FOGGINI, GIAN BATTISTA. - Sculptor and architect, b. in Florence on 25 Apr. 1652 and d. there on 12 Apr. 1725. He studied the works of Ferrata, subsequently following the Berninian and Algardian current, becoming in Florence the leading representative of the new Baroque taste, tempered nevertheless by a sense of measure and a wholly Tuscan sobriety.
In Florence he first made copies of ancient statues for the Grand Duke, then in '83 he executed the bas-reliefs of the Corsini chapel at the Carmine: another important work, which saw the best Tuscan sculptors of that time gathered together with F., is the Feroni chapel in the church of the Annunziata (finished in 1692). Among the other Florentine works are remembered the bust of Galileo in the monument dedicated to him in S. Croce, a statue of Card. Leopoldo de' Medici in the Uffizi (1681), the reliefs with the Mysteries of the Passion in the villa of the Ambrogiana and a statue of St. Paul in the presbytery of the S.ma Annunziata. In Pisa are his, among other things, the bronze area of St. Ranieri in the duomo and the bust of Bartolomeo Chesi (1680) in the camposanto.
As an architect, again in Florence, besides the aforementioned Feroni Chapel, he worked on the remodelling of the Palazzo Viviani della Robbia (1693), on the granolo of Cosimo III, and on the restorations of some churches, among them S. Ambrogio and S. Maria di Candeli. In Livorno he provided the designs for the church of S. Ferdinando (1707-17) and for the « bottini dell'olio » (1705; later enlarged on his designs in 1731).
He had two sons, GIULIO who was an architect and VINCENZO who was a sculptor, who continued their father's manner: as in the monument to Galileo, designed by Giulio, and for which Vincenzo executed (1737) the statue of Astronomy, where the bust of Galileo executed by Gian Battista was also placed.