Ferdinando de' Medici
by FOGGINI, Giambattista, Marble, height 98 cm
This portrait bust represents Ferdinando de’ Medici (1663-1713), Grand Prince of Tuscany. Foggini had trained in Rome and there he absorbed the vigour and drama of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s style.
The statue has a pendant, the bust of Cosimo III de’ Medici (1642-1723), Grand Duke of Tuscany, the father of Ferdinando. Although it is assumed by some scholars that the pair belonged to a series of busts of members of the house of Medici, it is more probable that they were independent of a larger set.