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Italian Art:
Baccio Bandinelli
In Florence, in conjunction with the exhibition dedicated to Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino at Palazzo Strozzi, there is also another very interesting exhibition; the one about Baccio Bandinelli. For the first time, in a comprehensive way, all the works of the Florentine sculptorare exhibited, known to history for his impossible character more than for his artistic virtues.
Bartolomeo (Baccio is a diminutive of Bartolomaccio, being “accio” a pejorative suffix of Italian grammar: just to confirm the legend about his bad attitude) was born in Florence in 1488 and his father, being a goldsmith,from an early age educates him towards the art. Baccio immediately reveals a very good skill for sculpture and an extraordinary talent for design, and so he starts to study at the workshop of Giovan Francesco Rustici, a sculptor already in full swing in the early 1500s.
Seeing young Bandinelli’s preparatory drawings, Leonardo da Vinci is impressed and urges him to continue, probably giving fuel to the fire of the already not humble Baccio’s character: shortly thereafter he begins to study Michelangelo’s fresco of the Battle of Cascina. So, Baccio’s priority becomes to imitate and exceed Buonarroti and even competing with him for some works from the Medici family, Bandinelli does not understand his inferiority to Michelangelo’s genius.
However, he is commissioned for several works by the Medici family: he serves for the two Popes of the family who take turns to the papal throne in the first half of the century.