LIBERO ANDREOTTI

Was born in Pescia in 1875, coming from a family of humble origins he moved to Lucca in 1892 where he was introduced to the cultural world. A self-taught illustrator, he showed up on various widely known newspapers and moved to Palermo in 1897 where he worked at the bookshop owned by the publisher Sandron. Upon his arrival back in Tuscany, in the first years of the 20th century in Florence, he discovered a passion for sculpture, which he practiced together with painting, the art of caricature and of course the art of illustrating. In 1905 he joined his friend the painter Enrico Sacchetti in Milan. There, supported by the art dealer Vittore Grubicy de Dragon, he devoted himself to figurines. He moved to Paris in 1909 where, thanks to the influence of the couturier and patron Jean Philippe Worth (1856-1926), he was introduced to the social and artistic elite. At the outbreak of the Great War Andreotti got back to Italy where he became a close friend of the art critic Ugo Ojetti. In 1920 he got married to Margherita Carpi, the sister of Aldo Carpi, the famous painter from Milan with whom he maintained a strong friendship. In those years he also taught decorative sculpture classes at Istituto Statale D’arte of Florence. As he got closer to the faith in God his art dealt with religious themes meanwhile he began to work at War Memorials. He died in Florence in 1933.