Description
The Bacchus is an early work by Giambologna made between 1560 and 1565 that was affected, in style, the influence of Benvenuto Cellini. Such is the stylistic mark (probably suggested by Bernardo Vecchietti, his mentor and protector) that in 1838, when he was placed in Borgo S. Jacopo, the Bacchus was considered the work of a pupil of Cellini. The bronze was saved by a bombardment of the German occupation forces during World War II and was relocated in Borgo S. Jacopo in the niche, rebuilt by Tiezzi, in 1958. The City has commissioned a posthumous first edition original to the Fonderia Marinelli which since 2006 has taken the place of the original Bacchus (exhibited at the Museum of the Bargello).
The mold used to execute the bronze work using the lost-wax casting process was produced directly on the original, and is currently in the collection of the Fonderia Artistica Ferdinando Marinelli
