Pietro Francavilla
Encyclopedia
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, who provided sculpture for Italian and French patrons in the elegant Late Mannerist
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
tradition established by Giambologna
Giambologna
Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, incorrectly known as Giovanni da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna , was a sculptor, known for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.- Biography :...
.
Biography
Born at CambraiCambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
, he received his early training as a draftsman in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. In 1565 he is recorded at Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, where Alexander Colin was working on the elaborate monument in the Hofkirche for the funerary monument to Emperor Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
. In this project Franqueville learned enough of the practice of sculpture to enter the large Florentine atelier of his fellow countryman, Giambologna. Francavilla became his master's main assistant in the carving of marble, including the masterpiece of the Rape of the Sabines
The Rape of the Sabine Women
The Rape of the Sabine Women is an episode in the legendary history of Rome in which the first generation of Roman men acquired wives for themselves from the neighboring Sabine families. The English word "rape" is a conventional translation of Latin raptio, which in this context means "abduction"...
displayed in the Loggia dei Lanzi
Loggia dei Lanzi
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street, three bays wide and one bay deep. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with...
, Florence. His first independent commissions were extended to him through Giambologna, who become overwhelmed with requests. Francavilla's finished pen-and-ink drawings after the master's bozzetti for projects, as they were stored at the workshop, are in some cases the only testament to works that have been lost or that were never executed.
In 1574, he began his first independent commission, eventually constituting thirteen garden sculptures for abbate Antonio di Zanobi Bracci for the Villa Bracci at Rovezzano near Florence. The thirteen were purchased through Sir Horace Mann
Sir Horace Mann, 1st Baronet
Sir Horace Mann, 1st Baronet KB , diplomat, was a long standing British resident in Florence.-Biography:...
, British envoy at Florence, for Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
, who died without ever seeing them; they were left in storage at Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...
and have been dispersed and ignored, then rediscovered in 1952. A late example in the series, the Venus at the Wadsworth Atheneum
Wadsworth Atheneum
The Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in the United States, with significant holdings of French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School landscapes, modernist masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as extensive holdings in early American furniture and...
, Hartford, is signed and dated 1600, and must have been made for or acquired by Bracci's nephew, who inherited the estate in 1585.
In 1585 Francavilla was elected to the Florentine Academy
Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze
The Accademia di Belle Arti is an art academy in Florence, Italy and it is now the operative branch of the still existing Accademia delle Arti del Disegno that was the first academy of drawing in Europe.-History:The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno The Accademia di Belle Arti ("Academy of Fine...
.
In 1589 nearly all artists in Florence were recruited for the unprecedented decorations set up to celebrate the wedding of Ferdinando I de' Medici and Christina of Lorraine
Christina, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
Christina of Lorraine or Chretienne de Lorraine was a member of the House of Lorraine and was the Grand Duchess of Tuscany by marriage...
, including painted triumphal arches along the procession route. For the event, a temporary façade, designed by Giovanni Antonio Dosio
Giovanni Antonio Dosio
Giovanni Antonio Dosio was an Italian architect and sculptor.He was born in San Gimignano. A student of Ammanati, with whom he realized the Villa dell'Ambrogiana, Dosio worked primarily in Rome and Florence , with some commissions that took him to Naples.During his early years in Rome, where he...
, was erected for the Duomo
Santa Maria del Fiore
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral church of Florence, Italy. The Duomo, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi...
; Francavilla provided sculptures of Saints Zenobius and Poggio
Poggio
Poggio is an Italian word meaning "knoll". It may refer to:-France:*Poggio-di-Nazza, a commune in the Haute-Corse department of Corsica*Poggio-di-Venaco, a commune in the Haute-Corse department of Corsica...
.
In 1590 he executed four marble sculptures of the Seasons to be erected at Bartolomeo Ammanati
Bartolomeo Ammanati
Bartolomeo Ammannati was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo.He was more distinguished in architecture than in sculpture...
's Ponte Santa Trinita
Ponte Santa Trinita
The Ponte Santa Trìnita is a Renaissance bridge in Florence, Italy, spanning the Arno. The Ponte Santa Trìnita is the oldest elliptic arch bridge in the world, the three flattened ellipses giving the structure its celebrated elegant appearance...
, Florence; they replaced the temporary sculptures of Roman heroes that had been erected for the wedding festivities.
In 1598 he executed an Orpheus with Cerberus for the banker Jerome (Girolamo) de Gondi, gentleman of the King's bedchamber, whose Florentine family had emigrated to France in the train of Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....
. Gondi placed it in a central fountain in the garden of his Paris hôtel in the suburban Faubourg Saint-Germain
Paris districts
Most of the Paris we see today is a result of a nineteenth-century renovation, but its boulevards and arrondissements were but a new grid bisecting quarters built by centuries of Parisian habit; as a result of this, Paris has many quarters that are not necessarily mentioned on any administrative...
, where it was much admired. It eventually found its way to the gardens of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
. Gondi's Château de Saint-Cloud
Château de Saint-Cloud
The Château de Saint-Cloud was a Palace in France, built on a magnificent site overlooking the Seine at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, about 10 kilometres west of Paris. Today it is a large park on the outskirts of the capital and is owned by the state, but the area as a whole has had a large...
was later purchased for Monsieur, brother of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. The sculpture is now in the Louvre Museum.
He intervened, probably only with drawings, in the new architectural façade provided for the Palazzo dei Priori, Pisa; the Gothic structure was unified under a scheme commenced by Vasari
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
to create a Medicean focus in Pisa. In the re-named Piazza dei Cavalieri, Francavilla's monumental statue of Cosimo I
Statue of Cosimo I
The statue of Cosimo I de' Medici stands in the middle of Knights' Square of Pisa, just in front of Palazzo della Carovana.It was commissioned by Grand Duke Ferdinando I in 1596 to the Franco-Flemish sculptor Pietro Francavilla, who executed it in the elegant Late Mannerist tradition. The statue...
reigned over the former Palazzo degli Anziani ("Palace of the Elders"), a former symbol of Pisan independence remade as a Medicean monument.
He was invited to France by Henry IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
in 1601, when Pietro Tacca
Pietro Tacca
Pietro Tacca was an Italian sculptor, who was the chief pupil and follower of Giambologna. Tacca began in a Mannerist style and worked in the Baroque style during his maturity.-Biography:...
took his place as Giambologna's premier assistant.
When Marie de Medici, the Florentine-born queen of France, decided to erect an equestrian statue in honor of her husband, Henry IV, she awarded the commission to Giambologna, who had executed monuments to the grand dukes of Tuscany, Cosimo and Ferdinand I (at Arezzo) Following Giambologna's death (1608), the casting and finishing was executed by his pupil Pietro Tacca
Pietro Tacca
Pietro Tacca was an Italian sculptor, who was the chief pupil and follower of Giambologna. Tacca began in a Mannerist style and worked in the Baroque style during his maturity.-Biography:...
. When the bronze arrived in Paris, the queen commissioned a pedestal from Pierre Francqueville, as he was known in France. He modelled three bas-reliefs for the base to be cast in bronze and modeled four bound captives before his death. His pupil and son-in-law, Francesco Bordoni
Francesco Bordoni
Francesco Bordoni , also known as Francisque Bourdon, was an Italian sculptor who was active mainly in France. He was born in Florence and died in Paris. He was a student and son-in-law of Pietro Francesco Francavilla, and he completed a number of Francavilla's sculptures after the latter's death...
, who had followed Francavilla to France, cast and finished the bronzes, which were completed in 1618.
Francavilla died in 1615. His portrait, executed in chalk, by Hendrik Goltzius
Hendrik Goltzius
Hendrik Goltzius , was a Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, noted for his sophisticated technique and the "exuberance" of his compositions. According to A...
in 1591, is in the Rijksmuseum
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam or simply Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum in Amsterdam, located on the Museumplein. The museum is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history. It has a large collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and a substantial collection of Asian art...
.
Major works
- Garden sculptures for Villa Bracci, Rovezzano (1574)
- Amorino (c. 1580), a joint work with Giambologna.
- Jason (late 1580s), marble, Museo del Bargello, Florence
- Seasons (1590), two marble sculptures for the Ponte S. Trinita, Florence.
- Ferdinand I de' Medici (1595), Arezzo. Executed to a design by Giambologna.
- Cosimo IStatue of Cosimo IThe statue of Cosimo I de' Medici stands in the middle of Knights' Square of Pisa, just in front of Palazzo della Carovana.It was commissioned by Grand Duke Ferdinando I in 1596 to the Franco-Flemish sculptor Pietro Francavilla, who executed it in the elegant Late Mannerist tradition. The statue...
(1596), PisaPisaPisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
; the Grand Duke is in the robes of Grand Master of his Ordine dei Cavalieri di Santo Stefano, erected in Piazza dei Cavalieri, Pisa, http://www.sns.it/en/scuola/luoghi/piazzadeicavalieri/ as a civic symbol of the hegemonyHegemonyHegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
of Florence. - Orpheus (1598), marble, Hôtel de Gondi, Paris.
- Four bound Captives (1614) from the base of the equestrian statue of Henry IV of FranceHenry IV of FranceHenry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
, erected in 1635 on the Pont-Neuf, Paris, cast and finished by his son-in-law Francesco BordoniFrancesco BordoniFrancesco Bordoni , also known as Francisque Bourdon, was an Italian sculptor who was active mainly in France. He was born in Florence and died in Paris. He was a student and son-in-law of Pietro Francesco Francavilla, and he completed a number of Francavilla's sculptures after the latter's death...
, 1618; they were stored through the Napoleonic Empire, and have been in the Louvre Museum since 1817. - David, conqueror of Goliath, (1608)marble (Louvre Museum).
- Mercury
- Venus 1600, marble (Wadsworth AtheneumWadsworth AtheneumThe Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in the United States, with significant holdings of French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School landscapes, modernist masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as extensive holdings in early American furniture and...
, Hartford, Connecticut) - Meleager
- Bust of Saint Romualdo