CAMILLIANI, FRANCESCO. - Sculptor, born in Firenze and died there on 13 Oct. 1586; he was buried in the church of the S.ma Annunziata. A pupil of Baccio Bandinelli and a member of the Accademia del disegno, he made statues, now lost, for many Florentine churches.
The sources mention a terracotta Melchisedech by him for the painters’ chapel in the great cloister of the S.ma Annunziata, a stone Nettuno for the courtyard of the Ricasoli palace, several statues for Borgo Ognissanti, and a bas-relief with the Annunciazione for the door of the Duomo. His most important work is the great fountain with allegories of rivers designed for the Florentine villa of d. Pedro di Toledo, later sold in 1573 by d. Luigi di Toledo to the Senate of Palermo. Composed of six hundred and forty-four pieces of marble, it was installed in the Piazza Pretoria of that city by the sculptor’s son, the architect Camillo. On some of the statues the author placed his signature and the dates 1554 and 1556.