BARATTA, PIETRO. — Sculptor, active in Venice between the late 17th century and the first half of the 18th. He reacted against the lavish Baroque style diffused in Venice by the Fleming Giusto Le Curt (of whom B. was probably a pupil) and, drawing on 16th-century examples (Santovino and Campagna), he shaped that taste which was a prelude to Neoclassicism. His principal work is the bas-relief with St. Sebastian on the high altar of the church of the same name. He collaborated on the sculptural decoration of the façade of S. Staë (1709).
BIBL.: U. V., s. V. in Thieme-Becker, II, p. 457; W. Arslan, Sculture ignote di Giovanni Marchiori, in Bollettino d’Arte, 2a serie, 5 (1925-26), pp. 437-39. Elsa Gerlini