Portret van een onbekende dame

Bartolini was the most innovative sculptors during the post-Canova epoch. His work is a marriage of the linearity of neoclassism and fluidly of naturalism. In 1802 he won the prix de rome marking the beginning of a long career of Napoleonic patronage. He was close to Ingres to the extent that they both executed portraits of the other. In 1807 he was appointed professor at the Accademia di Carrara (which at the time was under the supervision of Napolean's sister, Elisia). He followed Napoleon to exile in Elba and then moved to Florence. Associated with the Bonapartes, commissions in Florence were difficult to attain. However, he eventually received Ducal patronage and as a result produced some of his strongest works.