Giuseppe Maretto (Milan 1908–1984) was an Italian sculptor, painter, enameler, and medallist active mainly in Milan during the first half of the twentieth century. 2 Enamelled copper plates (ALSO SOLD SEPARATELY) Dimensions: 1) 32.5x26.5cm frame - 14x20cm plate (musenshippo technique) 2) 37.5x28.5cm frame - 15x22cm plate (Champlevé TECHNIQUE) Biography He exhibited very young at the V Triennale di Milano in 1933 with three sculptures: a tile for the IV station of the Via Crucis and the bas-relief Moses makes water spring from the rock in the Pavilion of the exhibition of sacred art; in the Housing Exhibition pavilion. From 1937-1939 the two twin monumental statues placed on the building designed by Lancia opposite Palazzo Mezzanotte in Piazza degli Affari in Milan. From 1932 the fountain with the statue of Sant'Antonio di Padova preaching to the fish, located in front of the sanctuary of Sant'Antonio di Padova in Via Farini, also in Milan, damaged, probably by vandals, on 18 September 2020. Also his the monumental fountain with a sculpture depicting a "river god" on whose limbs a serpent winds which adorns the courtyard of the famous Casa della Fontana (architects Rino Ferrini and Franco Bruni, 1934-1936) in Viale Vittorio Veneto 24. For the church of Sant'Elena di Quarto Cagnino he sculpted The Invention of the Cross; for the Milan cathedral the statue of Santa Lucia; for the church of San Gioachimo a copper Via Crucis. Maretto also had an intense activity as an enameler and medallist. Maretto's Enamels or Art of Fire. The art of enamel is not a simple decorative vitreous coating of metal surfaces but the result of technical processes that give it a more seductive appearance with the splendid intensity of colors and the infinite varieties of the most delicate tones and nuances. Enamels are a vitreous substance composed of silicates, soda, potassium, lead and the colors are given by the various mixed metal oxides. Maretto used two enamel-making techniques. Champlevé enamels are obtained by hollowing out the alveoli in the metal outlined according to the design and the alveoli are filled with enamel and subjecting the metal to the heat of the oven (about 900°) thus causing the fusion of the enamel powder which turns into vitreous paste assuming its definitive colors. This technique flourished in Europe and especially in France in the 12th, 13th, 14th centuries. Musenshippo enamels of Japanese origin are made with a simpler technique. The raw enamels are placed in contact with overlapping the surface of the metal sheet, placed side by side with a brush and spatula, thus forming with the combinations the image to be reproduced, and subjecting them to fusion so that they merge, blending together creating effects of evanescent contours.