What a figure of a stern Moses this is. Moses was liberator of the Jews, prophet, recipient of the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Moses was a man who was sure of himself. The same might be said of Morlaiter who sculpted him, and who clearly seems to be at the top of his artistic powers here in Gesuati. The Dominicans certainly thought so, for it is very infrequent for all the sculpture in a church to be given over to a single artist. Whatever workshop assistance there was seems to have been strongly ruled by the master.
Giovanni Maria Morlaiter
b. 1699 - d. 1781
Morlaiter was the son of a glassworker. He trained early as a sculptor and became known for his crucifix in Scalzi. He sculpted the figures of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica at Giovanni e Paolo. He also worked at Udine. His most famous sculptures were for Gesuati in Venice where he made all the marble statues in the niches and the low bas-reliefs above the niches. He also made the decoration for the high altar. In 1746 he was commissioned to make the marble busts of Pope Benedict XIV and Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico for the Padua Cathedral. Later he made the Statue of St. Jerome Emiliani for Salute in Venice. He was a council member of the Venetian Guild of Painters in 1756. He sculpted bas-reliefs for the Chapel of the Rosary in Giovanni e Paolo. He sent works to Russia. They were secular in nature. His sculpture of Mars and Diana stands in the palace park near St. Petersburg.
|
1) Gesuati Approach [32]
