Danti, Vincenzo

Danti, Vincenzo (b Perugia, 17 Apr. 1530; d Perugia, 26 May 1576). Italian sculptor, architect, and writer, active for most of his short career in Florence, where he was based from 1557 to 1573. His work reveals his admiration for Michelangelo, whose funeral ceremonies in 1564 he helped to plan. Danti's style, however, is more elegant and much less powerful than the master's. His best-known works are (in Florence) the bronze group of the Execution of the Baptist over the south door of the Baptistery (finished 1571), and (in his native Perugia) the bronze figure of Pope Julius III outside the cathedral (1555). He also worked in marble, his masterpiece in this medium being Honour Trimphant over Falsehood (c.1571, Bargello, Florence). In 1573 he was appointed Perugia's city architect and he helped found the city's Accademia del Disegno. He was the author of a treatise on proportion (1567), dedicated to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, and he also wrote poetry.