GIAMBOLOGNA (Giovanni da Bologna; 1529–1608)

GIAMBOLOGNA (Giovanni da Bologna; 1529–1608), Flemish sculptor and architect, active in Italy. Born in Douai, Giambologna received his early training in the shop of Jacques Du Broeucq, a Flemish sculptor, engineer, and minor architect who had spent time in Italy. Probably with his master's encouragement, the young artist traveled around 1551 to Rome, where he made wax and clay sketches after the city's best artworks. Around 1553, while passing through Florence on his way back to Flanders, he met the banker Bernardo Vecchietti, who brought the young sculptor into his household. Through Vecchietti's connections, Giambologna began around 1558 to receive Medici commissions; by 1561, he was a salaried court artist, and soon thereafter he became the dukes' preeminent sculptor. Though he traveled to Bologna in 1562 (to work on his Neptune Fountain), to Rome in 1572 (to study and acquire antiquities), and to Genoa in 1579 (to accept the commission for the Grimaldi family chapel in the subsequently destroyed church of S. Francesco di Castelletto), Giambologna spent most of the remainder of his life in the Tuscan capital.

Giambologna's enormous success and productivity depended in part on his flexibility as an artist—his ability to fulfill commissions ranging from buildings to sugar sculptures—and in part on the talents of the other major sculptors who worked in his shop. Much in demand as a Counter-Reformation artist, Giambologna designed a number of innovative altarpieces, the most important of which was the Altar of Liberty, made for the church of S. Martino in Lucca. Here the sculptor responded to new christocentric devotional currents with a central freestanding marble image of the Risen Savior. Giambologna also designed unified, multimedia decorative programs for several chapels. The best surviving example of these is the Capella Salviati in the church of San Marco in Florence, which the sculptor reoutfitted to promote the relics of S. Antonino, one of that church's most important historical figures.

Better known today than these works are the independent sculptures on secular themes that Giambologna made for the Medici and other clients. These included figures of Venus, of various scales and in various materials, and of Hercules—including the impressive, monolithic Hercules and the Centaur, formerly at the Canto dei Carnesechi and now in the Loggia de' Lanzi. His most famous statue in this category was and is the Rape of the Sabine Women, commissioned to serve as a pendant to Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus and Medusa in the same loggia. The Sabine cleverly adapted the triumphal themes of the statues that already occupied the piazza to a subject of love and possession. It allowed the duke to identify himself with the statue's hero, even as it, like many of Giambologna's other Florentine public works, avoided direct glorification of the current ruler. Also typical of many of Giambologna's works was the ambiguity of the Sabine 's subject matter; in this case, at least, that ambiguity was deliberate, as it provoked writers to unpack the statue's numerous possible meanings in encomiastic poems.

In addition to these works, Giambologna also designed a number of witty fountains, including a Bacchus, at the end of Florence's Borgo San Jacopo, which poured water from its lifted cup; a Mercury for the Villa Medici in Rome, which represented the flying god as the terminus of a windy exhalation; and the Appenine for the Villa Medici (now Demidoff) at Pratolino, which fused a prisoner type and a grotto format. Much desired, in Giambologna's time, were also the sculptor's smaller statuettes, many of which were produced as multiples, so that they could be acquired by private collectors or sent as diplomatic gifts to foreign courts. Giambologna was also a skilled architect, as is witnessed in his elegant Palazzo Vecchietti and in his design for the facade of Florence's cathedral.

On Giambologna's death, in 1608, he was buried in the extraordinary chapel he had decorated for himself in the Church of the SS. Annunziata, largely using new casts of bronzes he had previously exported to Genoa and Munich. Though this death came just one year before Annibale Carracci's and just two before Caravaggio's, Giambologna, unlike these founders of the "baroque," is usually considered a late sculptural representative of the "mannerist" period. The designation reflects the awkwardness of transferring period styles in painting to sculpture, and of considering the Roman sculpture of Bernini as normative: with figures like Pietro Tacca (1577–1640) in Tuscany, Francavilla (1548–1615) in France, and Adriaan de Vries (c. 1546–1626) in Germany all emulating his inventions, Giambologna's manner, no less than Annibale's or Caravaggio's, remained dominant in Europe well into the seventeenth century.

See also Caravaggio and Caravaggism ; Florence ; Florence, Art in ; Mannerism ; Medici Family .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Avery, Charles. Giambologna: The Complete Sculpture. Mt. Kisco, N.Y., 1987.

Giambologna, 1529–1608: Sculptor to the Medici. Exh. cat. London, 1978.

Gibbons, Mary Weitzel. Giambologna: Narrator of the Catholic Reformation. Berkeley, 1995.

Michael Cole

Giambologna ( Giovanni Bologna, originally Jean Boulogne) (b Douai [now in France], 1529; d Florence, 13 Aug. 1608). Netherlandish-born Italian sculptor. He was the greatest sculptor of the age of Mannerism and for about two centuries after his death his reputation was almost equal to that of Michelangelo. Virtually all his career was spent in Florence, but he was admired throughout Europe and patrons and collectors of his work included several popes, the Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II (see Habsburg), and kings of France ( Henry IV) and Spain ( Philip III).

Giambologna trained in Flanders under Jacques Dubroeucq. In 1550 he went to Italy to further his studies and spent two years in Rome, where he met the elderly Michelangelo. He intended returning to Flanders, but on the way he visited Florence and settled there for life. The work that made his name, however, was for Bologna—the Fountain of Neptune (1563–6), with its impressive nude figure of Neptune, which he had designed for a similar fountain in Florence (Ammanati defeated him in the competition). Even before working on the fountain in Bologna, though, Giambologna had begun in Florence the first of a series of celebrated marble groups demonstrating his formidable mastery of complex twisting poses: Samson Slaying a Philistine (c.1561–2, V&A, London); Florence Triumphant over Pisa (completed 1575, Bargello, Florence); The Rape of a Sabine (1581–2, Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence); Hercules and the Centaur (1594–1600, Loggia dei Lanzi). These were made for members of the Medici family, his greatest patrons (he was court sculptor to three successive Medici grand dukes of Tuscany: Cosimo I, Francesco I, and Ferdinando I). His monument to Cosimo I (1587–95) was the first equestrian statue made in Florence and an immensely influential design, becoming the pattern for similar statues all over Europe, including two from his own workshop: that to Henry IV in Paris (destroyed), which was completed after Giambologna's death by his colleague Pietro Francavilla; and that to Philip III in Madrid, which was installed after the master's death by his most important pupil, Pietro Tacca.

It was for the Medici also that Giambologna made his largest work—the colossal (about 10 m (33 ft) high) figure of the mountain god Appennino (1577–81) in the gardens of the family's villa at Pratolino. Constructed of brick and stone, the god crouches above a pool and seems to have emerged from the earth, blending harmoniously with the landscape. Giambologna, however, was as happy working on a small scale as in a monumental vein. His bronze statuettes were enormously popular (they continued to be reproduced almost continuously until the 20th century) and being portable helped to give his style European currency. The most famous of them is Mercury (originally made c.1565), of which several versions and many copies exist. It is such a potent image of speed and grace that it has been adapted in several ways in the modern world, for example as the symbol of Interflora. Many of Giambologna's preliminary models also survive (uniquely for an Italian sculptor of his period), giving insight into his creative processes. The best collection is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Giambologna ( Giovanni Bologna, originally Jean Boulogne) (1529–1608). Flemish-born Italian sculptor. He was the greatest sculptor of the age of Mannerism and for about two centuries after his death his reputation was almost equal to that of Michelangelo. Virtually all his career was spent in Florence, but he was admired throughout Europe and patrons and collectors of his work included several popes, the Holy Roman emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II (see Habsburg), and kings of France ( Henry IV) and Spain ( Philip III). Giambologna was born in Douai (now in France) and trained under Jacques Du Broeucq (c.1505–84). In 1550 he went to Italy to further his studies and spent two years in Rome, where he met the elderly Michelangelo. He intended returning to Flanders, but on the way he visited Florence and settled there for life. The work that made his name, however, was for Bologna—the Fountain of Neptune (1563–6), with its impressive nude figure of Neptune, which he had designed for a similar fountain in Florence (Ammanati defeated him in the competition). Even before working on the fountain in Bologna, however, Giambologna had begun in Florence the first of a series of celebrated marble groups demonstrating his formidable mastery of complex twisting poses: Samson Slaying a Philistine (c.1561–2, V&A, London); Florence Triumphant over Pisa (completed 1575, Bargello, Florence); The Rape of a Sabine (1581–2, Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence); Hercules and the Centaur (1594–1600, Loggia dei Lanzi). These were made for members of the Medici family, his greatest patrons (he was court sculptor to three successive Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany: Cosimo I, Francesco I, and Ferdinando I). His monument to Cosimo I (1587–95) was the first equestrian statue made in Florence and an immensely influential design, becoming the pattern for similar statues all over Europe, including two from his own workshop: that to Henry IV in Paris (destroyed), which was completed after Giambologna's death by his colleague Pietro Francavilla (1548–1615); and that to Philip III in Madrid, which was installed after the master's death by his most important pupil, Pietro Tacca.

It was for the Medici also that Giambologna made his largest work—the colossal (about 10 m (33 ft) high) figure of the mountain god Appennino (1577–81) in the gardens of the family's villa at Pratolino. Constructed of brick and stone, the god crouches above a pool and seems to have emerged from the earth. Giambologna, however, was as happy working on a small scale as in a monumental vein. His bronze statuettes were enormously popular (they continued to be reproduced almost continuously until the 20th century) and being portable helped to give his style European currency. The most famous of them is Mercury (originally made c.1565), of which several versions and many copies exist. It is such a potent image of speed and grace that it has been adapted in several ways in the modern world, for example as the symbol of Interflora. Many of Giambologna's preliminary models also survive (uniquely for an Italian sculptor of his period), giving insight into his creative processes. The best collection is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Giovanni Bologna or Giambologna , 1524-1608, Flemish sculptor, whose real name was Jean Bologne or Boulogne. Though born in Douai, France, he trained in Flanders. He is identified chiefly with the Italian Renaissance as one of its greatest sculptors. He lived briefly in Rome before moving to Florence. His masterpiece, Flying Mercury, is in the Bargello, Florence. The Rape of the Sabines (Florence), with its spiraling forms and multiple viewpoints, is one of the finest examples of mannerist sculpture. This work exerted a profound influence on later art. Among his other works are the equestrian statues in Florence of the Medicis, one of Ferdinand I (see Browning's poem "The Statue and the Bust" ) and another of Cosimo I; two fountains in the Boboli Gardens, Florence; the bronze doors of the cathedral in Pisa; a Neptune fountain in Bologna; and the colossal statue Apennines at Pratolino. There are two of Giambologna's elegant statuettes of the Evangelists in the Metropolitan Museum and one at the museum of the Univ. of Kansas.

Giovanni Bologna see Bologna, Giovanni .

Giambologna see Bologna, Giovanni .

Bologna, Giovanni. See Giambologna.

Giovanni Bologna. See Giambologna.