Antonio Montauti (1685 - 1740) was an 18th-century Italian sculptor active in Florence and Rome.
Biography
He was a pupil of
Giuseppe Piamontini
Giuseppe Piamontini (1664 - 1742) was an Italian sculptor, born and active in Florence. He initially trained with Giovanni Battista Foggini, but then spent five years working with Ercole Ferrata.Francesco Maria de' Medici, obtained the first known works circa 1708–9. They were destined for his first patron. In 1733, he was recruited to Rome by
Cardinal Alamanno Salviati
Alamanno Salviati (20 March 1669 – 24 February 1733) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal.
He was a descendant of Jacopo Salviati
Jacopo Salviati (15 September 1461 – 6 September 1533) was a Florentine politician and son-in-law of ...
and soon won the favor with Pope Clement XII, who in 1735 appointed him as surveyor for the Vatican. He completed both statuary, busts, as well as smaller bronzes and medals.
About 1715, he carved two reliefs of St. Philip Neri, depicting the ''Ecstasy of Philip'' and the ''Distribution of Bread'' for the church of San Firenze in Florence. In 1721, a supposedly lost Ganymede and four other marbles he was carving for John Molesworth were described as his "first works"; however "Ganymede and the Eagle" plus a statue of Hebe, stated as being by Montauti and "probably commissioned by the Hon. John Molesworth", recently surfaced at the Christie's auction house, described as "the property of a lady" and having been originally purchased by Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield in around 1723-25 and kept thereafter at the latter's newly refurbished historic property Shirburn Castle until recent times, when they were sold for £79,250 each in 2009.
In 1726, he made large marble statue of ''Saint Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi'' for the cloister of
San Frediano in Cestello
San Frediano in Cestello is a Baroque architecture, Baroque-style, Roman Catholic church in the Oltrarno section of Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. The name ''cestello'' derives from the Cistercians who occupied the church in 1628. Previously ...