Christ brought before Pilate

Born in Flanders Giovanni Bologna (1524-1608), or short Giambologna went to Rome to study antique sculpture from about 1550 to 1553. He then travelled through Florence where he was persuaded to stay. He became sculptor to the Medici family and thus became one of the most influential sculptors of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. For half a century Giambologna dominated Florentine sculpture, carving an ever more impressive series of statue groups in marble: Samson Slaying a Philistine (1560–62), Florence Triumphant over Pisa (1563–75), the Rape of a Sabine (1582), Hercules Slaying a Centaur (1595–1600). In addition, Giambologna produced several extraordinary bronze statues. By ca. 1570 Giambologna had become the most influential sculptor in Europe.

Apart from the fame that his monumental statues in Florence inevitably brought, his style was disseminated in the form of small bronze reproductions of his masterworks, or statuettes, which he composed independently as elegant ornaments for the interior. These were used by the Medici as diplomatic gifts for friendly heads of state, and were also eagerly purchased by European collectors as examples of sophisticated Florentine design. They were especially favoured in Germany and the Low Countries and were prominently illustrated in paintings of fashionable gallery interiors there. For compositional subtlety, sensuous tactile values and sheer technical virtuosity, Giambologna’s work is virtually unequalled in any period or country.