Giambologna (sculptor)
Giambologna, originally named Jean Boulogne, was a prominent Flemish sculptor and architect who thrived in Italy during the mid to late 16th century. He is particularly renowned for his marble statue, *The Rape of the Sabines*, a work that showcases his Mannerist style characterized by elongated forms and intricate poses. Born in 1529 in what is now France, Giambologna moved to Italy where he trained under Jacques Du Broeucq and later was influenced by Michelangelo. He settled in Florence and became the official court sculptor for the Medici family, creating numerous significant works, including the statue of *Samson Slaying a Philistine* and *Mercury*, which features the mythological god in a dynamic pose.
Giambologna’s sculptures often reflect historical narratives and employ a unique serpentine composition, allowing viewers to appreciate the art from multiple angles. His impact on sculpture extended beyond his lifetime, influencing the Baroque style and shaping the work of his students, such as Pietro Tacca. Giambologna’s legacy continues today, as his works remain integral features in Florence, and his pieces still attract considerable interest in contemporary art markets. He passed away in Florence in 1608 and was interred in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, where his artistic contributions are commemorated.
Giambologna (sculptor)
Sculptor
- Born: 1529
- Place of Birth: Douai, Flanders
- Died: August 13, 1608
- Place of Death: Florence, Italy
Significance: Giambologna (pronounced djam-buh-LOHN-ya) was a Flemish sculptor and architect who flourished in Italy during the mid to late sixteenth century. Perhaps best known for his marble statue The Rape of the Sabines, Giambologna demonstrated incredible flexibility as an artist. He worked with mediums such as stone, brick, bronze, and marble to complete works of both art and architecture and produced everything from small statuettes to monumental sculptures and fountains.
Background
Giambologna was born Jean Boulogne in 1529 in Douai, Flanders (now part of France). The name "Giambologna" is an Italianized version of his birth name. Because he lived and worked in Italy for most of his life, he is most well-known by that name.
At the age of fourteen, Giambologna began training under the tutelage of sculptor and engineer Jacques Du Broeucq. In 1551, Giambologna embarked on a trip to Italy to study famous artworks in Rome and Florence. During his travels, he encountered famed Renaissance artist Michelangelo, who examined some sculptures Giambologna had produced from wax and clay. Michelangelo advised the young artist to determine the poses of all the figures in a work before beginning to sculpt, a practice that Giambologna employed for the rest of his career.
During his stay in Florence, Giambologna met some wealthy patrons of the arts who were impressed with his work and decided to settle there permanently. Among those wealthy patrons were members of the powerful Medici family. In 1558, Giambologna began receiving commissions from the Medicis to produce different artworks. Two years later, Giambologna entered a contest to create a statue of Neptune for a fountain in the Piazza della Signoria. Although Giambologna did not win the contest, his model earned him a full-time position as a salaried artist for the Medici family, and he began to produce bronze and marble statues for Medici gardens throughout Florence.
Life's Work
Soon after he began working for the Medicis, Giambologna became their official court sculptor. He established a workshop in Florence and hired several assistants. Giambologna's first major work for the Medici family, completed between 1561 and 1562, was the marble Samson Slaying a Philistine. The work shows the biblical Israelite hero Samson slaying an enemy Philistine with the jawbone of a donkey.
In 1563, Pope Pius IV commissioned Giambologna to produce a bronze sculpture for a fountain in Bologna, Italy. While there, Giambologna cast the first of several bronze Mercury statues that he produced throughout his lifetime. The most famous one, perhaps, is his 1580 Mercury, which features Mercury carefully balanced on his left foot on a small column of air. Mercury's right leg is kicked back behind him. His right arm is angled upward, and his right index finger points toward the sky. Cradled in his left arm is a caduceus, a staff with two snakes winding around it.
In 1565, Giambologna created a statue for the Medicis showing one of Florence's great military feats. The marble statue, titled Florence Triumphant over Pisa, was placed in the Great Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio prior to the wedding of Francesco I de' Medici to Joanna of Austria.
Perhaps Giambologna's most famous work, and the one many consider his masterpiece, is a monumental marble sculpture titled The Rape of the Sabines. Produced between 1579 and 1582, the sculpture features three figures all carved from a single piece of marble. The sculpture stands outside the Loggia dei Lanzi, a building on the corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. The statue is typical of Giambologna's Mannerist style, which features elongated poses, graceful lines, and elegant curves. Upon its completion, the sculpture was simply known as the "group of three statues." Later, Giambologna added a bronze relief to the pedestal beneath the sculpture to provide more context.
Despite its name, The Rape of the Sabines does not depict sexual violence. Modern scholars believe that a closer translation of the original Latin would be "Abduction of a Sabine Woman." The statue depicts a tale from ancient Roman history that states that after Rome's founding, Roman men raided the nearby town of Sabine to abduct the women who lived there and make the women their wives. The sculpture shows a triumphant Roman stepping over a defeated Sabine man as he successfully captures a Sabine woman. The sculpture is an example of figura serpentinata (serpentine figure). The bodies of the three figures are intertwined in such a way that the sculpture has no single viewpoint. As a result of this spiral composition, one must circle the work to see it in its entirety. The statue has been praised for its ability to convey the movements and emotions of the three figures so clearly.
Giambologna's largest work is Appennino at the Villa di Pratolino in Tuscany. Produced between 1577 and 1581, Appennino is made of brick and stone and stands about 33 feet (10 meters) high. The work features a seated Appennino, the mountain god, overlooking a pond.
Giambologna continued to produce works through the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He created several equestrian monuments for dukes of the Medici family. His statue Hercules and the Centaur Nessus, completed in 1599, is located in the Loggia dei Lanzi, not too far from The Rape of the Sabines.
Giambologna died in Florence in 1608.
Impact
Giambologna's Mannerist style greatly influenced later styles, especially Baroque sculpture, and many of his artworks continue to decorate the buildings, gardens, and fountains of Florence in modern times. Bronze statuettes that he cast in his workshop were highly valued and often were given to foreign ambassadors and members of royal families as gifts. Giambologna's students, including sculptors Pietro Tacca and Pietro Francavilla, went on to achieve their own success. Tacca actually took over as court sculptor for the Medici family following his teacher's death and completed some of Giambologna's unfinished works. As a result, Giambologna's influence lasted well into the seventeenth century.
In addition, some of the Renaissance sculptor's works continued to make the news in the twenty-first century. In May 2024, Striding Mars, a fifteen-inch-tall bronze work by Giambologna in around 1580, was purchased for an estimated $4 million by The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. Later that same year, a Medusa sculpture attributed to Giambologna was the object of a court case decided by the Italian Supreme Court. The statue, which was allegedly stolen by looters in the 1920s from Nymphaeum of the Fata Morgana, had been slated for sale; it will instead be returned to the Nymphaeum.
Personal Life
Upon his death, Giambologna was buried in a chapel in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata (Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation), which was decorated with bronze replicas of his own designs.
Bibliography
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"Giambologna's head of Medusa must go home: Supreme Court rules." Finestra Sull'Arte, 11 Aug. 2024, www.finestresullarte.info/en/news/giambologna-s-head-of-medusa-must-go-home-supreme-court-rules. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.
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Pritchard, Shannon. "Giambologna, Abduction of a Sabine Woman." Smarthistory, 8 Sept. 2016, smarthistory.org/giambologna-abduction-of-a-sabine-woman/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.
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