Mochi, Francesco (
b Montevarchi, nr. Arezzo, 29 July 1580;
d Rome, 6 Feb., 1654). Italian sculptor. He was the outstanding Italian sculptor of his generation, but after brilliant early achievements he was eclipsed by
Bernini and his career petered out. His first notable work is the dynamic
Annunciation (1603–8, Orvieto Cathedral), made up of separate marble figures of Mary and Gabriel, originally placed on either side of the high altar; it has been described as the first
Baroque sculpture or, in Rudolf
Wittkower's words, ‘a fanfare raising sculpture from its slumber’. Even more impressive are two bronze equestrian statues Mochi executed in Piacenza for Ranuccio
Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza. The first of the pair (1612–20), representing Ranuccio himself, is still in the tradition of
Giambologna, but the second (1620–5), commemorating Ranuccio's father Alessandro, has a magnificent Baroque sweep: ‘Never before…had the figure of the rider held its own so emphatically against the bulk of the horse's body’ (Wittkower). Mochi's last major work was the huge marble
St Veronica (1629–39) adorning one of the crossing piers of St Peter's, Rome, which suffers from comparison with Bernini's powerful
St Longinus. (The two other companion statues are
St Andrew by François
Duquesnoy and
St Helena by Andrea Bolgi (1605–56), whom Wittkower describes as ‘the driest among Bernini's protégés’.)
