The Apennine Colossus

I saw this picture randomly the other day and I was utterly awe-struck. For a start, the doorway below is about the height of a person, and it has three floors of rooms inside. Imagine conceiving and sculpting something this huge. What an epic task.

This beautiful work of art is situated in the gardens of what was once the Villa di Pratolino, a Renaissance patrician villa in Vaglia, Tuscany, Italy. The villa and gardens were constructed between 1569 and 1581, and the Colossus came into being between 1579 and 1580. The villa itself was mostly demolished in 1820, but the gardens survived and are still open to the public today. The Apennine Colossus, or Appennino, was created by legendary Italian sculptor Giambologna (1529 - 1608), who is responsible for well-known works such as various versions of Mercury, plus Samson Slaying a Philistine (1562), Rape of the Sabine Women (1574-82) and Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus (1599).

His first major commission was given him by the nephew of Pope Pius IV, which was to create the bronze figures of Neptune and the others on the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, which was finished in about 1567. On that fountain, I particularly like the lactating figures around the bottom. Those renaissance types sure knew how to add a touch of class to their town squares.