Giosuè Meli (Luzzana, Bergamo 1813- Rome 1893) Saint John and the Lamb. White Carrara Marble, 14 x 20 cm, signed MELI under the base. 

He was born in Luzzana, a small hilltop village in Val Cavallina in the province of Bergamo, Giosuè's inclination for sculpture took shape very early: at the age of only 16 he carved a dead Christ in wood now preserved in the parish of Luzzana. Between 1836 and 1840, the young artist attended the Carrara Academy in Bergamo. In 1838 he lost his father, on whose tomb he created a Carrara marble plaque depicting a grieving female figure in Canova's style. The large bas-relief carved in the living rock in Luzzana and called "The Giant" dates back to that period. 

In 1840, thanks to the patronage of some leading figures in Bergamo society of the time such as the noblewoman Lucia Prezzati, Count Leonino Secco Suardo, Giosuè Meli moved to Rome in search of an expressive language between Neoclassicism and Romanticism.


The marble work Innocence and Loyalty (1854) is exhibited at the State Russian Museum in a room of the Stroganov Palace in St. Petersburg. The sculpture was purchased by Tsarina Alessandra, wife of Tsar Nicholas I. A passionate art collector, the empress visited Meli's studio during one of her trips to Europe and bought the work. 

The Maestro died in Rome on 22 February 1893, he was buried in the Roman cemetery of Verano. The figure of Giosuè Meli, after years of oblivion, thanks to the work of his biographers (Don Felice Bellini and Carlo Pinessi) re-emerges from the past outlining the profile of a great nineteenth century. Only fifty sculptural works are currently registered in Italy and abroad. 

Some works are kept in his hometown, at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Luzzana - Donation Meli. A special room contains some sculptures, including 'The four putti' recovered in Boston (USA), a bust portraying the daughter of Lucia Prezzati, his benefactress and the tombstone that the young Giosuè Meli had carved in memory of the Father John.