{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O312070"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O312070/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KK4791/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KK4791/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KK4791","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KK4786","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU6031","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KK4792","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU6030","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BL8128","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JT8890","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY0046","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O312070/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O312070","accessionNumber":"A.13-1947","objectType":"Bust","titles":[{"title":"Cardinal Gian Carlo de' Medici","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This bust was carved by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725), court sculptor to Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It shows Cardinal Gian Carlo de’ Medici (1611-1663), son of Cosimo II and brother of Ferdinando II de’ Medici. Initially intended for a military career Gian Carlo entered the church and was appointed cardinal in 1644. \n\r\nThe bust is part of a series of eight busts of Medici family members, held at the Musée du Louvre, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The National Gallery of Art, Washington; Private Collection, Florence; and Museo Storico della Caccia e il Territorio of Cerretto Guidi, Florence.\n\r\nThe attribution of these busts to Foggini was first suggested by Molesworth in 1954 and later confirmed by other critics although the details of the commission remained unknown for a long time. Payments to Foggini published in 2019 by Riccardo Spinelli can now confirm the attribution to the court sculptor and bring further information about the original commission. The series of eight bust was commissioned in the 1680s by Cardinal Francesco Maria de’ Medici (1660-1711), Cosimo III’s younger brother, for the Villa di Lappeggi, the cardinal’s country residence. The busts were all paid between 1681 and 1689. More specifically, the bust of the Cardinal Gian Carlo was planned, alongside the bust of Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici, in November 1683 and completed by the end of August 1685. \n\r\nIn the early 1680s, Foggini was still a relatively young sculptor. He had first trained in Florence with his uncle Jacopo Maria Foggini, a wood sculptor, and then spent a few years in Rome at the ‘Florentine Academy’, with the painter Ciro Ferri and the sculptor Ercole Ferrata. He soon showed a great talent and received several important commissions, especially that of the Corsini chapel decoration in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. With this series of Medici busts, he was able to demonstrate his skills in portraiture. In this instance, Foggini was brought the model to life and translated a subtle introspection of the character even with someone he had never met, since Cardinal Gian Carlo had died in 1663 when Foggini was only a child. Foggini soon became the foremost sculptor in Florence and was appointed Court Sculptor to the Grand Duke in 1687, and a few years later Court Architect and head of the Galleria dei Lavori, the Medici manufacture. \r\n\r\nThe inventory drafted after Cardinal Francesco Maria’s death in 1711 listed the eight busts in the villa Lappeggi. The identity of the sitters as well as that of the sculpture were soon forgotten. The series later went to the Palazzo Capponi-Covoni in Florence, then bought by the antique dealer Stefano Bardini who recognised that the busts represented members of the Medici family and considered them as having been carved by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Bardini dispatched the series over the years. Two busts are recorded in his 1899 sale (see Catalogue des Objects d’Art…provenant de la Collection Bardini de Florence, London, Christie’s, 1899, June 5, nn. 480-481, as Bernini), while the present bust was sold at Bardini’s 1902 sale (Christie’s, London, 30 May 1902, no. 589, as Bernini, bought by Ward for £280). The bust of Gian Carlo reappeared in 1938 at the Mortimer Schiff Sale still as Bernini (Christie’s London, 23 June 1938, no.149, as Bernini, bought by Smith for £136 10s ) and was purchased by the V&amp;A a decade later at Sotheby’s, London (13 June 1947, no.95 as a 17th century French marble), under the terms of the John Webb Trust.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Marble bust of Cardinal Gian Carlo de'Medici (1611-1663). The Cardinal is shown wearing a biretta, with his head turned slightly to his left, and his long hair falling over his loose collar and robe. He has a small beard and a moustache. The bust is mounted on its original grey marble base with a white marble cartouche in front.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Foggini, Giovanni Battista","id":"A11496"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Marble","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2017KK4791","2017KK4786","2015HU6031","2017KK4792","2015HU6030","2007BL8128","2017JT8890","2018KY0046"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"7","id":"THES263054"},"free":"","case":"WS","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Bust","id":"AAT47457"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Florence","id":"x28848"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1683-1685","earliest":"1683-01-01","latest":"1685-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased by the John Webb Trust","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"1050","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"760","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"330","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measured by Conservation for Europe 1600-1800"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria de’ Medici in November 1683 for the Villa Lappeggi near Florence; completed in August 1685; documented at the Villa Lappeggi in 1711; later at Palazzo Capponi-Covoni, Florence; later with Stefano Bardini, Florence ; sold at his sale Christie’s, London, 30 May 1902, no. 589; Mortimer Schiff ; his sale Christie’s London, 23 June 1938, no.149 ; purchased by the V&A at Sotheby’s, London 13 June 1947, no.95.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Bust of Cardinal Gian Carlo de' Medici, marble, by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725), Italian (Florence), 1683-1685.  ","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pope-Hennessy, John, assisted by Lightbown, Ronald. <font -u>Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum.</font> London: HMSO, 1964. vol. II, pp. 583-585, cat. no. 623. Vol.III, fig. no. 615."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. <font -u>Art Bulletin.</font> vol. L., 1968. p. 109."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pratesi, G., ed. <font -u>Repertorio della Scultura Fiorentina del seicento e settecento</font>. 3 vols. Turin: Umberto Allemandi,1993. ISBN 8842203874"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lankheit, Klaus. In: <u>The Twilight of the Medici: Late Baroque Art in Florence 1670-1743</u>. [exh. cat.] Florence & Detroit 1974, p.70, cat.no. 33"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Carocci, Guido. 'Palozzo Covoni' in: <u>L'illustratore Fiorentino: calendario storico per l'anno 1881</u>, Florence, 1880, p.150."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Molesworth, Hender Delves. <u>Baroque, Roccoco and Neoclassical Sculpture</u> (V&A Large Picture Book), London, 1954, II, no. 12."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Langedijk, Karla. <u>The Portraits of the Medici, 15th-18th Centuries</u>. Florence, 1981-87, Vol. III, p.956 (II), n.27."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Civai, Alessandra. <u>Palazzo Capponi Covoni in Firenze</u>, Florence, 1995, pp.110-112."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bellesi, Sandro. <u>Duchi e Granduchi medicei in una serie de terracotte fiorentine del primo Settecento</u>. Florence, 1997, p.7"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Visonà, Mara. 'Un ritratto di Anna Maria Luisa dei Medici Bambina e I Lari del Poggio Imperiale (riflessini sul Poggini)' in <u>Paragone</u>, 585, 22, (1998), pp.19030 (p.23, n.5)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Spinnelli, Riccardo. <u>Giovan Battista Foggini 'Architetto primario della Casa Serenissima' de Medici (1652-1725)</u>, Florence, 2003, p.92, n.231."},{"reference":{"text":"Casciu, Stefano (ed.), <i>La principessa saggia : l'eredita di Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici Elettrice Palatina</i>, Livorno : Sillabe, 2006","id":"AUTH357812"},"details":"pp.135-153, no. 6","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"de' Medici, Gian Carlo","id":"N12471"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"CARDINAL GIAN CARLO DE’MEDICI (1611-1663)\r\nItalian (Florence); about 1700\r\nMarble\r\nBy Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725)\r\nPurchased from the John Webb Trust \r\n\r\nThe bust forms part of a series of four portrait busts of members of the Medici family, now distributed between Louvre and the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The foremost Florentine sculptor of the late Baroque period, Foggini began to receive commissions for sculpture from the Medici court as early as 1676. A decade later he was appointed grand ducal sculptor and in 1694, court architect. Foggini carved several portraits of the Medici dynasty; his Cosimo III de’Medici (A.4-1948) is displayed nearby.\r\n","date":{"text":"1993 - 2011","earliest":"1993-01-01","latest":"2011-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["A.13-1947"],"accessionNumberNum":"13","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1947,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN7370","2019LU1591","2019LV3082"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-22","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}