illustrations realized by Bartolini appeared in important reviews: Il Bargello , Circoli , L’Italia Letteraria , Il Frontespizio , Il Selvaggio , Il Tevere , etc.