GALLI, Pietro

(b. 1804 Roma, d. 1877 Roma)

Italian sculptor. He became a pupil of Thorvaldsen in Rome c. 1822. This year he is mentioned as working for Thorvaldsen and he also appears in the workshop accounts. When Thorvaldsen traveled to Denmark in 1838, Galli moved into his apartment in Casa Buti and ran the studios at Piazza Barberini until the sculptor’s return in 1841.

The longstanding relationship ended, however, in early 1842, when Galli insisted on creating his own career. He moved out of Casa Buti and then worked no longer for Thorvaldsen, but only for the Torlonia family.

Galli’s works for Thorvaldsen include a diminished version of Alexander the Great’s triumph in Babylon. In addition, during Thorvaldsen’s absence in 1838-41, he executed three series of reliefs based on Thorvaldsen’s sketches to the now demolished Palazzo Torlonia in Piazza Venezia in Rome.

Font

In Italy, Neoclassicism maintained its dominance until the end of the nineteenth century and found masterly expression in the new basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura, which was consecrated in 1854 (the first church having been destroyed by fire in 1823). Among the many sculptures that decorate it, one of the most interesting is the font by a Thorvaldsen pupil, Pietro Galli.

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Louis Pasteur

This bronze statue represents Louis Pasteur, full length and holding a flask in his left hand.

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurisation.

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Olympos

This clay model for a marble statue was made by Pietro Galli in the studio of Thorvaldsen. It was executed in the names of both Galli and Thorvaldsen.

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