Giovanni Bastianini

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Giovanni Bastianini (September 17, 1830 - June 29, 1868) was an Italian sculptor who began his career as a stonecutter in the quarries at Fiesole, and was sent by Francesco Inghirami to study in Florence, first with Pio Fedi and then with Girolamo Torrini, with whom he collaborated on a statue of Donatello for the portico of the Uffizi.

Bastianini admired Renaissance sculpture, which became his main inspiration. From 1848 to 1866 he was under contract to an antique dealer, Giovanni Freppa, who supplied him with casts and models as well as a stipend in exchange for which Bastianini produced numerous neo-Renaissance works, especially busts and bas-reliefs in the style of Donatello, Verrocchio, Mino de Fiesole and other Italian Old Masters, most of which were sold as genuine to such noted museums as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Louvre.