A picture that would haunt you – The Appennine Colossus by Giambologna.
The Appennine Colossus by Giambologna.
Measuring about 35 feet tall, this is arguably the most spectacular feature of the gardens of Villa Medici at Pratolino, located about 12 km north of Florence, Italy. A personification of the Apennine mountain ranges, this statue was carved by legendary Italian sculptor Giambologna (1529 – 1608), who is responsible for well-known works such as various versions of Mercury, plus Samson Slaying a Philistine (1562), Rape of the Sabine Women (1574-82) and Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus (1599). The statue is in actual a building with a network of grottoes, their walls studded with shells, corals, pearls and crystals, and painted with frescoes of muscled men mining precious ores. Inside the statues head is a chamber which once housed an ochestra and two working fountains, one of which portrayed the Greek Goddess of Water – Thetis (also the mother of the Trojan war hero Achilles).
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