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The Best of Fathers

30/4/2019

 
Walking Tours of Florence
Equestrian statue of Cosimo l de' Medici, Piazza della Signoria, Florence
Equestrian statue of Cosimo l de' Medici, Piazza della Signoria

In 1594, twenty years after his death, a grand bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I de' Medici (r. 1537-74), the first grand duke of Tuscany, was unveiled in the Piazza della Signoria.

It was the first statue of its kind to be erected in Florence and it was commissioned by Cosimo's son, Ferdinando, the third grand duke of Tuscany (r. 1584-1609). 

A bronze plaque on the pedestal salutes Cosimo, in the name of his son, as 'pious, fortunate, invincible, just, clement, best of fathers and princes'.

The man who created the sculpture was Jean Boulogne, a Flemish sculptor, who was known in Italy as Giambologna (1529-1608). Giambologna would go on to execute a similar statue of Ferdinando, which stands in Piazza Santissima Annunziata.

Equestrian statue of Cosimo l de' Medici, Piazza della Signoria, Florence
Equestrian statue of Cosimo l de' Medici
Equestrian statues of Cosimo I de' Medici and his son Ferdinando, Florence
Cosimo I de' Medici and Ferdinando I de' Medici

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    Blogging about Florence:
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    My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England.

    Since 200I I have been living in Italy, where I run
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