An exhibition in Florence on Giovan Battista Foggini, the artist who defined late 17th-century Florence

Giovan Battista Foggini (Florence, 1652 - 1725), one of the most influential artists of late medieval Florence, is being celebrated through a major monographic exhibition to be held from April 9 to September 9, 2025 at Palazzo Medici Riccardi. The exhibition Giovan Battista Foggini (1652-1725). Grand Ducal Architect and Sculptor, curated by Riccardo Spinelli and promoted by the Metropolitan City of Florence in collaboration with the MUS.E Foundation, is an opportunity to delve into the art and work of a master who marked the history of Florentine and Italian art, helping to shape the artistic language of the city during a period of great cultural ferment.

The exhibition is organized to mark the third centenary of the death of the artist, who died in 1725, and aims to restore to the public his vast contribution to sculpture, architecture and design. Foggini, in fact was also an architect and designer of art objects, who became a central figure at the Medici court. The exhibition aims, thus, to explore the multiplicity of his works and his ability to mix artistic design with a magnificent and solemn visual language, which was particularly appreciated by the grand ducal family and became the role model for young Florentine artists.

The exhibition, divided into several thematic sections, offers a cue to rediscover the interdisciplinary nature of Foggini’s work, which blended sculpture in marble, bronze and terracotta, architecture and design. Foggini trained at the Accademia Medicea in Rome, founded by Cosimo III de’ Medici, and then returned to Florence, where he assumed the role of grand ducal sculptor and court architect. He was also director of the Manifatture di Galleria, the workshops set up by the Medici to produce extraordinary objects inlaid with semi-precious stones and precious metals. His work in the Florentine manufactories was fundamental to the development of the luxury craftsmanship of the period, which defined the face of Florence in the seventeenth century. The works on display come from prestigious international collections, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, and the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, as well as from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello and the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan. In addition, the exhibition also includes works from private collections, which testify to Foggini’s influence in various artistic and cultural contexts.

The works on display cover Foggini’s vast artistic output, from monumental sculpture to the design of decorative objects. Among the most significant pieces is his work for the Galleria degli Specchi in Palazzo Medici Riccardi, frescoed by Luca Giordano, and for the adjoining Biblioteca Riccardiana, which testify to the interweaving of painting, sculpture and architecture. Foggini also distinguished himself for his achievements in the antiquarian arrangement of the 15th-century courtyard of the Medici Riccardi Palace and for the extension of the Michelangelo facade on Via Cavour, an intervention that further enriched the beauty and elegance of the building, an emblem of the Medici family’s power and culture. The exhibition also aims to offer an interpretation of his style, characterized by a late and magnificent Baroque language, with strong influences from Roman art, but original and innovative in the Florentine context. Indeed, his style helped define the image of Florence in the late Medici period, a time when art not only expressed the power of the Medici family, but also a cosmopolitan and sophisticated vision that embraced international influences.

An exhibition in Florence on Giovan Battista Foggini, the artist who defined late 17th-century Florence

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