Sculptor Pietro Tacca died on October 26, 1640. Tacca began his career in Florence as an apprentice to Giambologna, and he is documented as working on the bronze reliefs that decorate the base of his master’s equestrian monument to Cosimo I in the Piazza della Signoria. In 1605, Tacca cast a similar monument, also designed by Giambologna, for duke Ferdinand I in the nearby Piazza Santissima Annunziata. Tacca was called on to create similar monuments for the monarchs of France and Spain, and he took over Giambologna’s Florentine workshop at his death in 1608. Tacca continued to serve the Medici Grand Dukes, and his last important international commission was an equestrian portrait of King Philip IV of Spain, a great technical feat that shows the monarch atop a rearing horse.
Reference: Katharine J. Watson and Anthea Brook. “Tacca.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Further reading:
Antonella Tesi, ed. Il Porcellino di Pietro Tacca: le sue basi, la sua storia. Edizioni Polistampa, 2011.
Equestrian Statue of Duke Ferdinand I, 1605-8, Florence: Piazza SS. Annunziata.
Equestrian Statue of King Philip III of Spain, 1606-16, Madrid: Plaza Mayor.
Equestrian Statue of King Philip IV of Spain, 1634-40, Madrid: Plaza de Oriente.
Francesco I de’Medici, ca. 1611. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Il Porcellino, 1634, Florence.