Biography

Italian sculptor. His known activity is confined to Venice. Soprani wrote that Roccatagliata fashioned models used by the aged Tintoretto to plot his compositions; this would place Roccatagliata in Venice by the mid-1580s. He is first documented, however, on 31 January 1593, when he was commissioned to make the bronze statuettes of St George and St Stephen, still on the entrance to the balustrade across the choir of San Giorgio Maggiore. This church was the centre of the artist's activity in the 1590s: twenty-two sconces in the form of putti were commissioned in 1594, another six in 1595, and two large candelabra, cast by Cesare Groppo (active c. 1596) and Giovanni Alberghetti (active c. 1600) in 1598.

The next known date in his career is 1633, the date on the antependium depicting the Allegory of the Redemption in San Moise in Venice. Signed by Nicolò and Sebastiano (?his son), the relief was cast by Jean Chenet (active c. 1633) and Marin Feron.

Numerous small bronzes of vastly varying quality have been attributed to Roccatagliata; if only a fraction of the music-making angels attributed to him actually came from his shop, it must have been a flourishing enterprise. Certainly by him are a seated Virgin and Child (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as well as Adam and Eve and two music-making putti (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).