MONTAUTI, ANTONIO. - Sculptor and architect, probably born in Florence and died there around 1740. He was a pupil of the skilled sculptor and chaser Giuseppe Piamontini.
In the Florentine church of S. Filippo Neri there are two oval reliefs by him with scenes from the life of the Saint; but his most important activity took place in Rome, where he sculpted a S. Benedetto for St. Peter’s Basilica (1725) and the marble group of the Pietà, in the underground chapel of the Corsini, at S. Giovanni in Laterano (1732), a work that won him widespread renown and concerning which it has even been rumored that it derived from a design by G. L. Bernini, although the gentle sentimentalism pervading its harmonious forms is rather remote from the spirit of the great Baroque sculptor. M. was also an esteemed medallist and, in this capacity, portrayed Federico IV of Denmark (1708) and Aretafila Salvini Rossi (1710).