Giuseppe Antonio Torricelli (1662–1719) was an Italian sculptor and gem-engraver of the late

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

active in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, often using colorful and semi-precious pietra dura, a type of workmanship that became a specialty of Florence. He initially trained with

Gaetano Giulio Zumbo Gaetano Giulio Zumbo (1656–1701) was an Italian sculptor in wax or wax modeller of the Baroque era. His primary talents were not those generally considered as artistic but devoted to the creation of scientific models that were highly regarded ...

. During his lifetime, worked under the supervision of

Giovanni Battista Foggini Giovanni Battista (Giambattista) Foggini (25 April 1652 – 12 April 1725) was an Italian sculptor active in Florence, renowned mainly for small bronze statuary. Biography Born in Florence, the young Foggini was sent to Rome by the Medici Gra ...

, the master sculptor of the duchy. His masterpiece is the elaborate bust of

Vittoria della Rovere Vittoria della Rovere (7 February 1622 – 5 March 1694) was Grand Duchess of Tuscany as the wife of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. She had four children with her husband, two of whom would survive infancy: the future Cosimo III, Tuscany's longest ...

(made from

chalcedony Chalcedony ( , or ) is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of quartz and moganite. These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz has a trigonal crystal structure, while moganite is monocli ...

(face), sardonyx (pupils), Sicilian

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref ...

(lips), and black touchstone (bodice and veil). This project alone took nearly two decades to complete (1696–1713). It ultimately lacks the majesty of marble, and has the appearance of a wax museum portrait. It is found presently in Museo degli Argenti in Florence.

Sources

* ''Gli Ultimi Medici'', Review by Peter Cannon-Brookes, in The Burlington Magazine, 1974, p 777-80. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Torricelli, Giuseppe Antonio 1662 births 1719 deaths People from the Province of Florence 17th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors 18th-century Italian sculptors Engraved gem artists 18th-century Italian male artists