Giovanni Baratta

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An angel frees two slaves from purgatory , Church of San Frediano, Livorno

Giovanni Baratta (also Giovanni Isidoro Baratta ) (born May 13, 1670 in Carrara ; † May 21, 1747 ibid) was an Italian sculptor of the late Baroque .

family

Giovanni Baratta came from a family of sculptors from Carrara. He was the son of Isidoro Baratta and nephew of Francesco Baratta the Elder (around 1595–1666) and Giovanni Maria Baratta (around 1627–1675). His brothers Francesco Baratta the Younger (1663–1729) and Pietro Baratta (1668–1729) were also sculptors. His nephew Giovanni Antonio Cybei (1706–1784) worked for him as an assistant and after the death of his uncle took over his studio.

Life

Giovanni Baratta learned sculpture first in Florence with Giovanni Battista Foggini , then for four years in Rome with Camillo Rusconi . Around 1697 he returned to Florence, where he created his first documented work ( Arcangelo Raffaele e Tobiolo , marble sculpture, 1698, in the Church of Santo Spirito). In the first decade of the 18th century, Baratta also carried out commissions in other cities, including Genoa and Lucca . In Livorno he created altar sculptures in the church of San Ferdinando between 1709 and 1717.

Baratta worked for important foreign clients, including the Danish King Friedrich IV. During a stay in Florence in 1709, he acquired several marble statues (Hercules and the Nemean lion, Orpheus and Eurydice, today in Copenhagen, Rosenborg Castle ). 1710 ordered John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough on the advice of Sir John Vanbrugh with him two statues ( La Gloria and Il Valore ).

From 1719 Giovanni Baratta worked in Turin for King Viktor Amadeus II and from 1722 created sculptures for the Sant'Uberto chapel in the Reggia of Venaria Reale near Turin, including The Four Church Fathers (1728). In 1725 he was appointed official court sculptor.

Baratta returned to his native city of Carrara around 1725, where in 1731 Duke Alderano I of Cybo-Malaspina awarded him the title of Count ( Conte ). In the last phase of his life he carried out commissions for the Palácio Nacional de Mafra (Portugal) and the Palacio Real La Granja (Spain).

Works (selection)

  • Florence:
    • Arcangelo Raffaele e Tobiolo , Church of Santo Spirito (1698)
    • Fountain in the Palazzo Vivarelli Colonna
    • Statue of San Tommaso in the Church of Santi Michele e Gaetano (1700)
  • Livorno:
    • Façade of the Church of Santissima Annunziata (1708)
    • Three altars in the church of San Frediano, including the main altar with a marble group “An angel frees two slaves from purgatory” ( Angelo che libera due schiavi del purgatorio ) (approx. 1710–1717).
    • Reconstruction plan for the church of the Santuario di Montenero (1721), together with Giovanni del Fantasia
    • Torah shrine made of colored marble in the Old Synagogue (around 1742)
  • Montevarchi : Madonna in Gloria , sculpture above the main altar in the Collegiata di San Lorenzo
  • Fosdinovo : Altar of the Madonna del Santo Rosario, Church of San Remigio
  • Sarzana : medallions in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta (around 1716)
  • Lucca: Relief altar for the Church of San Ponziano, later relocated to the Basilica di San Frediano (Cappella Cenami) (1700–1724)
  • Genoa: work on the portal of the church Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta e dei Santi Fabiano e Sebastiano (1722)
  • Turin:
    • Reliefs in the Palazzo Madama
    • Statues for the facade of the Santa Teresa Church
    • Sculptures for the Chapel of Sant'Uberto in the Reggia of Venaria Reale
  • Hercules and the Nemean Lion, Orpheus and Eurydice, Copenhagen, Rosenborg Castle
  • La Gloria (1715), Fitzwilliam Museum , Cambridge

photos

  • San Tommaso
    San Gaetano, Florence (right)

  • Arcangelo Raffaele e Tobiolo
    Santo Spirito, Florence

  • Allegory of Lombardy
    Bode-Museum, Berlin

  • Altar sculpture,
    Collegiata di San Lorenzo, Montevarchi

swell

  • Memorie storiche d'illustri scittori e di uomini insigni dell'antica e moderna Lunigiana , Emanuelle Gerini, 1829

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Baratta  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Baratta, Giovanni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baratta, Giovanni Isidoro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1670
PLACE OF BIRTH Carrara
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1747
Place of death Carrara