The poet Laura Battiferri married the sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati on 17 April 1550 in Loreto. Their early marriage was spent in Rome, where the Florentine Ammanati worked for Pope Julius III. Much to Laura’s dismay, they left her beloved city to return to Florence in 1555 when her husband entered the service of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, for whom he made a number of sculptures and fountains. Meanwhile, Laura published two books of poetry: The First Book of Tuscan Works (1560) and The Seven Penitential Psalms…with some Spiritual Sonnets (1564). She left a third book of Rime unfinished at her death in 1589. Ammanati died three years later, joining her in their tomb at the Jesuit church of San Giovannino degli Scolopi. Laura and Bartolomeo had become deeply attached to the Jesuits; she giving large contributions from her inheritance; he famously denouncing the public display of nude sculpture. The couple had no children, and they bequeathed their property to the Florentine Jesuits.
Charles Avery. “Ammanati, Bartolomeo.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Angolo Bronzino, Portrait of Laura Battiferri, c. 1560. Oil on canvas. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
Tomb of Bartolomeo Ammanati and Laura Battiferri, San Giovannino degli Scolopi, Florence
Bartolomeo Ammanati, Neptune Fountain,1560-75, marble and bronze. Piazza della Signoria, Florence