Giuseppe Bernardi

Giuseppe Bernardi (24 March 1694 in Pagnano – 22 February 1773 in Venice), also called Torretto, was a prominent mid-18th-century Italian sculptor.

He is also known as a carver of intaglios and as the first teacher of Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova.

His father was Sebastiano Bernardi whose works include the statues of the park of the Villa Manin di Passariano (Udine) and of the Prato della Valle in Padua.

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.