01 Mar Saints and devils
The streets and Florence’s places are populated with several formidable animals and with undefinable monstrous faces. These hide stories which go back to Florence Médiévale and to the Renaissance. For example, one of these monstrous figures is full heart of the city and more exactly in the corner of a palace situated between the street Strozzi and the street Vecchietti. It is about a small bronze devil realized by the big Flemish artist of the second half of the XVIth century, Jean of Boulogne, transformed in the Florentine language into Giambologna. Having carried out his apprenticeship in Rome, this one spent the rest of his life to Florence in the service of the granducale family of Medici. Before becoming one of the official sculptors of the court Jean of Boulogne, Jean was protected by one of the most sophisticated Florentine sponsors: Bernardo Vecchietti. This character commanded to the artist the realization of several works today sheltered in the museums of the city and in Europe. But we can admire this small devil in the strange forms in one of the angles of the house of the sponsor, the sculpture presiding as one standard bearers. How to explain this strange choice of the devil to represent a family? To follow on the spot during the visit!