Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pastorini, Benedict
PASTORINI, BENEDICT (BENEDETTO) (fl. 1775–1810), draughtsman and engraver, a native of Italy, came to England, where he obtained employment as a decorator of ceilings in the style then in vogue. He also studied stipple engraving under Francesco Bartolozzi [q. v.], and executed some very successful plates in this manner, mostly subjects after Angelica Kauffmann, Zucchi, Rigaud, and others, but including a full-length portrait of Mrs. Billington after Sir Joshua Reynolds. Pastorini published in 1775 a very scarce set of ten engravings, entitled ‘A New Book of Designs for Girandoles and Glass Frames in the Present Taste.’ He exhibited two drawings for ceilings at the Royal Academy in 1775 and 1776. He also engraved some caricatures in aquatint. When the Society of Engravers was formed in 1803 to protect engravers and their widows and orphans, Pastorini was one of the first governors, the qualification being the contribution of a plate worth seventy-five guineas. It was this society which led to the foundation of the Artists' Benevolent Fund in 1810, and as Pastorini's name does not appear among the governors then, it is probable that his death had taken place before the latter date. Two members of his family, F. E. and J. Pastorini, practised as miniature-painters, and exhibited miniatures at the Royal Academy from 1812 to 1834. The latter died in Newman Street, London, on 3 Aug. 1839, aged 66.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Pye's Patronage of British Art; Tuer's Bartolozzi and his Works; Royal Academy Catalogues, with manuscript notes by J. H. Anderdon.]