The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-18

Il for the purpose of examining reported I outcroppings of marble, and made ad- dresses before the Chamber of Commerce
 or what was then the Commercial club, 1 in effort to interest local capital in | quarrying marble he had discovered in | what was then known as Marble Valley I (now Talladega Springs)
 THOUGHT TT ITALIAN 1 The Alabama marble was placed on ex- hibltion at the St. Loui. exposition, tut marble importers declared it u be the ] Italian product, and scoffed at the Idea l of Alabama producing marble of such fine quality. MT Moretti persisted in
 his efforts to obtain recognition for Ala bama marble and he told the story of | his efforts along this line from it's earliest | inception to a reporter for The Age-Her-
 aid yesterday.
 | Mr. MorettIs interest in marble is con- nected with his earliest associations with art. In Italy the word sculpture at once suggests marble, for almost all the great l est works of antiquity and nearly all the masterpieces of the middle ages and the Renna1ssance are perpetuated in this lovely material. The grea. mountains of Carrara, from which the marble is taken under almost incredible difficulties of location, have furnished the worlds sup ply of marble for sculpture for hundreds of years. From the earliest times, how ever, statuary marble has been scarce even there and each plocx is carefully treasured and is often spoken for at the quarry and bought before it is taken from the mountain side. Michael Angelo went himself and opened a quarry ill these mountains to get marble for the tomb of Pope Julius IT, and stories of rivalry be- tween artists of his time are familiar to every student of art.
 The sides of the Carrara mountains are dotted with little towns engaged in quar- ryirg. Carrara is the city surrounded by little towns, and it was to Carrara in the olden time, and the custom continues until the present, that students of scu;p- ture were sent to become familiar with the technical and practical use of the Sculptor's favorite medium.
 HIS EARLY STUDIES
 MT. Moretti studied when a small boy in the Academy of Florence and of Siena, his native town. Then he was placed in the studio of Professor Saroecihi, one of the best known artists of Italy and later he studied with the famous sculptor Giovanni Dupre When ne reached the age of 20 he went from the studio of Dupre to Carrara to learn the technique of marble chiseling. He stayed there five years and during that time took great interest in visiting the quarries and studying the methods of quarryiny To learn the nature and s.ratification of marble was only step beyond the ueces- sary knowledge to a scu.p-oc of it's grain and texture. MT. Moretti looked on all these things as part of hIs art and to him they were facts of great interest
 From Carrara he went to Budapest, where he was engaged in many public works and monuments. He made his home and his studio in Budapest several years. During his stay in Hungary he discovered marble deposit in -he Car pathian mountains. The marble was very fine but owing to reasons of national defense he was unable to obtain a grant from the Austrian government for a rail- road.
 Mir. Moretti came to New York from Hungary. He had not been in New York very long before he realized how much harder it is in this country than in Eu- rope for sculptors and builders to obtain marble for their work. Almost from the beginning of his residence in this country MT. Moretti became interested in att tempting to surmount this difficulty. He was frequently called into consultation and each time he brought to his studio a sample to test to see how it would do for sculpture.
 MEETS BIRMINGHAM MEN
 In 1904 a committee from Birmingham visited him in his studio in regard to having him model the statue Vulcan for the St. Louis exposition.
 These gentlemen noticed the samples of marble in the studio and one remarked that in Alabama there was a fine white marble very like the Italian marble.
 MT. Moretti said, Are you sure you have white marble of the quality of the Italian in your state?''
 Well" he replied, 'I do nOt know