Francesco Fanelli (c. 1590–1653) was an Italian sculptor, born in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, who spent most of his career in England. He likely had contacts if not training in the studio of Giambologna, then in the hands of Pietro Francavilla and Pietro Tacca. He is recorded at work in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in 1609-10 then worked in London from about 1610, as a sculptor in ivory — Joachim von Sandrart mentions an ivory statuette of Pygmalion that attracted the attention of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

— but mostly as a skilled bronze-caster. He made a fountain of sirens astride dolphins, alternating with scallop shells, with putti clasping fish and other figures, for the king at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

. It was noticed by

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's Diary, ...

in 1662, and some elements remain, perched on a high rusticated base, as the Diana Fountain in Bushy Park. He received a pension in 1635 as "sculptor of the King". His only signed sculpture is a

portrait bust A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human body, depicting a person's head and neck, and a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. The bust is generally a portr ...

of a youthful Charles II as Prince of Wales, dated 1640, at

Welbeck Abbey Welbeck Abbey is an English country house near the village of Welbeck in the Bassetlaw District of Nottinghamshire. It was the site of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order, and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries a residen ...

. He left England in 1642Pope-Hennessy 1953:158. about the same time as his more conservative rival sculptor, the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

Hubert Le Sueur Hubert Le Sueur (; – 1658) was a French people, French sculpture, sculptor with the contemporaneous reputation of having trained in Giambologna's Florence, Florentine workshop. He assisted Giambologna's foreman, Pietro Tacca, in Paris, in finis ...

, also returned to Paris. Abraham van der Doort's inventory of the collection of Charles I calls him "ffrancisco the one-eyed Italian". The king had a St George and the Dragon and a Cupid on Horseback in black patination among 36 small bronzes in the cabinet room at

Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall – also spelled White Hall – at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, with the notable exception of Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, ...

George Vertue George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period. Life Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields ...

noted that the outstanding horseman and connoisseur of the riding academy, William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle at Welbeck, had a number of Fanelli's horse statuettes. John Pope-Hennessy has identified as Fanelli's a range of bronze statuettes of St. George and the Dragon and other equestrian subjects. The tomb monument to Sir John Bridgeman and his wife in

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

church has been attributed to him. Nicholas Mander,'' Owlpen Manor: a brief guide'' (2006) Mary, Countess of Home had a cast of his "George".

Notes

References

*Whinney, Marcus, and Oliver Millar, ''English Art 1625-1714'' (1975) pp 115; 121-22.

Public collections

Among the public collections holding works by Francesco Fanelli are: * Museum de Fundatie in

Zwolle Zwolle () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel ...

External links

European sculpture and metalwork
a collection catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Fanelli (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanelli, Francesco 1590s births 1653 deaths 17th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany Immigrants to the Kingdom of England