Giovanni Maria Morlaiter (15 February 1699 – 22 February 1781) was an Italian sculptor of the

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

or 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 t ...

, active mainly in his native

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Biography

Almost all the sculpture in the church of the

Gesuati Santa Maria del Rosario (St. Mary of the Rosary), commonly known as I Gesuati, is an 18th-century Dominican church in the Sestiere of Dorsoduro, on the Giudecca canal in Venice, northern Italy. The classical style building has a well-lit interio ...

, Venice is the work of Morlaiter, whom

Hugh Honour Hugh Honour FRSL (26 September 1927 – 19 May 2016) was a British art historian, known for his writing partnership with John Fleming (art historian), John Fleming. Their ''A World History of Art'' (a.k.a. ''The Visual Arts: A History''), is now ...

describes as "one of the ablest sculptors in eighteenth century Venice" and Semenzato as "the most brilliant interpreter of the rococo in Venetian sculpture" adding that "His work shows great dynamism" and "an inexhaustible felicity of invention". There is more of his work in the church than anywhere else in Venice.Semenzato pp.62-3 His first work for the church was the ''Glory of Angels'' (1738) on the second altar on the right, and after this Massari engaged him for all the other principal works of sculpture, ending with the statue of Melchisedek (1755). Clockwise from the entrance, the statues in six niches and coupled bas reliefs above are: ''Abraham'' (1754) and ''Jesus and the Centurion'' (1754); ''Aaron'' (1750) and ''Jesus heals the blind'' (1750); ''Glory of Angels'' (1739); ''St Paul'' (1745) and ''Jesus appears to Magdalen'' (1743); ''Christ appears to doubting Thomas'' (1747; no niche); ''Baptism of Jesus'' (1746); ''St Peter'' (1744); ''Christ and Samaritan at Well'' (1744);'' Moses'' (1748–50) and ''Healing of Paralytic'' (1748–50); ''Melchisedech'' (1755) and ''St Peter walks on water'' (1755). ;Sculptures at Santa Maria del Rosario Aaron by Giovanni Maria Morlaiter.jpg, S. Pietro GB Morlaiter in Santa Maria del Rosario - Gesuati.jpg, San Paolo di GB Morlaiter in Santa Maria del Rosario.jpg, Statue 1 GM Morlaiter Chiesa dei Gesuati Venice.jpg, ; Sculptures in other churches in Venice Girolamo Miani by G.M. Morlaiter.jpg,

Gerolamo Emiliani Gerolamo Emiliani, CRS ( it, Gerolamo Emiliani also Jerome Aemilian, Hiëronymus Emiliani) (1486 – 8 February 1537) was an Italian humanitarian, founder of the Somaschi Fathers, and is considered a saint by the Catholic Church. Born in Ven ...

Santa Maria della Salute Santa Maria della Salute ( en, Saint Mary of Health), commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy. It stands on the narr ...

San Geremia (Venice) Madonna del Rosario di Gimmaria Morlaiter XVIIe.jpg, Madonna del Rosario

San Geremia San Geremia is a church in Venice, northern Italy, located in the ''sestiere'' of Cannaregio. The apse of the church faces the Grand Canal (Venice), between the Palazzo Labia and the Palazzo Flangini, Venice, Palazzo Flangini. The edifice is popul ...

San Rocco (Venice) - San Rocco healing the plague victims by Giovanni Morlaiter.jpg, San Rocco (Venice) ''San Rocco healing the plague victims'' He was a founder member of the Accademia of arts in Venice. His son

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

was a painter.

Sources

* Paola Rossi; ''I Morlaiter a Santa Maria del Giglio''. In: Arte Veneta 51 (1997), S. 107-112. * A. Rees; ''Giovanni Maria Morlaiter. Ein venezianischer Bildhauer des 18. Jahrhunderts'', Deutsches Studienzentrum Venedig, Studien 2, Monaco 1979.

External links

Exhibit
at

Ca' Rezzonico Ca' Rezzonico () is a palazzo and art museum on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro ''sestiere'' of Venice, Italy. It is a particularly notable example of the 18th century Venetian baroque and rococo architecture and interior decoration, and disp ...

Web Gallery of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morlaiter, Giovanni Maria 1699 births 1782 deaths Republic of Venice sculptors 18th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Italian Baroque sculptors Rococo sculptors Catholic sculptors 18th-century Italian male artists