St Antoninus Preaching
by GIAMBOLOGNA, Bronze
Among Giambologna’s principal projects as architect were the Grimaldi Chapel in San Francesco di Castelletto, Genoa (largely destroyed in the 19th century); the Salviati Chapel in San Marco, Florence; and his own funeral chapel in Santissima Annunziata, Florence. All show a distinct, personal style of Mannerist architecture, evolved from the work of Vasari, Bartolomeo Ammanati and ultimately Michelangelo.
In the Salviati Chapel round the walls are six niches with marble figures, all of them carved by Francavilla, two on the facing wall from models by Giambologna; above them are six bronze reliefs with scenes from the St Antoninus’s life, and over the altar are two bronze putti and an angel pointing with one arm towards heaven and extending the other towards the tomb of St Antoninus.
The picture shows one of the six reliefs depicting scenes from the life of St Antoninus.