Giuseppe Maretto (1908- 1984) - 2 Enamels With Flowers

Giuseppe Maretto (Milan 1908- 1984) was an Italian sculptor, painter, enameller and medallist active mainly in Milan in the first half of the 20th century.

2 enamelled plates on copper (ALSO SOLD SEPARATELY)

Dimensions: 1) frame 32,5x26,5 - plate 14x20cm (musenshippo technique)

2) Frame 37,5x28,5cm - plate 15x22cm (FIELD TECHNIQUE)

Biography

He exhibited at the 5th Milan Triennial in 1933 with three sculptures: a tile for the 4th Station of the Cross and the bas-relief Moses makes water flow from the rock in the pavilion of the Sacred Art Exhibition.

From 1937 to 1939, the two monumental twin statues were placed on the building designed by Lancia in front of the Palazzo Mezzanotte in the Piazza degli Affari in Milan. The fountain with the statue of St. Anthony of Padua preaching to the fishes, placed in front of the Sanctuary of St. Anthony of Padua in Via Farini, also in Milan, was damaged, probably by vandals, on 18 September 2020. There is also the monumental fountain with a sculpture representing a "river god" on whose limbs a snake coils, which adorns the courtyard of the famous Casa della Fontana (architects Rino Ferrini and Franco Bruni, 1934-1936), Viale Vittorio Veneto 24. For the church of Sant'Elena in Quarto Cagnino, he sculpted the Invention of the Cross; for the cathedral 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 enameller and medalist.

Maretto's enamelling or the art of fire.

The art of enamelling is not simply a decorative vitreous coating of metal surfaces, but the result of technical processes that give them a more attractive appearance thanks to the splendid intensity of the colours and the infinite variety of tones and subtle shades.

The glazes are a vitreous substance composed of silicates, soda and potassium lead, and the colours are given by the different metallic oxides mixed together.

Maretto used two techniques to make enamels.

Champlevé enamels are obtained by hollowing out the metal cells according to the design and filling the cells with enamel. The metal is then subjected to the heat of the kiln (about 900°), which melts the enamel powder and transforms it into a vitreous paste that takes on its final colours. This technique flourished in Europe and especially in France in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. Musenshippo enamels of Japanese origin are made using a simpler technique.

The raw enamels are brought into contact with the surface of the sheet, superimposed with a brush and a spatula, thus forming the image to be reproduced, and then fused so that they mix and blend together to create evanescent outline effects.