Bronzes by Righetti

• We were still students on our first encounter with the works of G. Righetti at the magnificent exhibition shown at the Paul Ambroise Gallery, Paris, in 1975. This exposition was also showing works of Barye and Frémiet, artists who were already dear to us, as well as those of the 20th century artist, such as Pompon, Bugatti, Mateo Hernandez and above all Righetti .
• We immediately felt great admiration for this artist, reputed to be somewhat mystic, solitary, almost religious and whose whole life was devoted, with his great talent, to modeling animals in their every day movements and positions, very simply, very tenderly. His animals often have airs of surprise or curiosity, are attentive or detached, sometimes nervy or hungry, but never cruel. They seem to be almost flattered and noble by the attentive observation of the looker-on. One may say that either wild or domesticated, they "feel" loved ...
• As an animal sculptor, Righetti seems to us the most realistic, the most true, of the main "animaliers" of the century, that is Bugatti and Pompon. The animal alone interests him, and, without pretension, it is art that serves the animal. He avoids excessive simplification that could distant the real animal world, as well as any decorative affectation distracting one from the animals itself or any denaturing transposition ... He inherited his composition, totally impressionist from his spiritual guide, Paul Troubetskoy from whom he got much advise in Milan, and occasionally one discovers the same gentleness as that of his compatriot Menardo or the vivacious liveliness of Vincenzo Gemito.
• A certain nostalgia for the force and power of the romantic period appears in numerous models such as "Le Combat d'Aigle", "Le Lion Chassant" or "Le Tigre dévorant sa proie"... and the same nostalgia testifies his admiration for the works he know so well of Barye and Fratin.
• At that period, in 1975, we were surprised, and rather saddened, by the almost confidential character of his renown that contrasted with his immense talent and the richness of his creations. Many artists told us that this was due to the self-effacing attitude of this Northern Italy aristocrat.
• Not once did he consider an international career for himself, such as Bugatti, who went to Paris, or Pompon also going there to work. Neither financial difficulties motivated him to seek fame. He prefers the countryside around Milan, and his family ties. From the glorian period of the twenties to those more difficult that followed the war, he created the major part of his work realizing its principal pieces for the towns and art amateurs of his region. When he died in 1958 he left some two hundred models, most of which were not yet edited.
• Righetti's work, despite its importance, was forgotten for about twenty years, for the animal sculpture to which Barye had given the "lettres de noblesse" had become outmoded. Righetti's "Bestiaire" so became the property of an English collector in 1973, an enthusiast of the artist's work. The new owner kept the models for twenty-five years, rarely displaying them.
• It was therefore, with immense emotion, that we were capable of reuniting, last year, the original and principal plaster casts permitting us to render homage to this great sculptor giving perenniality to the future bronzes. Perhaps, we had made concrete a dream twenty three years old to consecrate and make highly appreciated Righetti as a great artist ...