Giovanni Francesco Susini

Who was Giovanni Francesco Susini?

Giovanni Francesco Susini was a Mannerist Florentine sculptor in bronze and marble.

Susini was born in Florence, and trained in the workshop of Giambologna. He continued to work in Giambologna's style, and Susini's sculpture was already mistaken for that of his master by the end of the century. His uncle, Antonio Susini, was the principal bronze-caster of Giambologna, and the young Francesco received early training as a junior member of Giambologna's workshop. A trip to Rome in 1624-26 gave him first-hand experience of classical antique, 16th century, and the emerging Baroque statuary, latter exemplified by Bernini's youthful Apollo and Daphne, but his own Mannerist style was already matured. He made wax copies of the recently discovered Borghese Hermaphroditus for casting upon his return to Florence. His bronze reduction of the Laocoön is likely based on the copy of it in Florence.

As a sculptor, Susini is known for some public commissions, such as the Fontana del Carciofo, that stands centered with the piano nobile windows of the Palazzo Pitti's garden façade.