Giambologna biography samples

Rape of a Sabine

Giambologna's third major work was the Rape of a Sabine (1579-82, Loggia Dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria, Florence). One of the greatest sculptures ever, it represented the climax of his career as a figure sculptor, uniting three figures into a single spiral composition. This was an idea that had obsessed Michelangelo without his ever having brought himself to realize it in marble. Giambologna's first thoughts are embodied in a bronze group with a standing man and a woman raised in his arms, which he produced in 1579 for Ottavio Farnese. The work, he wrote to his patron, was created in response to the sculptural problem itself (the quest to unite 3 figures in a single sculpture), rather than as a particular narrative composition; and in fact he was subsequently compelled to identify the particular episode shown in the full-scale marble version by adding a bronze relief below, showing the Romans and Sabines fighting over t Student biography samples!