Giuseppe Maretto (Milan 1908–1984) was an Italian sculptor, painter, enameler, and medalist active mainly in Milan in the first half of the twentieth century.
Enameled plaque on copper using the Champleve technique
Dimensions: 50x50 frame - 25x25cm plaque
Biography
He exhibited very young at the V Milan Triennale in 1933 with three sculptures: a tile for the IV station of the Via Crucis and the bas-relief Moses brings forth water from the rock in the Pavilion of the exhibition of sacred art; in the Housing Exhibition pavilion
From 1937-1939 the two twin monumental statues placed on the building designed by Lancia opposite Palazzo Mezzanotte in Piazza degli Affari in Milan. From 1932 the fountain with statue of Sant'Antonio di Padova preaching to the fish, placed in front of the sanctuary of Sant'Antonio di Padova in via Farini, also in Milan, damaged, probably by vandals, on September 18, 2020. Also his the monumental fountain with sculpture depicting a "river god" around whose limbs a serpent winds that adorns the courtyard of the famous Casa della Fontana (architects Rino Ferrini and Franco Bruni, 1934-1936) in viale Vittorio Veneto 24. For the church of Sant'Elena di Quarto Cagnino he sculpted The Invention of the Cross; for the Duomo of Milan the statue of Santa Lucia; for the church of San Gioachimo a Via Crucis in copper.
Maretto also had an intense activity as an enameler and medalist.
Maretto's Enamels or Art of Fire.
The art of enamel is not a simple decorative vitreous coating of metal surfaces but the result of technical processes that give it a more seductive appearance with the splendid intensity of colors and the infinite variety of tones and the most delicate nuances.
Enamels are a vitreous substance composed of silicates, soda, potassium lead and the colors are given by the various mixed metallic oxides.
Maretto used two techniques for making enamels.
Champlevé enamels are obtained by digging the cells in the metal outlined according to the design and filling the cells with enamel and subjecting the metal to the heat of the oven (approximately 900°) thus causing the fusion of the enamel powder which turns into vitreous paste assuming its definitive colors. This technique flourished in Europe and especially in France in the XII, XIII, XIV century. Musenshippo enamels of Japanese origin are made with a simpler technique.
The raw enamels are placed in contact with overlapping the surface of the metal plate, placed side by side with a brush and spatula, thus forming with the combinations the image to be reproduced, and subjecting them to fusion so that they merge, blending together, creating effects of evanescent contours.
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