20 FERDINANDO TACCA
Italian (Florence), 1619-1686
Putto Holding a Shield
to His Left, 1650-1655
Bronze
65.1 cm (25^5 /sin.)
85.SB.70.1
This figure is one of a pair of bronze putti, or naked winged infants, in the Museum's
collection. The two sculptures, which mirror each other in pose, were commissioned
to decorate the high altar of the Church of Santo Stefano al Ponte Vecchio in Florence.
Renovations to the church were undertaken by the Bartolommei family, which
employed Tacca to provide two bronze angels with inscribed cartouches to be placed
above the altar. Although Tacca completed the project in 1655, it is not clear whether
the angels ever reached their intended destination in the church. They may instead
have been kept by the Bartolommei family for their own private collection, since the
bronzes appear in inventories of the family palace in Florence as early as 1695.
Tacca inherited the studio and artistic legacy of Florence's greatest Mannerist
sculptor, Giambologna. However, several features of the bronze Putto underscore
Tacca's development away from the Mannerist style toward a more Baroque idiom: the
realistic, pudgy anatomy; animated facial expression; theatrical gesture; and dynamic
patterns of light created by the crinkled folds of drapery. Tacca's outstanding skill as a
bronze caster is evident in the precise, masterful handling of details, as in the texture
of the wing feathers and the curls -of the hair. The Putto retains the translucent, reddish-
brown lacquer patina typical of Florentine bronzes of this period. PAF
EUROPEAN SCULPTURE 65
