Pietro Tacca was the principal assistant of Giambologna (1525/29-1608) and succeeded him as court sculptor to the Medici Grand-Dukes in Florence. Son of a marble merchant in Carrara, he went to Florence in 1592 as an apprentice to Giambologna and - like his master - worked in both marble and bronze, delegating much of the technical effort in both materials to skilled assistants. By 1599 he had been elected a member of the Accademia del Disegno and in 1601 he was enrolled in the household of Grand-Duke Ferdinando I. Thereafter he enjoyed a role as supervisor of the production of a series of great equestrian monuments for Ferdinando and for several foreign heads of state, continuing until well after the death of Giambologna in 1608.

In 1616 Tacca sent to King Philip III of Spain a bronze Crucifix which is now in the monastery of El Escorial, near Madrid. As Watson writes (p. 228), “Crucifixes were produced by the workshop in a number of models and sizes; those signed by Tacca are notable for their anatomical naturalism”. These examples of his work have not as yet been properly studied and collated, but the Italian expert Pietro Torriti writes eloquently of them as follows (1975, pp. 81-82):

“Tacca rendered the standard iconography of the Crucifix-figure in a deeply devotional religious style in Tuscany, where countless examples, mostly in bronze are attributed to him (or more often to Giambologna). But the majority are by their respective pupils, with some being by Pietro’s son Ferdinando. The few Crucifixes definitely by Pietro follow in form the classicizing style of his first works in the late 16th century and resemble the even more celebrated crucifixes by Giambologna. This means that they adhere to the forms of the Tuscan Renaissance and particularly, in this field, those by Michelangelo and his school. But even in these devotional works by Tacca one remarks the particular sculptural slant that is to be found in his best bronzes: a sensibility for the actual material, a care in modelling the surfaces which are ductile and fluid, rendering harmony to the whole. One notes, for example, how the sculptor seems to caress the three-dimensional forms around the hip, in the development of the shoulders, which flow into the wide-spread arms. The impression of power that emanates from his bronze statues of the Four Moors is now calmed in the abandon of Christ’s [stricken] body, without the study of the perfect nude becoming any the less anatomically correct. This study is suddenly transformed into poetic language in the vibration of the raised planes of the body that are raised with extreme delicacy and emphasized by the colour of the bronze.” [1]

The Crucifix sent to Spain in 1616 mentioned above, which was entrusted by Pietro to his brother Andrea, Provost of Massa, to present to the king, along with the equestrian monument, is the first one securely documented to his hand. Philip III was delighted with it and it is still to be seen in the Great Sacristy of the Escorial, in a niche over the altar of the Santa Forma [Fig. 1]. Another very similar one, 86.8 x 79 cm, from the Piccolomini Collection, Siena (1954), is now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. [Fig. 2].

A third, slightly smaller one, 77 cm high, which is mounted over the tomb of Archbishop Matteo Rinuccini in Pisa Cathedral [Fig. 3], was stated as early as 1643 to be by the hand of Pietro Tacca (Alessandro da Morrona, Compendio di Pisa illustrata, Pisa 1798, pp. 7-8; Roberto Papini, Catalogo di Pisa, Rome, 1912, pp. 93-94, ill.).

Of exactly the same size is a fourth example, in the Basilica di Santa Barbara in Mantua

[Fig. 4], which may be identical with one sent in 1621 by Tacca to Ferdinando, son of Vincenzo Gonzaga (Tesori, 1974, no. 12). A fifth is in San Vigilio, Siena [Fig. 5]. Another one was produced for the Cathedral of Prato in 1653 by Pietro’s son, Ferdinando [Fig. 6]. All of these are illustrated by Torriti.

As to smaller crucifixes for domestic chapels, none is actually documented to Pietro, but Torriti gives a sensible list of some that may reliably be attributed to him on the basis of comparisons with the bigger documented ones. An especially finely chiselled and very expressive Crucifix was formerly with the Florentine dealer, Giovanni Pratesi [Fig. 7], and closely resembles those in the Del Mazza collection, Florence, and on the high altar of Santa Maria in Carignano, Genoa [Fig. 8]. Another such Corpus Christi is the focus of a bronze group of Golgotha in the Museo degli Argenti of the Pitti Palace, Florence (A.S.E n.81) [Fig. 9].

All of these share with the present Corpus Christi the same, distinctive, outward thrust of Christ’s left hip to the viewer’s right; the same thinness of the figure from front to back at the waist; and the same complicated knotting of the loincloth [perizonium] at his right hip, with the tucking of one end under and then over the girdle, just above the private parts. These close similarities permit the attribution of the present figure to the same hand, that of Pietro Tacca.

The present figure is smaller than those recorded above, being only about one palmo [22.34cm] high, whereas they tend to be around 35cm - or even one metre - high. Furthermore, it is the only example by Pietro Tacca of the Living Christ [Cristo vivo, or semi-vivo], which – with its very refined modelling and finishing - makes it of great interest.

This image was invented quite late in his career by Giambologna – perhaps at the behest of Ferdinando de’Medici, before he inherited the Grand-Duchy in 1587 - and while he was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. It was serially produced by his associate Antonio Susini, in bronze and silver and it is interesting here to find a deliberate variant of it by Susini’s rival in bronze production at the court of the Medici in Florence, Pietro Tacca.

Related Literature

Various authors, Tesori d’Arte nella terra dei Gonzaga, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, 1974, pp. 65, no. 11; Pietro Torriti, Pietro Tacca da Carrara, Genoa, 1975 [second revised edition, 1984]; Katharine J. Watson, “The crucifixes of Giambologna”, in Charles Avery and Anthony Radcliffe [ed.], Giambologna, Sculptor to the Medici, exhibition catalogue, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1978, pp. 45-47; Katharine J. Watson, Pietro Tacca Successor to Giovanni Bologna, New York, 1983; Charles Avery, Giambologna, the complete sculpture, Oxford, 1987, pp. 228-29 [Italian edition, Giambologna, La Scultura, Florence, 1987, pp. 228-29]; Katharine J. Watson, “Pietro Tacca”, in Jane Turner [ed.], The Dictionary of Art, London, 1996, vol. 30, pp. 227-29; Anthea Brook, “Tacca Family”, in Antonia Bosatrom [ed.], The Encyclopedia of Sculpture, New York / London, 2004 pp,1633-37; Vanessa Montigiani, “La ‘grande applicazione al naturale’ nei Crocifissi di Pietro Tacca”, in Franca Falletti [ed.], Pietro Tacca: Carrara, la Toscana, le grandi corti europee, exh. cat., Carrara, Centro Internazionale delle Arti Plastiche (ex-Convento di San Francesco), 2007, pp. 75-101.

Dr Ch. Avery,

22 April 2013

[1] “L’iconografia del Crocifisso ha reso noto il Tacca nella pietistica religiosa particolarmente in Toscana ove non si contano tali immagini a lui (e piu spesso al Giambologna) attribuite, quasi sempre in bronze. Ma le piu son dei discepoli dei due masetri, alcune dello stesso figlio Ferdinando Tacca. I pochi, sicuri, crocifissi di Pietro, seguono nella forma lo stile classicheggiante delle sue prime opere cinquecentesche, simili agli ancor piu celebri crocifissi del Giambologna. Cio significa una piena aderenza alle forme del Rinascimento toscano ed in particolar maniera, in questo campo, a quelle di Michelangelo e della sua scuola. Ma anche in queste opere religiose del Tacca notiamo quel particolare slancio plastico che osservammo nella miglior produzione bronzea; una sensiblita della

materia, una cura nel plasmare le superfici che vengono rese duttili e fluenti per una maggiore armonia dell’insieme. Si osservi, ad esempio, come lo scultore sembri accarezzare le forme plastiche all’attaccatura dell’anca, nello sviluppo delle spalle che fluiscono verso le braccie aperte. L’espressione di potenza racchiusa dei Quattro Mori ora sembra placarsi nell’abbondono del Cristo senza che per questo venga meno lo studio anatomico del nudo perfetto, studio che subito si trasforma in linguaggio poetico nella vibrazione dei piani plastici rilevati con delicatezza estrema anche dal colore del bronzo”.