Giuseppe Moretti

Giuseppe Moretti (3 February 1857 – February 1935) was an Italian émigré sculptor who became known in the United States for his public monuments in bronze and marble. Notable among his works is Vulcan in Birmingham, Alabama, which is the largest cast iron statue in the world. On a personal level, Moretti was "known for his eclectic personality and for always wearing a green tie," but professionally, is claimed to be "the first man to use aluminum in art." Moretti enjoyed some celebrity in his lifetime, and was a friend of famed Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. It is even reported that the singer repeatedly praised Moretti's voice.

Giuseppe Moretti was born in Siena, Italy, on 3 February 1857, the nephew of Cardinal Vincenzo Moretti, a noted art patron. He began studying marble sculpting at the age of 9 with the monks of San Domenico and with sculptor Tito Sarrocchi, whose studio was in the cloister of the church in Siena. Moretti's precocious nature is emphasized in an anecdote about his early fascination with becoming an artist. Apparently aware that distant Florence was the nexus of Italian art, the young Moretti set off down the road in search of a career in the art world. An alert neighbor returned the would-be runaway, and soon after, Moretti was placed under the tutelage of Serrochi.

Moretti later studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of Fine Arts of Florence), working in the studio of Giovanni Dupre.

Intrigued by the medium of marble, Moretti moved to Carrara to perfect his skill. In about 1879, a Dalmatian sculptor, Ivan Rendić, who saw his work was impressed and invited Moretti to assist him in his studio in Zagreb, Croatia. Moretti set up shop in Zagreb and made several important commissions before a large earthquake devastated the area. Moretti decided to leave, moving to Vienna, Austria, where he worked on the Rothschild palace and executed a marble bust of the Emperor Franz Josef which was to be exhibited in the Paris Exposition of 1900.

Moretti's next residence was in Budapest, Hungary, where he executed some works to commemorate the city's history. However, a dispute with German authorities over a marble field that Moretti wanted to use for his projects and as an incentive to local sculptors frustrated Moretti and in the summer of 1888, he decided to relocate to the United States of America.

Moretti arrived in New York City and opened a studio. Soon, Moretti was working on his first commission in America, sculpture for Marble House, the seasonal residence of William K. and Alva Vanderbilt in Newport, Rhode Island. On this project, Moretti worked with Richard Morris Hunt to produce the interior's marble friezes and statuary, including work on bas-reliefs of the architect himself and Jules Hardouin Mansart, the master architect for Louis XIV during the construction of Palace of Versailles; and which stood side by side on the mezzanine level of the staircase.

After working on the Vanderbilt estate, Moretti became well known in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, maintaining a presence there from 1895 until 1923. Edward Bigelow, Pittsburgh's director of public works commissioned Moretti in 1885 for works in Schenley Park. Moretti immediately recognized the potential of Pittsburgh's rugged terrain for such a vast project. Arthur Hamerschlag, the first president of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, also did much to popularize Moretti's work in Pittsburgh. Moretti sculpted the family of bronze figures atop granite columns at the entrance to Highland Park, a pair of boys taming horses at the Stanton Avenue entrance to the park, a statue of Stephen Foster and an African-American bard playing "Uncle Ned" paid through children's donated pennies in the park, and a marble fountain above the N. St. Clair stone steps entrance to the park. In Pittsburgh's civic center of Oakland, he cast a bronze tribute to Bigelow, four bronze panthers for the Panther Hollow Bridge, the University of Pittsburgh bronze panther mascot, and Hygiea as a tribute to the county's doctors in World War I, as well as numerous tablets, plaques, and award statuettes. Moretti has been called the "go-to civic sculptor during Pittsburgh's City Beautiful period." When Bigelow failed to get reelected, Moretti's commission was discarded by the new city officers.

The first of many failed business ventures for Moretti was in 1897, when he and fellow Italian immigrant Riccardo Bertelli (future husband of actress Ida Conquest) launched a small bronze foundry in December of that year with the help of a $20,000 loan from another Italian émigré, Celestino Piva, a wealthy silk importer. However, in two years the company collapsed and Piva withdrew support. Yet Bertelli bought out Moretti's share, reorganized the business, and renamed it "Roman Bronze Works." By 1900, the foundry had relocated from Manhattan to Brooklyn, secured the financial backing of Piva once again, and acquired the exclusive casting rights to the works of American sculptor Frederic Remington.