[4] Barbieri emigrated to the Americas in 1844, to Buenos Aires in Argentina, where he became a portraitist.

By 1849, he had opened a studio in San Francisco, followed by Santa Barbara in 1850 and 1852,[4] and Monterey in 1852.

[3] Barbieri is famed for his numerous portraits of Californios, including:[3] In July 1853, he accompanied Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon in a steamship from California down to Acapulco and then overland to Mexico City, during which he became a close friend of Raousset-Boulbon.

He was a portrait painter and daguerrotypist in Lima, Peru in 1861-1863,[2] He opened an art school, and his students included Peruvian painters Federico del Campo and Daniel Hernández Morillo.

The largest collections of his works make up part of the permanent collections at the De Saisset Museum of Santa Clara University and the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.