Ammanati, Bartolommeo

Ammanati, Bartolommeo (b Settignano, 18 June 1511; d Florence, 22 Apr. 1592). Florentine Mannerist architect and sculptor. His best-known works in Florence are the Ponte S. Trinità (1567–70, destroyed during the Second World War, but rebuilt) and his additions to the Pitti Palace (1558–70), including the rusticated courtyard. In sculpture he was strongly influenced by Michelangelo and by the suaver style of Sansovino (on whose Library in Venice he worked); his chief work in this field is the rather ponderous fountain (1560–75) in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence, with its marble Neptune and bronze Nymphs. Ammanati beat several sculptors, including Cellini and Giambologna, in a competition for this commission, but the work was not well received. In old age, influenced by Counter-Reformation piety, he wrote a recantation of his secular works (denouncing nude figures as lustful) and he is said to have destroyed some. He was married to Laura Battiferri, a poet who was the subject of a memorable portrait by Bronzino.