TORRETTI, Giuseppe

Italian sculptor (also spelt Torretto). He was a distinguished representative of the classical trend in 18th-century Venetian sculpture. His first career was as a stonecutter. The first works in marble ascribed to him, such as the altar of the Pietà (Udine, Monte di Pietà) and the altar (Nimis, Udine) made for San Silvestro, Venice, reveal the influence of Arrigo Merengo (Heinrich Meyring). The Holy Family in the church of the Scalzi, Venice, which may be placed among his earliest works, also shows elements of Marengo’s style, but Torretti soon moved towards the more classical art of Pietro Baratta.

In 1710 he went to Rome with Baratta, Domenico Rossi and Giovanni Antonio Scalfarotto, all of whose work was characterized by classical tendencies united with a Baroque theatricality. Between 1717 and 1719 Torretti completed a series of sculptures for Udine Cathedral, among them a distinguished Annunciation group on the high altar, which Domenico Rossi had reconstructed. A series of reliefs showing scenes from the Life of the Virgin for the Cappella Manin at Udine dates from 1732-36. Other important works by Torretti are to be found in Venice, at Alamocco, in Friuli and the Veneto and at St Petersburg. His workshop was inherited by his nephew Giuseppe Bernardi (called il Torretti) and then by Giovanni Ferrari.