Flaminio Vacca or Vacchi (

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 1538 –

, 1605) was an Italian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Biography

His sculptural work can be seen in Rome in the grandiose funeral chapel of

Pope Pius V Pope Pius V, OP (; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (and from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 January 1566 to his death, in May 1572. He was an ...

Domenico Fontana Domenico Fontana (154328 June 1607) was an Italian"Domenico Fontana."
''

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. The largest Marian church in Rome, it is ...

(''Saint Francis''), in the

Church of the Gesù The Church of the Gesù (, ), officially named (), is a church located at Piazza del Gesù in the Pigna (rione of Rome), Pigna ''Rioni of Rome, rione'' of Rome, Italy. It is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (best known as Jesuits). Wi ...

(one of four marble angels in the third chapel on the right) and in the right transept of the Chiesa Nuova (''Saint John the Evangelist'' and ''Saint John the Baptist'', both signed). At the notoriously awkward fountain that marked the terminus of the Acqua Felice, Vacca contributed one of the angels (documented 1588–89,) supporting

Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V (; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death, in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order, where h ...

's coat-of-arms that crown the

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

, and a bas-relief ''Joshua Leading His People across the Jordan River''; in these commissions for the fountain his partner in the documented payments was Pietro Paolo Olivieri. His self-portrait (1599) is conserved in the ''Protomoteca Capitolina'' on the

Campidoglio The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. The word ''Capitolium'' first referre ...

. At the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...

the two marble ''

Medici lions The Medici lions are a pair of marble sculptures of lions: one of which is Rome, Roman, dating to the 2nd century AD, and the other a 16th-century Pendant painting, pendant. By 1598 both were placed at the Villa Medici, Rome. Since 1789 they ...

'' flank the staircase; one is Roman, its pendant, made to match it in 1600, was by Flaminio Vacca. Vacca's copy was replaced by a copy when Villa Medici was sold by the Grand Duke of Tuscany and moved the lions to

Piazza della Signoria () is a w-shaped Town Square, square in front of the in Florence, Central Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called . It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reput ...

, Florence, where with its ancient companion it flanks the steps to the

Loggia dei Lanzi file:Firenze, loggia dei lanzi (2020) 01.jpg, 300px, The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on the south corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi, Uffizi Gallery (leading t ...

. In

Santa Susanna The Church of Saint Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian () is a Roman Catholic, Catholic parish church, parish and Cistercian conventual church located on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, Italy. There has been a titular church associated to its site as ...

, the prophets ''Ezekiel'' and ''Daniel'' have been attributed to him. Spello081

Outside Rome his sculpture may be found at

Spello Spello (in Antiquity: Hispellum) is an ancient town and ''comune'' (township) of Italy, in the province of Perugia in eastern-central Umbria, on the lower southern flank of Monte Subasio. It is 6 km (4 mi) NNW of Foligno and 10 k ...

(a tabernacle 587in the Capella del Sacramento, Church of San Lorenzo); His ''Memorie di varie antichità trovate in diversi luoghi della Città di Roma'' (Rome 1594, republished as a supplement to Famiano Nardini's ''Roma Antica'' 666 reprinted by Carlo Fea, 1790) are a primary source of information and rich human detail on the discoveries of Roman sculpture and

antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

in the later sixteenth century, and also on the destruction of antiquities, especially for the urbanistic programmes of

Pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V (; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death, in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order, where h ...

. His pithy numbered anecdotal notes consistently begin ''Mi ricordo...'', "I remember...". Vacca's reputation at the time of his death made him a suitable candidate for insepulture in the

Pantheon, Rome The Pantheon (, ; ,Although the spelling ''Pantheon'' is standard in English, only ''Pantheum'' is found in classical Latin; see, for example, Pliny, ''Natural History'36.38 "Agrippas Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis". See also ''Oxfor ...

; there his modest epitaph reads, in translation, "Flaminius Vacca, Roman sculptor, who in his works never satisfied himself"."D.O.M. Flaminio Vaccae Sculptori Romano qui in operibus quae facit nunquam sibi satisfecit" The inscription was copied in Bernard Montfaucon's Italian diary, and by a series of references landed Flaminio Vacca eventually in

Smith Smith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England ** List of people ...

's, ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'' (1870), iii. s.v. "Vacca Flaminius", "of whom all that is known is contained in the... inscription". Vacca had been one of the founding members of the Confraternità dei Virtuosi that was formed at the Pantheon by Desiderio da Segni, a canon of the church of Santa Maria ad Martyres that occupied and preserved the Pantheon, to ensure that worship was maintained in the Chapel of St Joseph in the Holy Land, Others among the first members were

Antonio da Sangallo the younger Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (12 April 14843 August 1546), also known as Antonio Cordiani, was an Italian architect active during the Renaissance, mainly in Rome and the Papal States. One of his most popular projects that he worked on des ...

, Jacopo Meneghino,

Giovanni Mangone Giovanni Mangone (born towards the end of 15th century, died 25 June 1543) was an Italian artist active almost exclusively in Rome during the Italian Renaissance, Renaissance. Mangone's skills were manifold: he worked as sculptor, architect, ston ...

Taddeo Zuccari Taddeo Zuccaro (or Zuccari) (1 September 15292 September 1566) was an Italian painter, one of the most popular members of the Roman mannerist school. Biography Zuccaro was born in Sant'Angelo in Vado, near Urbino, the son of Ottaviano Zuccaro, ...

and Domenico Beccafumi. A modern account of his career is Sergio Lombardi, "Flaminio Vacca," in ''Roma di Sisto V: Le arti e la cultura'', Maria Luisa Madonna, ed. (Rome: De Luca, 1993)

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vacca, Flaminio 1538 births 1605 deaths 16th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors