Attributed to Pietro Baratta (1668-1729), Venice, first quarter of the 18th century

The present bust of Mercury, with his youthful face and almost feminine grace, embodies the refinement of Venetian sculpture in the first quarter of the 18th century, of which Pietro Baratta is one of the leading representatives.

Born into an illustrious family of sculptors from Carrara, Baratta skilfully combined the formal elegance and rigour of the Tuscan tradition with a sensuality and freedom of execution typical of Venice.

Pietro was already an experienced sculptor when he settled in Venice around 1693, where he collaborated with a fellow countryman, Giovanni Toschini. Among Pietro's major achievements in Veneto are the Adoring Angels in the Abbey of Follina (circa 1700) and his collaboration with Giovanni Bonazza, Antonio Tarsia and Marino Gropelli on the Funerary Monument of the Doges Bertucci and Silvestro Valier, notably for the allegorical figure of Wisdom (Basilica San Zanìpolo; circa 1702–1708). From the 1710s onwards, he enjoyed an international reputation, as evidenced by the important series of busts, figures and allegorical groups he carved with his workshop for Tsar Peter the Great's Summer Garden in Saint Petersburg (between 1716 and 1725).

The characteristic features of this Mercury, with his large eyes, broad forehead, small sensual lips, and the treatment of his hair, in ample waves punctuated by large, more deeply carved curls, are found in Baratta's mature works. These include, among others, the faces of the Virgin and the Angel in the Annunciation in Mestrino (circa 1708), those of the Adoring Angels on the façade of the Basilica of Gandino (circa 1712) and, although more monumental, those of the allegorical figures of the Peace of Nystad in Saint Petersburg (circa 1722–1725). Finally, the most striking comparisons are undoubtedly with the allegorical bust of Honour, attributed to Pietro Baratta by Simone Guerriero in 2022 (Banca Popolare di Vicenza). It should be added that this latter bust has a similar finishing of the surface, with a silky polish of the marble for the skin, contrasting with the treatment of the hair, or the wings of the petasus that crowns the present Mercury, simulated by the untouched traces left by the teeth of the gradine.

A study on this work by Giuseppe Sava, dated 13 October 2023, is available upon request.

RELATED LITERATURE

C. Semenzato, La scultura veneta del Sei e del Settecento, Venise 1966, pp. 31-32, 94-95 ;

M. De Grassi, « Pietro Baratta per le corti del Nord », in Arte veneta, no. 51, 1997, pp. 50-61 ;

S. Guerriero, “Giovanni Toschini e gli esordi veneziani di Pietro Baratta”, in Venezia Arti, no. 13, 1999, pp. 43-46 ;

M. Klemenčič, “Pietro Baratta”, in A. Bacchi (dir.), La scultura a Venezia da Sansovino a Canova, Milan, 2000, pp. 690-692 ;

G. Sava, “Scultori veneziani del Sei e Settecento a Brescia e a Bergamo: Giovanni Comin, Pietro Baratta, Antonio Gai”, in Arte veneta, no. 72, 2015, pp. 205, 208-209 ;

D. Tulič, “Gli Angeli di Clemente Molli, Pietro Baratta e Giovanni Marchiori a Venezia, Vicenza e Conselve”, in Arte veneta, no. 74, 2017, pp. 210-212.