Juno

During the 1570s Bandini worked for Francesco I and his circle. The most important work of this period is his first commission in bronze, the statuette of Juno, created for the studiolo of Francesco I in the Palazzo Vecchio. The figure, wearing the crescent moon of chastity and accompanied by her traditional peacock (a separate piece apparently not sculpted by Bandini), is orientated frontally, as it was designed for a niche. Her stance and gestures suggest that Bandini was emulating Michelangelo’s David.

Bandini transformed Michelangelo’s Republican hero into a Medicean heroine, a tribute to Francesco I’s mother, Eleonora de’ Medici, who was commonly compared to the chaste Juno.