By Anne Leader
On 29 July 1580, Francesco di Lorenzo Mochi was born in Montevarchi. After training in Florence with Santi di Tito, Mochi moved to Rome and joined the atelier of Camillo Mariani. His first independent commission may have been the Annunciation carved for Duke Mario Farnese for Orvieto Cathedral, now recognized as the first “truly Baroque” sculpture. Like Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci, Mochi was an innovator who made important contributions to the development of Baroque art despite a career marred by ups and downs and overshadowed by the great Gian Lorenzo Bernini, with whom he worked on the decoration of New St. Peter’s.
Reference: ”Mochi, Francesco.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T058735
Angel of Annunciation and Virgin Annunciate, 1603-5, marble, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Orvieto
St. Veronica, St. Peter’s, Rome