L’Acqua, la Pietra, il Fuoco. Bartolomeo Ammannati scultore (1511-1592)

The Bargello’s 2011 spring exhibition honored the 500th anniversary of Bartolomeo Ammannati’s birth with his first solo retrospective. Co-organized with the University of Florence’s Faculty of Architecture, the display highlighted three key fountains created for Duke Cosimo I: the Biancone in Piazza della Signoria, the Castello Medici Villa fountain, and the proposed Grand Hall fountain for Palazzo Vecchio.

A major feature of the exhibition was the courtyard reconstruction of the Grand Hall fountain, incorporating a replica Juno statue whose fabrication was chronicled in a video documentary. Related drawings, archival documents, and sculptures further illustrated how Cosimo leveraged water features for aesthetic brilliance and public technological advancement.