작품 상세

These three sheets are studies for one and the same full-length statue, sketched on one sheet of paper, as the matching depiction on the reverse of the sheets shows. They relate to a series of pro-jects contained in the Giornale, Foggini's sketchbook preserved in the Uffizi, probably in-tended for an unrealized monument in memory of Grand Prince Ferdinand (Florence, GDSU, n. 8027 A, in particular fol. 49r, 50r, 52r; see Monaci 1977, cat. 79; fig. 1). The eldest son of Cosimo III, Ferdinand was the destined successor but he died in 1713, before his father and without descendants. His younger brother, Gian Gastone, became Grand Duke in 1723, before dying childless. Tuscany, without an heir from the Medici family, then passed into the hands of Lorraine's family. Grand Prince Ferdinand was usu-ally represented as a war leader, dressed in armor and holding the staff of command, attribute of power (see: the portrait of Niccolò Cassana, c. 1695, Florence, Galleria Palatina).