Sculptures and jewelry predominantly, but also embossing and drawings. A versatile artist.
THE SCULPTURES
Marcello Minotto felt primarily to be a sculptor. Between all the arts he was practicing with great ability, sculpture was certainly his favourite one. His bronzes seem to be animated and alive, they speak to us and ask us to look, touch and understand them. They are coming from nature: they are mainly people and animals, real or mythic, which the bronze conserves as a force of communication and story telling, quite rare and exciting.
The bronze sculptures are characterized by a great naturalness that transcends through the material with which they are made of. Often, instead, the bronze comes used, so as to magnify the naturalness, thanks to the effects produced by the light on the surface.
The sculptures often represent scenes of daily life, animals and children, all gathered with spontaneous, direct and simple gestures and expressions.
The majority of his bronze sculptures belong to private collectors or antique dealers.
Some of his works are kept at the Museum of Modern Art in Cento (town in the Emilia region) and the Modern Art Gallery in Bologna, in the Lercaro collection.
More are able to be admired in the book ‘’Opere’’ published by Cavallotti Editore in 1977.
One piece of work admired by everybody, including children, is the 4 frogs sculpture decorating the fountain of the Bramante cloister (1497) at Santa Maria delle Grazie, a famous church in Milan. The church is famous for its fresco The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci (1452/1519).
SILVER EMBOSSING
The production of silver embossing stands out for its particular artistic importance. In fact, the technique involved is difficult and complex because the embossing works are made in the negative, i.e. one draws the subject on a silver plate or other material, but on the opposite side and then the plate is fixed on the hot pitch.
The embossing is made through the use of special steel chisels; Marcello Minotto made and used his own.
THE JEWELS
Marcello Minotto was the creator of diverse jewelry lines.
The gold lines, embossed, chiseled and engraved, all unique pieces, comprising of: leaves, flowers, acorns, hazelnuts and thistles.
Moreover, in the silver line he sculpted animals, and embossed leaves and centre pieces of various sizes.
From post war years to 1980 he worked for Mario Buccellati, a well known Milanese jeweler, producing jewelry, and silver and bronze sculptures for his New York and Palm Beach stores.
Marcello Minotto’s works can be found in parts of the world. These include:
. a 40 kg silver center piece with marine subjects from mythology given as a present by the
Italian Government to the Shah of Persia on his marriage to Fawzia, the sister of Faruk of Egypt, in 1939.
. Silver embossed plates for King Faruk in 1951.
. Several different pieces of jewelry for the Italian aristocracy and other important personalities.
SACRED ART
Marcello Minotto carried out many works in the field of Sacred Art. For example, all the embossing on the faces in silver of Santa Lucia and San Zaccaria in Venice, and on the Blessed Veronica of Binasco.
On Wikipedia there is a detailed list of all these sacred works and places where they are conserved.
DRAWINGS
It is Important to remember the drawings of Marcello Minotto. Many of these have been gathered in the book published by Cavallotti in 1980.
The drawings are characterized by precise and clear traits representing once more, the subjects of daily life:
people, animals and nature.