Giuseppe Bernardialso called Torretto, was a prominent mid-eighteenth century Italian sculptor. He is also known as a carver of intaglio

Intaglio

Intaglio are techniques in art in which an image is created by cutting, carving or engraving into a flat surface and may also refer to objects made using these techniques:* Intaglio , a group of printmaking techniques with an incised image...

s and as the first teacher of Neoclassical

Neoclassical sculpture

Neoclassical sculpture was a sculptural style of the 18th and 19th centuries. The neoclassical period was one of the great ages of public sculpture, though its "classical" prototypes were more likely to be Roman copies of Hellenistic sculptures. The neoclassical sculptors paid homage to an idea of...

 sculptor Antonio Canova

Antonio Canova

Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor from the Republic of Venice who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh...

. His father was Sebastiano Bernardi whose works include the statues of the park of the Villa Manin di Passariano (Udine

Udine

Udine is a city and comune in northeastern Italy, in the middle of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps , less than 40 km from the Slovenian border. Its population was 99,439 in 2009, and that of its urban area was 175,000.- History :Udine is the historical...

) and of the Prato della Valle in Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

. His mother, Cecilia Torretto, was sister to the sculptor Giuseppe Torretto

Giuseppe Torretto

Giuseppe Torretto or Torretti was an Italian sculptor of statues and intaglios.Mainly working in Venice, statues by him can be found in the churches of Santa Maria Formosa, I Gesuiti, Santa Maria di Nazareth and San Stae among others...

 and Bernardi took the nickname "il Torretto" as a child in honor of his uncle..

Career

Bernardi learned his craft from his maternal uncle whose workshop he later inherited. He worked on both small and large projects, and documents from his workshop indicate that he was quite prolific, taking on numerous projects at a time. Beginning in the 1730s, he was involved with the Santa Maria della Fava sculptural project which took him several decades to complete. He was commissioned to sculpt eight, over-lifesized marble statues of the four Evangelists and the four Western Fathers of the church.

Among Bernardi's students was Antonio Canova

Antonio Canova

Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor from the Republic of Venice who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh...

. Recognising Canova's talent, Bernardi consented to he and Canova moving to another studio, in Venice. The latter was inherited by his grandchild Giovanni Ferrari

Giovanni Ferrari (sculptor)

Giovanni Ferrari detto Torretto was an Italian sculptor....

.