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A large hall on the third floor of the museum houses the important nucleus of works by Lorenzo Bartolini: models of sculptures and finished works, busts and portraits in plaster and marble by an artist who, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, sought to depict naturalism through a realistic sense, taking his cue from the observation of the 'real'.
One of his masterpieces is the plaster model of Trust in God, commissioned by Rosa Trivulzio Poldi Pezzoli in memory of her deceased husband, illustrating the noblewoman's confident abandonment in faith following the loss of her husband. The artist expressed these feelings through a young nude figure who is seated with her hands clasped, expressing an intense and intimate devotion on her face.
Among the most significant sculptures is the full-length portrait of Russian aristocrat Marina Gurieva (1821). This is another preparatory plaster model, which Bartolini dedicated to his friend Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.
Of particular grace is the plaster model of The Sleep of Innocence (1820) made in memory of a Russian nobleman's daughter who died in infancy. The artist's naturalistic vein is strongly expressed in many of the portraits in this room. The busts of historical personalities deserve special attention, starting with the Bonapartes (to whom Bartolini was very close), along with the splendid portraits of Teresa Gamba Guiccioli, Lord Byron's companion (1822), Cassandra Luci Princess Poniatowski (1826) and the composer Gioacchino Rossini (c. 1830), of whom Bartolini was a great friend.
Alongside the aforementioned plaster works, which are state-owned and have been in the repository under the Florentine Superintendency since the middle of the last century, are the marble busts acquired through the legacy of the Pianetti counts. Also belonging to the Museum is the marble model of the Monument to Nicola Demidoff (1837), whose history was so turbulent that it became the most challenging project in the sculptor's career.
