Putto with fruit

Relatively little is known about Roggatagliata (ca. 1560-1633/1636). He received his early training from Agostino Groppo, to whom he was apprenticed for nine years in 1571, and he was later an assistant to Agostino’s son, Cesare. He subsequently moved, possibly with his master, from his native Genoa to Venice, where he is first documented in 1593, when Cesare Groppo’s models were bequeathed to him. Numerous functional bronzes have been attributed to Roccatagliata, particularly those incorporating a particular type of putto, which has come to characterize his style. He also made twenty-two sconces in 1593 for San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice and also the candelabra in the same church. His workshop produced a variety of functional bronzes that may have well continued in production long after the death of the master and his son Sebastian. However, we still know nothing about the location of the foundry itself.