Giovan Battista Foggini

This is a unique opportunity to showcase the design, stylistic, and technical prowess of Giovan Battista Foggini, highlighting the breadth of his interventions and the distinctive signature that set a standard in Florence. His grand and eloquent style quickly gained recognition, earning the admiration of the Medici and his contemporaries, while also inspiring younger artists, who saw in him a brilliant master with an almost inexhaustible creative imagination.

Through a selection of sculptures, drawings, and artefacts, the exhibition traces Foggini’s career, from his training in Rome at the Medici Academy, founded by Cosimo III de’ Medici, to his return to Florence, where he became the Grand Ducal sculptor, court architect, and director of the Galleria Manufactories. These workshops, commissioned by the prince, were dedicated to the production of marvellous inlaid works in hard stones and precious metals. His style, characterised by a late-Baroque language influenced by Roman art yet distinctly original, defined the image of late 17th-century Florence, paving the way for future generations.