This male bust signed by the carrarese sculptor luigi Bienaimé is one of the artist’s few certain portraits; it was rst published by Alfonso panzetta in 2003. The inscription on the back reads “A. BIENAIME” though the sculptor usually signed himself Luigi. However, the Carrarese artist was the grandson of Pierre Bienaimé (rance 1749 – car- rara 1824), born in Wallonia, and his surname was a reminder of his French origins: it is thus possible that on this occasion the ‘A’ stands for Aloisio, the old form of the name louis. were this hypothesis correct, we could also suggest that the subject, who has not yet been identified, was of french nationality.
Panzetta, A. Nuovo dizionario degli scultori italiani dell’Ottocento e del primo Novecento. Da Antonio Canova ad Arturo Martini, 2 vols. (Borgaro, 2003), p. 156, fig. 229.
A.Bacchi, “Bust of a gentleman", in A. Bacchi, Ed., A Taste For Sculpture II, London 2015, pp. 76-81, No. 12 (Illustrated).