Giambologna

Apprenticed to Flemish Renaissance sculptor Jacques du Broeucq in Mons, Boulogne traveled to Rome in 1550 to study Michelangelo and classical antiquities. Passing through Florence, he won the patronage of Bernardo Vecchietti and Francesco I de' Medici, who refused to let him leave the city.

Giambologna created breathtaking bronze and marble sculptures that could be viewed with aesthetic perfection from every 360-degree angle (figura serpentinata). His bronze Flying Mercury in the Bargello and marble Rape of the Sabine Women in the Loggia dei Lanzi transformed European sculptural art.