BARTOLOZZI, Francesco

Italian engraver. He was the son of Gaetano Bartolozzi, a goldsmith, with whom he trained before entering the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. There he studied under Giovanni Domenico Ferretti and Ignazio Hugford. In Florence he studied drawing and painting and formed a lifelong friendship with Cipriani, most of whose plates he later engraved. He is said to have become an adept painter of miniatures, watercolours and pastels, and an accomplished draughtsman; but he soon concentrated on engraving.

In 1764 he went to London, where he became one of the founder members of the Royal Academy (admitted as a painter, as engravers were not originally eligible). He was responsible for the vogue in England of the stipple technique of engraving, which greatly improved methods of reproduction. He engraved the works of many of his leading contemporaries, such as Copley, Kauffmann, and Reynolds, but he was also celebrated for prints after the Old Masters. His output was enormous and he had many assistants and pupils.

In 1802 he moved to Lisbon to become director of the Academy.