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The Fountain of Neptune (Fontana del Nettuno) on the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy

Bartolomeo Ammannati (18 June 1511 – 13 April 1592) was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino (assisting on the Library of St. Mark's, the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice) and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo.

He was more distinguished in architecture than in sculpture. He designed many buildings in Rome, which included work at the Villa Giulia complex (in collaboration with Vignola and Vasari), also at Lucca and Florence. His work at the completion of Pitti Palace, commissioned by Eleonora of Toledo, wife of Cosimo I, is one of his most celebrated achievements (1558–1570), respecting the original style of Filippo Brunelleschi. He was also named Console of the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno of Florence, founded by the Duke Cosimo I, at 13 January 1563, under the influence of Vasari.

He was then employed in 1569 to build the beautiful bridge over the Arno, known as Ponte Santa Trinita and one of his most celebrated works. The three arches are elliptic, and though very light and elegant, have resisted the fury of the river, which has swept away several other bridges at different times. It was destroyed in 1944, during World War II, and rebuilt in 1957.

Another of his most important works was the marble and bronze Fountain of Neptune (Fontana del Nettuno) for the Piazza della Signoria. The assignment was originally given to the ageing Bartolommeo Bandinelli. On his death, Ammannati won the competition for the continuing of this assignment over other famous sculptors, such as Benvenuto Cellini and Vincenzo Danti. He worked between 1563 and 1565 on the original block of marble (chosen by Bandinelli), together with his assistants, among which Giambologna. He took Grand Duke Cosimo I as model for Neptune's face. When the work on the ungainly sea god was finished, Michelangelo scoffed at Ammannati that he had ruined a beautiful piece of marble: "Ammannati, Ammanato, che bell' marmo hai rovinato!" Ammannati continued working on this fountain for another ten years, adding, in a mannerist style, around the perimeter suave bronze reclining river gods, laughing satyrs and marble sea horses emerging from the water. The whole gives nevertheless a coherent impression. The fountain served as an example for future fountain-makers.

Other famous sculptures by Ammannati include:

• the marble statue Victory (1540), Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
• the marble statue Leda with the Swan in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.
• the bronze statue of Venus (1558–59), in the Prado Museum (Madrid, Spain).
• the marble statue Parnassus (1563), Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
• the stone statue Allegory of Winter (1563–65), Villa Medici, Castello
• the bronze statue Goddess Opi (1572–75), Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

In 1550 Ammannati married Laura Battiferri, an elegant poet and an accomplished woman. Later in his life he had a religious crisis, influenced by Counter-Reformation piety, which resulted in condemning his own works depicting nudity, and he left all his possessions to the Jesuits.

He died in Florence in 1592.

Gallery[link]

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  The Jesuit College in Rome, 1582-84, was one of Ammannati's later designs

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  Venus, a variation on the classical type known as Venus Pudica. However, the arms are the result of an 18th-century restoration, as the original had the arms cut off in order to allow water to flow out.

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  Parco di Villa Reale di Castello (Villa di Castello) Fountain of January (Fontana del Gennaio) in Florence Italy

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  Christ and Canaanite woman by Alessandro Allori. Comissioned by Ammannati for funeral of his wife poetess Laura Battiferri (painted as old woman with the book).

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bartolomeo Ammannati

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Bartolomeo Ammannati in the "History of Art"