Giambologna – sculptor

Artist worked for three successive Medici Grand Dukes in Florence

Giambogna's Abduction of a Sabine
Woman in Piazza della Signoria

Giambologna, the last in the line of significant Renaissance sculptors, died on this day in 1608 in Florence.

He was considered so important by the Medici family that once he had started working for them, they would never allow him to leave their city. They feared he would be enticed away by either the Austrian or Spanish branches of the Habsburgs to work for them.

His best known works include Abduction of a Sabine Woman - often known as Rape of the Sabine Women - in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria, and his Neptune, atop the Fountain of Neptune, in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore.

Although influenced by Michelangelo, Giambologna produced many beautiful works in marble and bronze in his own late-Mannerist style, with perhaps less emphasis on emotion, and more on the elegance of the figures.

The sculptor was also sometimes known as Giovanni da Bologna, or Jean de Boulogne in French, and Jehan Boulongne in Flemish.

Giambologna had been born in Douai in Flanders in 1529, which was then part of the Netherlands, but is now part of France. He studied in Antwerp with the architect and sculptor Jacques du Broeucq, before moving to live in Italy in 1550. 

There, he made a detailed study of the sculptures of classical antiquity in Rome. His first major commission was given to him by Pope Pius IV, who employed him to sculpt the colossal bronze Neptune and subsidiary figures, for the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna.

Giambologna moved to live and work in Florence in 1553. He had become established there within a few years and he was invited to become a member of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno after it was founded by the Medici Duke, Cosimo I, in 1563, who was influenced by the painter and architect Giorgio Vasari.

Giambologna was so prized by the
Medici he was forbidden to leave

Among Giambologna’s most celebrated works are the Mercury, of which he did four versions. In his depictions of Mercury, the figure is poised on one foot, supported by a zephyr.

His marble sculpture Abduction of a Sabine Woman still stands in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria. The work includes three full figures and yet it was carved from a single block of marble. It was produced for Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

The sculpture was inspired by a story from ancient Roman history of the mass abduction of women from other cities for the purposes of growing the population of Rome which, at the time of its foundation, had relatively few female inhabitants. The Latin word raptio, which occurs in accounts of the incident written by the Roman historian Livy, can be translated as ‘rape’ in certain circumstances, but in this context may more accurately be taken to mean ‘abduction’ or ‘kidnapping’.

Giambologna’s several depictions of Venus produced a canon of proportions for the female figure, and also set standards for artists making Venus their subject that were to influence many future sculptors in Italy and Europe.

He also produced sculptures and ornaments for the Boboli Gardens in Florence and the gardens of other Medici villas in Tuscany.

His pupils went on to influence other sculptors throughout Europe as well as in Italy. Giambologna’s style, which incorporated grace, strength, and movement in his figures, anticipated the Baroque sculptures that were later created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

After he died in Florence at the age of 79, Giambologna was interred in a chapel that he had designed for himself in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in the centre of the city.

He had been an Italian sculptor in all but birth, who had left his mark on Florence and helped to make it the refined, elegant city it is today.

The Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza delle Signori 
houses a number of important statues

Travel tip:

Giambologna’s most famous work, the marble sculpture Abduction of a Sabine Woman, stands in the Loggia dei Lanzi on the south corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, close to the Uffizi gallery. The 14th century Loggia is named after the Lancers, who were the bodyguards of Cosimo I de’ Medici and it now provides an open air sculpture gallery for visitors to Florence to enjoy. The back wall of the Loggia is lined with ancient Roman statues of priestesses. On the far left of the Loggia is the bronze statue of Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini. Giambologna’s Abduction of a Sabine Woman, stands on the far right. Including three separate figures, it is believed to have been worked from the largest block of marble ever to have been transported to Florence and it was designed so that it can be appreciated equally from all sides. It has stood in the Loggia since 1583. A plaster cast model of the sculpture can also be seen in the Accademia Gallery in Florence. 

The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in
Florence, where Giambologna was buried

Travel tip: 

Giambologna was laid to rest in the Cappella della Madonna del Soccorso in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, the mother church of the Servite Order, in Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence. The sculptor designed the chapel between 1594 and 1598 for his own tomb and it is richly decorated with frescoes and statues. The most important work in the chapel is the large bronze Crucifix by Giambologna, showing the dead Christ with his head reclining and his eyes closed. It towers over everyone who enters the chapel and depicts the body of Christ as elegant and athletic, free from the marks of the Passion.  The church itself dates back to the laying of its foundation stone in 1250. Its richly decorated interior harks back more to Roman Baroque than to Tuscan religious tradition, being decorated with marble, stucco and gilding, with impressive ceiling frescoes by Volterrano.

Also on this day: 

1819: The birth of republican activist Aurelio Saffi

1868: The birth of electrical engineer Camillo Olivetti

1912: The birth of microbiologist Salvador Luria

1958: The birth of fashion designer Domenico Dolce

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12 August

Vittorio Sella - mountain photographer

Images still considered among the most beautiful ever made

The photographer Vittorio Sella, who combined mountaineering with taking pictures of some of the world’s most famous and challenging peaks, died on this day in 1943 in his home town of Biella in Piedmont.  Even though Sella took the bulk of his photographs between the late 1870s and the First World War, his images are still regarded as among the most beautiful and dramatic ever taken.  His achievements are all the more remarkable given that his first camera and tripod alone weighed more than 18kg (40lbs) and he exposed his pictures on glass plates weighing almost a kilo (2lbs).  He had to set up makeshift darkrooms on the mountain at first because each shot had to be developed within 10 to 15 minutes.  Sella had exploring and photography in his blood. He was born in 1859 in Biella, in the foothills of the Italian Alps.  Read more… 

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Francesco Crispi – prime minister

The ‘great patriot’ was of Albanian heritage

The death at the age of  82 in Naples of the Italian statesman Francesco Crispi, who was a key figure during the Risorgimento, was announced on this day in 1901.  He was a close friend of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and it was Crispi who persuaded Garibaldi to invade Sicily in 1860 with his band of volunteers known as The Thousand. Quickly conquering Sicily, Garibaldi proclaimed himself dictator and named Crispi as Minister of the Interior.  Crispi was born in Ribera in Sicily in 1818. His father’s family were originally from Palazzo Adriano in south western Sicily, which had been founded by Orthodox Christian Albanians. Crispi was brought up to speak Italian, along with Greek, Albanian and Sicilian.  By the time he was 11, Crispi was attending a seminary in Palermo. He then studied law and literature at the University of Palermo.  Read more…

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Luigi Galleani - anarchist

Activist who mainly operated in the United States

Luigi Galleani, an anarchist active in the United States in the early part of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1861 in Vercelli in Piedmont.  Galleani was an advocate of the philosophy of "propaganda of the deed" first proposed by the 19th century Italian revolutionary Carlo Pisacane.  The theory was that violence against specific targets identified as representatives of the capitalist system would be a catalyst for the overthrow of government institutions.  Between 1914 and 1932, Galleani's followers in the United States - known as i Galleanisti - carried out a series of bombings and assassination attempts against institutions and perceived “class enemies.”  The Wall Street bombing of 1920, which resulted in the deaths of 38 people, was blamed on followers of Galleani, who had been deported from the United States to Italy the previous year.  Read more…

Giovanni Gabrieli – composer

Venetian musician inspired spread of the Baroque style

Giovanni Gabrieli, composer and organist, died on this day in 1612 in Venice.  He had been a major influence behind the transition from Renaissance music to the Baroque style in Europe.  Born in Venice between 1554 and 1557, Giovanni grew up studying with his uncle, the composer Andrea Gabrieli, for whom he always had great respect.  He also went to Munich to study with the musicians at the court of Duke Albert V, which had a lasting influence on his composing style.  After his return to Venice he became principal organist at St Mark’s Basilica in 1585.  Following the death of his uncle, he took the post of principal composer at St Mark’s as well and spent a lot of time editing his uncle’s music for publication, which would otherwise have been lost.  He took the additional post of organist at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Read more…

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Giovanni Legrenzi – composer

Maestro’s Baroque music is still played today by enthusiasts

Organist and composer Giovanni Legrenzi, who was influential in the development of late Baroque music in Italy, was baptised on this day in 1626 at Clusone, near Bergamo, then part of the Republic of Venice.  Legrenzi was to become one of the most prominent composers of opera, vocal, and instrumental music working in Venice in the late 17th century. His father, Giovanni Maria Legrenzi, had been a professional violinist and composer. One of his brothers, Marco, was also a talented musician. The brothers are believed to have been taught music at home and they became used to performing in their local church.  Giovanni Legrenzi became organist at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo and was ordained as a priest in 1651. He became resident chaplain but continued to be involved in music and was given the title of first organist in 1653. Read more… 

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Mario Balotelli - footballer

Volatile star of Milan clubs and Manchester City

Controversial footballer Mario Balotelli, who has played for both major Milan clubs in Serie A and for Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League in England, was born on this day in 1990 in Palermo.  Balotelli scored 20 goals in 54 Premier League matches for Manchester City and made the pass from which Sergio Aguero scored City’s dramatic late winning goal against Queen’s Park Rangers on the last day of the 2011-12 season, which gave City the title for the first time since 1968.  He had a difficult relationship with City manager Roberto Mancini, with whom he first worked at Internazionale in Milan, and with Mancini’s successor in charge of the nerazzurri, Jose Mourinho.  His volatile temperament has also brought him more red and yellow cards than he and his managers would have liked.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Photographs at the Edge: Vittorio Sella and Wilfred Thesiger, by Roger Härtl

Vittorio Sella was the foremost mountaineering photographer of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, producing widely celebrated images of K2 and other famed peaks. Sir Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003) was a writer, photographer, and explorer, whose greatest journey took him across the Rub’ al Khali, a vast desert encompassing much of the Arabian Peninsula. In Photographs at the Edge, Roger Härtl considers these two far-flung figures side by side, telling the stories of two influential explorers through their bibliographic and photographic work, and creating a tapestry where exploration, writing, and image-making all conjoin. As Härtl shows in this richly illustrated volume, the triumphs of Sella and Thesiger coincided with the end of a golden age of geographical exploration and with the rise of photography as we know it today.

Roger Härtl is the Hansen-MacDonald Endowed Professor of Neurological Surgery and director of spinal surgery at the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, as well as the neurosurgeon for the New York Giants.

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11 August

Massimiliano Allegri - football coach

Former AC Milan boss topped Conte's record

Massimiliano Allegri, the man who looked to have taken on one of the toughest acts to follow in football when he succeeded Antonio Conte as head coach of Juventus, was born on this day in 1967 in Livorno.  Conte won the Serie A title three times and the domestic double of Serie A and Coppa Italia twice in three years as boss of the Turin club.  Yet after Allegri took over in 2014 he exceeded Conte’s record, leading the so-called Old Lady of Italian football to the double in each of his first four seasons in charge before winning a fifth consecutive Serie A title in 2019.  The 2016-17 scudetto - the club’s sixth in a row - set a Serie A record for the most consecutive titles.  Allegri was a well regarded midfielder but although there were high spots, such as scoring 12 Serie A goals from midfield in a relegated Pescara side in 1992-93, he had a fairly modest playing career.  Read more…

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Alfredo Binda - cyclist

Five times Giro winner who was paid not to take part

The five-times Giro d’Italia cycle race winner Alfredo Binda, who once famously accepted a substantial cash payment from the race organisers not to take part, was born on this day in 1902 in the village of Cittiglio, just outside Varese in Lombardy.  The payment was offered because Binda was such a good rider - some say the greatest of all time - that the Gazzetta dello Sport, the daily sports newspaper that invented the race, feared for the future of the event - and their own sales - because of Binda’s dominance.  He had been the overall winner of the coveted pink jersey in 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1929, on one occasion winning 12 of the 15 stages, on another racking up nine stage victories in a row.  Binda, who was perceived as a rather cold and detached competitor, was never particularly popular outside his own circle of fans. Read more…

Lavinia Fontana – artist

Mother-of-11 was Italy’s first female professional painter

Bolognese Mannerist artist Lavinia Fontana, who became famous for her portraits, died on this day in 1614 in Rome. She has come to be regarded as the first female professional painter in both Italy and throughout western Europe because her family lived on her income from commissioned works. Her husband worked as her assistant and agent and helped her bring up their 11 children.  Lavinia was born in Bologna in 1552 and baptised at the Basilica di San Petronio in the city. Her father, Prospero, was a prominent artist of the Bolognese school and trained Lavinia to follow in his footsteps. She became an artist at a time when women were not widely accepted in the profession.  Her earliest known work, Child of the Monkey, was painted in 1575 when she was 23. Another early painting, Christ with the Symbols of the Passion, which was painted in 1576, is now in the El Paso Museum of Art in Texas.  Read more…

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Pope Alexander VI

Scheming pontiff married off his children to secure power

Rodrigo Borgia became one of the most controversial popes in history when he took the title of Alexander VI on this day in 1492 in Rome.  He is known to have fathered several illegitimate children with his mistresses and his reign became notorious for corruption and nepotism.  Born in Valencia in Spain, Borgia came to Italy to study law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained a Deacon and then made Cardinal-Deacon after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III. He was then ordained to the priesthood and made Cardinal-Bishop of Albano.  By the time he had served five popes he had acquired considerable influence and wealth and it was rumoured that he was able to buy the largest number of votes to secure the papacy for himself.  He had made himself the first archbishop of Valencia and when he was elected as Pope Alexander VI. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Juve!: 100 Years of an Italian Football Dynasty, by Herbie Sykes

The definitive history of the iconic football club: the glory, the scandal, the stars and its enduring influence on Italian life.  Juventus utterly dominates the Italian game. Home to some of the biggest names in sport, it has won title after title, trophy after trophy. However, parallel to the success and myth, there's a murkier reality. For one hundred years the club and its billionaire owners, the Agnelli family, have been synonymous with match-fixing, doping, political chicanery and more. While La Vecchia Signora remains Italy's best-supported team, it's also its most despised.  Juve! charts the story of Italy's great sporting dynasty, chronicling the triumphs and tragedies of the Agnellis, and of the icons - Boniperti, Del Piero, Ronaldo - who have been their sporting emissaries for almost a century. The pride of Italy or its dark heart? Footballing colossus or vanity project? With this unique institution, as with so much about life in Italy, things are seldom black and white…

Herbie Sykes is an English author and journalist. He has written six books, four of them about the Giro d’Italia. His biography of the defected East German cyclist Dieter Wiedemann, entitled The Race Against the Stasi, was Cycling Book of the Year at the Cross British Sports Book Awards. This is his first football book, reflecting an interest in Juventus that blossomed after he attended his first Turin derby in 1991. 

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10 August

Ippolito de' Medici – Lord of Florence

Brief life of a Cardinal, soldier and patron of the arts

Ippolito de' Medici, who ruled Florence on behalf of his cousin, Giulio, after he became Pope Clement VII, died on this day in 1535 in Itri in Lazio.  At the age of 24, Ippolito was said to have contracted a fever that turned into malaria, but at the time there were also rumours that he had been poisoned.  There were two possible suspects. The fatal dose could have been administered on behalf of Alessandro de' Medici, whose abuses he was just about to denounce, or on behalf of the new pope, Paul III, who was believed to want Ippolito’s lucrative benefices for his nephews.  Ippolito was born in 1509 in Urbino, the illegitimate son of Giuliano de' Medici. When his father died, he came under the protection of his uncle, Pope Leo X, and then his cousin, Giulio, who had become Pope Clement VII and sent him to Florence to become a member of the government. Read more…

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Carlo Rambaldi - master of special effects

Former commercial artist who created E.T.

Carlo Rambaldi, the brilliant special effects artist who created Steven Spielberg's ugly-but-adorable Extra-Terrestrial known as E.T. and Ridley Scott's malevolent Alien, died on this day in 2012 in Lamezia Terme, the city in Calabria where he settled in later life.  He was a month away from his 87th birthday.  Unlike modern special effects, which consist of computer generated images, Rambaldi's creatures were typically made of steel, polyurethane and rubber and were animated by mechanically or electronically powered rods and cables.  Yet his creations were so lifelike that the Italian director of one of his early films was facing two years in prison for animal cruelty until Rambaldi brought his props to the court room to prove that the 'animals' on screen were actually models.  Read more…

Francesco Zabarella – Cardinal

Reformer helped to end the Western Schism

Cardinal Francesco Zabarella, an expert on canon law whose writings on the subject were to remain the standard authority for centuries, was born on this day in 1360 in Padua.  Zabarella studied jurisprudence in Bologna and in Florence, graduating in 1385. He taught canon law in Florence until 1390 and in Padua until 1410.  He took minor orders and in 1398 was made an archpriest of the Cathedral of Padua.  Zabarella carried out diplomatic missions on behalf of Padua. In 1404 he was one of two ambassadors sent to visit King Charles VI of France to ask for his assistance against Venice, which was preparing to annex Padua.  But when Padua became part of the Venetian Republic in 1406, Zabarella became a loyal supporter of Venice.  In 1409 he took part in the Council of Pisa as councillor of the Venetian legate.  Read more…

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Marina Berlusconi - businesswoman

Tycoon’s daughter who heads two of his companies

Marina Berlusconi, the oldest of business tycoon and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s five children, was born on this day in 1966 in Milan.  In 2003 she became chair of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Italy’s largest publishing company, and in 2005 president of Fininvest, the Berlusconi holding company that is also Mondadori’s parent company.  She is or at times has been a director of several other Berlusconi companies, including Mediaset, Medusa Film, Mediolanum and Mediobanca.  Forbes magazine once described her as the most powerful woman in Italy and one of the 50 most powerful women in the world.  Born Maria Elvira Berlusconi, her mother is Carla Elvira Lucia Dall’Oglio, a woman the businessman met for the first time at a tram stop outside Milan Centrale railway station in 1964 and married the following year. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence, by Tim Parks

The Medici are famous as the rulers of Florence at the high point of the Renaissance, their power derived from the family bank. Medici Money tells the fascinating, frequently bloody story of the family and the dramatic development and collapse of their bank (from Cosimo who took it over in 1419 to his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent who presided over its precipitous decline). The Medici faced two apparently insuperable problems: how did a banker deal with the fact that the Church regarded interest as a sin and had made it illegal? How in a small republic like Florence could he avoid having his wealth taken away by taxation? But the bank became indispensable to the Church. And the family completely subverted Florence's claims to being democratic. They ran the city. Medici Money explores a crucial moment in the passage from the Middle Ages to the modern world, a moment when our own attitudes to money and morals were being formed.To read this book is to understand how much the Renaissance has to tell us about our own world. 

Tim Parks has lived in Italy since 1981. He is the author of 11 novels, three accounts of life in Italy, two collections of essays and many translations of Italian writers.

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