Giuseppe Maretto (Milan 1908–1984) – Figure
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.
Sculpture in polychrome glazed terracotta.
40cm height
Biography
He exhibited very young at the V Triennale of Milan in 1933 with three sculptures: a tile for the IV station of the Via Crucis and the bas-relief Moses makes water spring from the rock in the Pavilion of the exhibition of sacred art; in the Housing Exhibition pavilion.
From 1937-1939 the two monumental twin statues placed on the building designed by Lancia opposite Palazzo Mezzanotte in Piazza degli Affari in Milan. From 1932 the fountain with the statue of Saint Anthony of Padua preaching to the fish, placed in front of the sanctuary of Saint Anthony of Padua in Via Farini, also in Milan, damaged, probably by vandals, on September 18, 2020. His also the monumental fountain with a sculpture depicting a "river god" on whose limbs a snake 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 Milan cathedral the statue of Santa Lucia; for the church of San Gioachimo a Via Crucis in copper.
Maretto also had an intense activity as an enameller and medalist.
Maretto's Enamels or Art of Fire.
The art of enamel is not a simple decorative vitreous coating of metallic 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 metallic oxides mixed.
Maretto used two techniques for making enamels.
Champlevé enamels are obtained by excavating the alveoli in the metal outlined according to the design and filling the alveoli with enamel and subjecting the metal to the heat of the oven (about 900°) thus causing the fusion of the enamel in powder which turns into vitreous paste assuming its definitive colors. This technique flourished in Europe and especially in France in the XII, XIII, XIV centuries. The musenshippo enamels of Japanese origin are made with a simpler technique.
The raw enamels are placed in contact with superposition on 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, submitting them to fusion so that they melt, blending together creating effects of evanescent contours.
