Giambologna

Timeline

1. 1529–1553Douai · FlandersBorn in Douai, he received his sculptural training in Flanders, possibly under Jacques du Broeck. Around 1550 he traveled south to Rome, studying ancient marbles and the works of Michelangelo, forming the Mannerist vocabulary that later emphasized twisting torsos and viewing from multiple angles. In 1553 he moved north to Tuscany, and thereafter made Florence his lifelong creative center.
2. 1553–1578Florence · FlorenceAfter settling in Florence he entered municipal sculpture competitions; although he did not win the Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria (which went to Ammannati), he completed the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna between 1563 and 1566, greatly enhancing his reputation. During the same period he produced several bronze Flying Mercurys, whose lightness—balancing on one toe—made them exemplary Mannerist bronzes, and he gained the long-term patronage of Cosimo I, his workshop gradually becoming a center of European commissions.
3. 1579–1608Florence · FlorenceFor Francesco I he carved from a single block of marble a spiral group of three figures over four meters high, the base inscribed with the date 1582; installed in the Loggia dei Lanzi in 1583, it was later named the Rape of the Sabine Women and is regarded as the apotheosis of the serpentine composition with no single viewpoint. He subsequently completed the bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I in the Piazza della Signoria and prepared an equestrian statue of Ferdinand I for Piazza della Santissima Annunziata (finished by his pupil Tacca). He died in Florence on August 13, 1608.