By Anne Leader
Italian sculptor Giovanni Battista Maini died on 29 July 1752 in Rome at age 62. Born in the Lombard town of Cassano Magnano, Maini arrived in Rome around 1708, making a name for himself and even earning a caricature from Pier Leone Ghezzi in 1749. Maini made a number of sculptures for major Roman churches, including S. Agnese in Agone, New St. Peter’s, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Giovanni in Laterano. He also designed the Oceanus group for the Trevi Fountain, making the drawings and full-scale stucco models, which were realized in marble by Pietro Bracci (d. 1773).
For more on Maini, see: Flavia Ormond. “Maini, Giovanni Battista.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.[http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T053248] and Jennifer Montagu in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 67, who gives his death date as July 23.
Tomb of Cardinal Neri Corsini, 1733-1734, S. John Lateran, Rome
Oceanus, Pietro Bracci after design by Maini, 1760-65, Fontana di Trevi, Rome
Trevi Fountain, Rome. Photo by David Iliff. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0
Pier Leone Ghezzi, Portrait of Giovanni Battista Maini, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, 72.93