AFTER THE MODELS IN THE PIAZZA DELLA DARSENA, LIVORNO, 17TH/18TH CENTURY

These two bronzes, considered to be among Pietro Tacca's works, originated from life-casts of four galley slaves, taken by Tacca in 1607, and probably originally intended for the equestrian monument to Ferdinando which stands in the Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence. Pietro Tacca (1577-1640) was one of Giambologna's most gifted pupils and, on his master's death in 1608, succeeded him in the office of court sculptor to the Medici Grand Dukes. (K.Watson, Pietro Tacca, Successor to Giovanni Bologna, London, 1983, pp.206-212 and C.Avery, Giambologna, The Complete Sculpture, Oxford, 1987, p.229, fig.263)