FOGGINI, Gian Battista. — Sculptor and architect, born in Florence on 25 Apr. 1652 and died there on 12 Apr. 1725. He studied the works of Ferrata, later following the Berninian and Algarottian currents, becoming in Florence the leading representative of the new Baroque taste, tempered however by a sense of measure and sobriety distinctly Tuscan.
In Florence he first made copies of ancient statues for the Grand Duke, then in 1683 executed the bas-reliefs for the Corsini chapel at the Carmine; another important work, which saw F. joined by the best Tuscan sculptors of the time, is the Feroni chapel in the church of the Santissima Annunziata (begun in 1692). Among his other Florentine works are the bust of Galileo in the monument dedicated to him at Santa Croce, a statue of Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici at the Uffizi (1681), the reliefs depicting the Mysteries of the Passion at the Villa dell’Ambrogiana, and a statue of St Paul in the presbytery of the Santissima Annunziata. In Pisa, among other works, he created the bronze ark of St Ranieri in the cathedral and the bust of Bartolomeo Chesi (1680) in the Camposanto.
As an architect, also in Florence, besides the aforementioned Feroni chapel, he worked on the remodelling of the Palazzo Viviani della Robbia (1693), the granary of Cosimo III, and the restoration of several churches, including Sant’Ambrogio and Santa Maria di Candeli. In Livorno he designed the church of San Ferdinando (1707–17) and the oil cisterns (1705), later enlarged according to his plans in 1731.
He had two sons, Giulio, who became an architect, and Vincenzo, who became a sculptor, both continuing their father’s manner: as in the Galileo monument, designed by Giulio, for which Vincenzo executed (1737) the statue of Astronomy, in which was also placed the bust of Galileo made by Gian Battista.