{{Short description|Statue in Tuscany, Italy}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox artwork | title = Apennine Colossus | painting_alignment = | other_language_1 = Italian | other_title_1 = {{lang|it|Colosso dell'Appennino}} | other_language_2 = | other_title_2 = | wikidata = | image = Apennine Colossus panorama (81988p).jpg | caption = Colossus of Apennine | artist = Jean de Boulogne, {{AKA}} Giambologna | year = <!-- If after 1583 CE, use {{start date|YYYY}} --> | completion_date = late 1580s | medium = Stone | movement = | subject = | height_metric = 11 | height_imperial = 36 | metric_unit = meters | imperial_unit = feet | city = Vaglia, Italy | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_relief = yes | pushpin_label_position = | map_dot_label = | map_size = | pushpin_map_caption = | mapframe = yes | coordinates = {{coord|type:landmark_region:IT|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | owner = | accession = | preceded_by = <!-- preceding work by the same artist --> | followed_by = <!-- next work by the same artist --> | module = | website = }}
The '''Apennine Colossus''' ({{langx|it|Colosso dell'Appennino}}) is a stone statue, approximately 11 meters high,<ref name="Morgan p.12" /> in the estate of the Villa Demidoff in Vaglia, Tuscany, Italy. Giambologna (Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne) created the colossal figure, a personification of the Apennine Mountains, in the late 1580s. It was constructed on the grounds of the Villa di Pratolino, a Renaissance villa that fell into disrepair and was replaced by the Villa Demidoff in the 1800s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Webster |date=1 December 1961 |title=Pratolino |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article/20/4/155/55716/Pratolino |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |language=en |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=155–168 |doi=10.2307/988039 |jstor=988039 |issn=0037-9808|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Description == The colossus is about {{convert|11|m|ft}} high<ref name="Morgan p.12">Morgan, Luke (2015), p.12</ref> and is meant as a personification of the Apennine Mountains.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Luke |date=2015 |title=The Monster in the Garden {{!}} Luke Morgan |url=https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15431.html |access-date=16 January 2022 |website=www.upenn.edu |page=3}}</ref><ref name="Werke">{{Cite journal |last=Möseneder |first=Karl |date=1985 |title=Werke Michelangelos als Movens ikonographischer Erfindung |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27653166 |journal=Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz |volume=29 |issue=2/3 |pages=352–353 |jstor=27653166 |issn=0342-1201}}</ref> It was the water source for the Pratolino,<ref name="marvels" /> its fountains and secret water plays.<ref>Steadman, Philip (2021), pp. 286–287</ref> The colossus has the appearance of an elderly man crouched at the shore of a lake<ref name="Gigantesca">{{Cite web |last=Rubboli |first=Matteo |date=3 February 2020 |title=Il Colosso dell'Appennino: la Gigantesca Statua Dimenticata alle Porte di Firenze |url=https://www.vanillamagazine.it/il-colosso-dell-appennino-la-gigantesca-statua-dimenticata-alle-porte-di-firenze/ |access-date=13 January 2022 |website=Vanilla Magazine |language=it-IT}}</ref> and is surrounded by other sculptures depicting mythological themes from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' including Pegasus, Parnassus or Jupiter.<ref name="Grove">{{Cite book |last=Hunt |first=John Dixon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GIyTCwAAQBAJ&dq=Giovanni+Guerra+Grotto+de+Tethys&pg=PA54 |title=Garden and Grove: The Italian Renaissance Garden in the English Imagination, 1600–1750 |date=15 February 2016 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-9278-7 |pages=55 |language=en}}</ref> It is presumed that Giambologna was inspired by the description of a mountain-like Atlas in Ovid's Metamorphoses, when he designed the figure of Apennine.<ref name="Grove" /> Other sources cite the Atlas as described in the ''Aeneid'' of the Roman poet Virgil as an inspiration.<ref>Morgan, Luke (2015) p. 9</ref> With his left hand in front of him, the Apennine seems to squeeze the head of a sea monster<ref name="Gigantesca" /> through whose open mouth water emanates into the pond ahead of the statue.<ref name="Appennine">{{Cite web |last=Ilya |date=11 May 2013 |title=The Appennine Colossus |url=https://unusualplaces.org/the-appennine-colossus/ |access-date=13 January 2022 |website=Unusual Places |language=en-US}}</ref> The stone colossus is depicted naked, with stalactites in the thick beard<ref name="Appennine" /> and long hair to show the metamorphosis of man and mountain, blending his body with the surrounding nature, populated by aquatic vegetation.<ref name="Colosso">{{Cite web |last=Ricupati |first=Daniela |date=10 November 2021 |title=Il Colosso dell'Appennino di Giambologna |url=https://www.ilgiardinodellacultura.com/2021/11/10/il-colosso-dellappennino-di-giambologna/ |access-date=13 January 2022 |website=Il Giardino della Cultura |language=it-IT}}</ref> The statue is described to originally have been emerging from its environment<ref name="Tuscany" /> like being alive. The giant was able to sweat and weep over a network of water pipes.<ref name="marvels" /> In the winter season, icicles would cover his body.<ref name="marvels" /> The work was made of stone and plaster and appearing to be partially covered with moss and lichens.<ref name="Colosso" />
Within the giant exist a series of chambers and caves on three levels.<ref name="marvels" /> In the ground floor of the colossus exists a cave<ref>Steadman, Philip (2021), p. 291</ref> containing an octagonal fountain dedicated to the Greek goddess Thetys.<ref name="Pratolino">{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Webster |date=1961 |title=Pratolino |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/988039 |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=156 |doi=10.2307/988039 |jstor=988039 |issn=0037-9808|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Italian painter Jacopo Ligozzi adorned the Grotto de Thetys<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tantardini |first1=Lucia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_P_DwAAQBAJ&dq=Jacopo+Ligozzi+and+grotto+de+thetys&pg=PA17 |title=Lomazzo's Aesthetic Principles Reflected in the Art of his Time: With a Foreword by Paolo Roberto Ciardi, an Introduction by Jean Julia Chai, and an Afterword by Alexander Marr |last2=Norris |first2=Rebecca |year=2020 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-43510-0 |pages=17 |language=en}}</ref> with frescos of villages from the Mediterranean coast of Tuscany in 1586.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hirschboeck |first=Martin |date=2014 |title=Jacopo Ligozzi, An allegory of virtue |url=https://www.jlbaroni.com/files/Catalogue_Ligozzi_Jean_Luc_Baroni.pdf |access-date=15 January 2022 |page=29}}</ref> In other chambers mining scenes based on the book ''De re metallica'' by the mineralogist Georgius Agricola were to be seen.<ref>Steadman, Philip (2021) pp.293–294</ref> In the giant's upper floor is a chamber big enough for a small orchestra and in the head a small chamber holds a fireplace out of which the smoke would escape through his nostrils.<ref name="Appennine" /> The chamber in the head had slits in the ears and the eyes.<ref name="Gigantesca" /> Francesco I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, enjoyed fishing while sitting in the head chamber, throwing the fishing line through one of the eye slits.<ref name="marvels">{{Cite web |last=Steadman |first=Philip |title=The 'garden of marvels' at Pratolino |date=2021 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv18msqmt.16 |work=Renaissance Fun |pages=290 |series=The machines behind the scenes |publisher=UCL Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv18msqmt.16 |jstor=j.ctv18msqmt.16 |isbn=978-1-78735-916-1 |s2cid=241909486 |access-date=15 January 2022}}</ref> At night the chamber was illuminated with torches, following which the eyes appeared to glow in the dark.<ref name="marvels" /> Initially, the back of the Colossus was protected by a structure resembling a cave, as seen on an etching by Stefano della Bella.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Massar |first=Phyllis D. |date=1968 |title=Presenting Stefano della Bella |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3258383 |journal=The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=174 |doi=10.2307/3258383 |jstor=3258383 |issn=0026-1521|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Pratolino" /> As Giambologna was an admirer of the Italian sculptor Michelangelo the cave-like structure was also compared with Michelangelo's style of the non-finito.<ref name="Werke" /> On top of it, there was a terrace.<ref name="marvels" /> The cave-resembling structure was demolished around 1690 by the sculptor Giovan Battista Foggini, who also built a statue of a dragon<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rilievo e modellazione del Gigante dell'Appennino nel parco di Pratolino {{!}} geomaticaeconservazione.it |url=http://www.geomaticaeconservazione.it/view.php?page_id=219 |access-date=16 January 2022 |website=www.geomaticaeconservazione.it |archive-date=16 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116152804/http://www.geomaticaeconservazione.it/view.php?page_id=219 |url-status=dead}}</ref> to adorn the back of the colossus.<ref name="marvels" /> The dragon was described to have been a fountain, but it is assumed the dragon's belly was transformed into a fireplace while the dragon's neck and head had the function of its chimney.<ref>Steadman, Philip (2021), pp. 290–291</ref> In 1876, the Italian sculptor Rinaldo Barbetti renovated the statue.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barbetti Rinaldo |url=http://www.galleriarecta.it/autore/barbetti-rinaldo/ |access-date=13 January 2022 |website=Recta Galleria d'arte – Roma |language=it}}</ref>
== Location and ownership == The Pratolino is located about {{convert|10|km}} north of Florence at the foot of the Apennine mountain range.<ref>Steadman, Philip (2021), p. 279</ref> In it, there is a rectangular square called the Prato del Appennino, situated in front of the colossus.<ref name="Pratolino" />
After Francesco de' Medici's death in 1587 and that of his wife Bianca Capello the next day,<ref>Steadman, Philip (2021), p. 315</ref> the villa and its surroundings fell into decay.<ref name="Colosso" /> The Villa di Pratolino was demolished in 1822<ref name="Colosso" /> and in 1872, the heirs of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, sold the estate<ref name="Tuscany">{{Cite web |title=Gardens in Tuscany {{!}} Villa di Pratolino {{!}} Parco Villa Demidoff |url=http://www.travelingintuscany.com/gardens/pratolino.htm#5 |access-date=13 January 2022 |website=www.travelingintuscany.com}}</ref> to the Demidoff family who built their own villa on it.<ref name="Gigantesca" /> In 1981, the Villa Demidoff was purchased by the Province of Florence<ref>{{Cite web |title=Russi in Italia: dizionario - Russi in Italia |url=http://www.russinitalia.it/dettaglio.php?id=355 |access-date=13 January 2022 |website=www.russinitalia.it}}</ref> and today the park and its giant are accessible to the public.<ref name="Tuscany" />
==Gallery== <gallery widths="250" heights="250"> File:Appeinine Colossus by Stefano Della Bella.png|Etching by Stefano Della Bella File:Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna (1877) (14773634911).jpg File:Grotto of Thetys by Giovanni Guerra.png|Fountain of Thetys in the ground floor by Giovanni Guerra File:Parco di pratolino, appennino del giambologna, grotta superiore 02.JPG|Upper chamber within the statue File:Parco di pratolino, appennino del giambologna, drago del foggini 02.JPG|Dragon at the back of the Colossus by Giovanni Battista Foggini </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Appennino by Giambologna}}
{{Giambologna}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Medici villas Category:History of Florence Category:Sculptures by Giambologna Category:Colossal statues in Italy Category:1580s sculptures Category:Sculptures of dragons