Master Art

On 1 January 1761 an agreement was signed in Florence between the sculptor Giovan Battista Piamontini (1695-1762) and the marquises Andrea (1691-1766) and his nephew Carlo Francesco Gerini (1738-1796). According to this paper, which was discovered and published by Martina Ingendaay in her book on Gerini art patronage,[1] the sculptor consented to sell to the Gerinis a marble statue by his late father, Giuseppe (1663-1744), and to carve himself another marble as a pendant to it. Giuseppe's statue was described, in the legal document, simply as 'representing a Milo' ('rappresentante un Milone'), that of his son was to be a Faun 'with a kid on his shoulders' ('con un capriolo sulle spalle'), and it was to be made after a model approved by Andrea and Carlo Francesco Gerini. The marbles were destined to a prominent place, two niches in the 'primo ricetto' – the first reception hall ­– of the Gerini palace. This palace was one of the most lavishly decorated patrician residences of Settecento Florence and housed a unique paintings gallery that grew from the seventeenth century on to become one of the most important in Florence.


[1] The agreement was published by Martina Ingendaay, I migliori pennelli. I marchesi Gerini mecenati e collezionisti nella Firenze barocca. Il palazzo e la galleria 1600-1825. 2 vols. Florence 2013, vol. 2, doc. 136, pp. 98ff.