Giovanni Gonnelli, also known as il Cieco da Gambassi ("The blindman from Gambassi"; April 4, 1603 – 1664) was an Italian sculptor of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period, born in Tuscany. He is one of the biographies featured by

Filippo Baldinucci Filippo Baldinucci (3 June 1625 – 10 January 1696) was an Italian art historian and biographer. Life Baldinucci is considered among the most significant Florentine biographers/historians of the artists and the arts of the Baroque period ...

He became a blind sculptor. According to Baldinucci, he had been discovered in the studio of the elder Pietro Tacca by the

duke of Mantua During its history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of the House of Canoss ...

, Carlo Gonzaga. However, following the Duke back to his capital meant that he suffered from the siege of the city by German troops in 1630. During this time, and perhaps due to the effects of deprivation and labor, he became completely blind. Back in Tuscany, after a spell of melancholy, he began to sculpt again in clay, and his work aroused accolades and patronage from the likes of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand and

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death in July 1644. As po ...

. He traveled to Rome to display his work. Baldinucci recounts that one patron forced him to work in a dark room. He lived comfortably, and remained jolly. He had ten children, played guitar and sang, and engaged in various love affairs. Gambassi terme

References

* *''Notizie de' professori del disegno...'' by

and others (1681). p. 253

* :it:Giovanni Gonnelli 1603 births 1664 deaths People from the Metropolitan City of Florence 17th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Italian Baroque sculptors Blind artists {{Italy-sculptor-stub