Raffaelle Monti

(b Iseo, Ticino, 1818; d London, 16 Oct 1881). Italian sculptor. Son of the sculptor Gaetano Monti (1766-1847), who assisted in the decoration of the Milanese monuments initiated under Napoleon, such as the Arco della Pace. Raffaelle studied with his father and under Pompeo Marchesi at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. His contemporaries, impressed by the individualism of Lorenzo Bartolini, deliberately sought out non-classical influences, including the Baroque. In Monti's case this experimentalism did not result in realism; instead, he developed a personal strain of precious and virtuoso fantasy.

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