Italian sculptor and architect Giovan Battista Caccini died on 13 March 1613 in Rome. Born at Montopoli in Val d’Arno (between Florence and Pisa) in 1556, Caccini was mainly active in Florence, working for the Medici family.
Caccini trained under Giovanni Antonio Dosio, from whom he inherited the interest in antique sculpture. In 1578 the young artist is attested in the workshop of Giambologna, where he worked as a temporary assistant, skilled in the restoration of antiquities. Caccini showed an ambivalent attitude towards the Flemish master, gradually distancing himself from his mannerism in favor of classic revival and naturalism.
By the late 1590s, Caccini was of one of the main sculptors of Florence, alongside Pietro Tacca and Pietro Francavilla. Among his greatest works were the marble group with Charles V crowned by Clement VII in Palazzo Vecchio (left incomplete by Baccio Bandinelli), the ciborium for Santo Spirito, the Seasonstatues for the Santa Trinita bridge, and numerous allegorical statues in the Boboli gardens. As an architect, Caccini designed the portico of the Santissima Annunziata and the Pucci chapel for the same church.
Reference: Mina Bacci, CACCINI, Giovan Battista, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.
Ciborium of the Church of Santo Spirito, 1599-1608, Florence.
Pope Clement VII crowning emperor Charles V, c. 1591, Salone dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
Summer and Fall, 1605, Ponte Santa Trinita, Florence.
Christ the Savior, c. 1598, marble, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum
Hygieia, 1608, Boboli gardens, Florence.
Portico of the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata, Florence, 1601.