Francesco Fanelli (c. 1590–1653) was an Italian sculptor, born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, who spent most of his career in England. He likely had contacts if not training in the studio of

Giambologna Giambologna (1529 – 13 August 1608), also known as Jean de Boulogne (French), Jehan Boulongne (Flemish) and Giovanni da Bologna (Italian), was the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, with a large workshop producing large and small ...

, then in the hands of Pietro Francavilla and

Pietro Tacca Pietro Tacca (16 September 1577 – 26 October 1640) was an Italian sculptor, who was the chief pupil and follower of Giambologna. Tacca began in a Mannerist style and worked in the Baroque style during his maturity. Biography Born in Ca ...

. He is recorded at work in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

in 1609-10 then worked in London from about 1610, as a sculptor in ivory —

Joachim von Sandrart Joachim von Sandrart (12 May 1606 – 14 October 1688) was a German Baroque art-historian and painter, active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the ''Te ...

mentions an ivory statuette of Pygmalion that attracted the attention of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

— but mostly as a skilled bronze-caster. He made a fountain of sirens astride dolphins, alternating with scallop shells, with putti clasping fish and other figures, for the king at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

. It was noticed by

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or memo ...

in 1662, and some elements remain, perched on a high rusticated base, as the Diana Fountain in Bushy Park. He received a pension in 1635 as "sculptor of the King". His only signed sculpture is a

portrait bust A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, and a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. The bust is generally a p ...

of a youthful Charles II as Prince of Wales, dated 1640, at

Welbeck Abbey Welbeck Abbey in the Dukeries in North Nottinghamshire was the site of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order in England and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a country house residence of the Dukes of Portland. It is one ...

. He left England in 1642Pope-Hennessy 1953:158. about the same time as his more conservative rival sculptor, the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

Hubert Le Sueur Hubert Le Sueur (c. 1580 – 1658) was a French sculptor with the contemporaneous reputation of having trained in Giambologna's Florentine workshop. He assisted Giambologna's foreman, Pietro Tacca, in Paris, in finishing and erecting the equestria ...

, also returned to Paris.

Abraham van der Doort Abraham van der Doort (c. 1575/1580? - June 1640) was a Dutch artist. As Keeper of Charles I's art collections, he was the first Surveyor of the King's Pictures. Van der Doort's careworn face is familiar from a portrait and engravings held by t ...

's inventory of the collection of Charles I calls him "ffrancisco the one-eyed Italian". The king had a St George and the Dragon and a Cupid on Horseback in black patination among 36 small bronzes in the cabinet room at

Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. Hen ...

George Vertue George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period. Life Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields, ...

noted that the outstanding horseman and connoisseur of the riding academy,

William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

at Welbeck, had a number of Fanelli's horse statuettes.

John Pope-Hennessy Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (13 December 1913 – 31 October 1994), was a British art historian. Pope-Hennessy was Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1967 and 1973, and Director of the British Museum between 1974 and 1976. ...

has identified as Fanelli's a range of bronze statuettes of St. George and the Dragon and other equestrian subjects. The tomb monument to

Sir John Bridgeman Sir John Bridgeman, SL (1568/69 – 5 February 1638) was a barrister of the Inner Temple, serjeant-at-law and local magnate in the West of England during the early 17th century. Early career Bridgeman came from a minor gentry family settled a ...

and his wife in

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

church has been attributed to him. Nicholas Mander,''

Owlpen Manor Owlpen Manor is a Tudor Grade I listed manor house of the Mander family, situated in the village of Owlpen in the Stroud district in Gloucestershire, England. There is an associated estate set in a valley within the Cotswold Area of Outstandi ...

: a brief guide'' (2006) Mary, Countess of Home had a cast of his "George".

Notes

References

*Whinney, Marcus, and Oliver Millar, ''English Art 1625-1714'' (1975) pp 115; 121-22.

Public collections

Among the public collections holding works by Francesco Fanelli are: *

Museum de Fundatie Museum de Fundatie () is a museum for the visual arts in Zwolle, Netherlands. Museum de Fundatie forms part of the Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, to which Kasteel het Nijenhuis in Heino also belongs. Museum de Fundatie possesses a collection of vis ...

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is o ...

External links

European sculpture and metalwork
a collection catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Fanelli (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanelli, Francesco 1590s births 1653 deaths 17th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to the Kingdom of England