6. Romolo Ferrucci, also known as del Tadda – Orazio Mochi
Gioco del Saccomazzone
1515-1622
Boboli Garden, court in front of the Island Pool, cat. Boboli no. 147
Pietra Serena stone
Height: 158 cm
Documentation
Orazio Mochi, recalled by ancient sources as one of the most valiant moulders of his time, made the model of this subject, which was then translated into small bronzes, variously attributed to Ferdinando Tacca and Giovanfrancesco Susini. Giulio Parigi, an architect at the Medici court, commissioned a full-size stone version to the artist for the Boboli Garden. According to Filippo Baldinucci, Mochi proved not to be up to the task, so Romolo Ferrucci del Tadda was entrusted to complete the work. The group of sculptures depicts two blindfolded boys trying to hit each other with knotted rags without detaching a hand from the stone block placed on the base.
State of conservation
The Pietra Serena stone group, exhibited on top of a high brick base covered with calcareous stones, pebbles and mosaic decoration, looks severely deteriorated due to the environment. A green-blackish patina covers the entire surface of the sculpture. Moss cushions cover not only the supporting plane of the sculptures, but also the entire base and even penetrate between the mosaic tesserae, which are made of different marbles and vitreous pastes.
Cracking and splitting abound below the biological patina.
The stone surfaces appear eroded, with the consequent loss of moulded detailing.
Provenance
The group had been placed at the beginning of the avenue that goes from Porta Romana towards the islet, immediately after the anonymous seventeenth-century sculpture of Venus with Cupid and in pair with the lost Owlet Game, today replaced by a copy made by Giovan Battista Capezzuoli in the eighteenth-century. The work was reported in the Viottolone in the mid-eighteenth century (Cambiagi 1757, pp. 47-48).
References
Baldinucci 1845-1847, III (1846), pp. 541-542; Cambiagi 1757, pp. 47-48; Vascellini 1777, p. 5, tav. VII; Vascellini 1779, n. 30; Soldini 1789, pp. 46-47, tav. XVII; Inghirami 1819, p. 74; Inghirami 1828, pp. 123-124; Inghirami 1832, pp. 125-126; Gurrieri-Chatfield 1972, n. 68, figg. 133, 135; Caneva 1982, n. 66, p. 46; Bellesi in Seicento fiorentino 1986, II, p. 432; Pizzorusso 1989, pp. 75-76, figg. 66, 67b; Montigiani in Giardino di Boboli 2003, p. 199; Saladino 2008, p. 47; Capecchi 2008, pp. 29-30; Pegazzano in Capecchi-Pegazzano-Faralli 2013, n. 7a, pp. 70-71, 132.
Drawings and engravings
Engraving of Francesco de’ Cecchi, 1652; Vascellini 1777, tab. VII; Soldini 1789, tab. XVII.
Photographs
SGF 329292 (b/w photograph); SGF 59637 (b/w photograph)
Extended references
F. Baldinucci, Notizie dei professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua, 5 voll., Firenze 1845-1847
G. Cambiagi, Descrizione dell’Imperiale Giardino di Boboli fatta da Gaetano Cambiagi custode delle pubbliche biblioteche Magliabechiana e Marucelliana alla nobilissima dama la signora marchesa Maria Teresa Ginori in Marucelli, Firenze 1757
C. Caneva, Il Giardino di Boboli, Firenze 1982
G. Capecchi, Cosimo II e le arti a Boboli: committenza, iconografia e scultura, Firenze 2008
G. Capecchi-D. Pegazzano-S. Faralli, Visitare Boboli all’epoca dei lumi: il giardino e le sue sculture nelle incisioni delle ‘Statue di Firenze’, Firenze 2013
F. Gurrieri-J. Chatfield, Boboli Gardens, Firenze 1972
Giardino di Boboli (Il), curated by L.M. Medri, Milano 2003
F. Inghirami, Descrizione dell’Imp. E R. Palazzo Pitti di Firenze, Firenze 1819
F. Inghirami, L’Imperiale e Reale Palazzo Pitti descritto, Fiesole 1828
F. Inghirami, Description de l’Imp. et R. Palais Pitti et du R. Jardin de Boboli, Fiesole 1832
C. Pizzorusso, A Boboli e altrove. Sculture e scultori fiorentini del Seicento, Firenze 1989
V. Saladino, “E intanto imparano quella bella maniera”: gusto e fantasia nel restauro di marmi antichi per il giardino di Boboli (1587-1670), in G. Capecchi-M.G. Marzi-V. Saladino (a cura di), I Granduchi di Toscana e l’antico: acquisti, restauri, allestimenti, Firenze 2008, pp. 1-129.
Seicento fiorentino (il): arte a Firenze da Ferdinando I a Cosimo III, catalogo della mostra (Firenze, 1986), 3 voll., Firenze 1986
F.M. Soldini, Reale Giardino di Boboli nella sua pianta e nelle sue statue, Firenze
G. Vascellini, Statue e gruppi di marmo esistenti in Firenze entro il Real Giardino di Boboli, disegnate e intagliate da Gaetano Vascellini bolognese, volume I, Firenze 1777
G. Vascellini, Statue e gruppi di marmo esistenti in Firenze entro il Real Giardino di Boboli, disegnate e intagliate da Gaetano Vascellini bolognese, volume II, Firenze 1779
Description of required work
Testing and sampling sessions for cleaning, consolidation, plastering and protection operations.
Preliminary cleaning with brushes, soft brushes and aspirators both on the stone sculptures and on the base.
Removal of weeds and taller preceded by a treatment with suitable herbicides. Elimination of any residual herbicide from the surfaces by appropriate washing.
Disinfesting treatment to remove autotrophic biodeteriogenic organisms (mosses, algae patinas and films, lichen growth), to eliminate the attacks visible on the surfaces or at deeper levels, and prevent their re-development, after reducing the thickness of the deposits with a fixed blade scalpel or brushes.
Surface cleaning with compresses supplemented with solvents and/or mild surfactants, and eliminating the suspended substances with deionized water, sponges and scalpels.
Surface consolidation of the sculptures and of the base. Restoration of cohesion.
Deep consolidation. Re-adhesion of small parts already detached or about to detach. Control and fixing of any detached mosaic tesserae, pebbles and calcareous stones of the base decorations.
Static control of work in all its parts.
Mechanical removal of old separated stucco work. Plastering and micro-plastering of cracks and micro-cracks, stucco filling and resting of raised flakes.
Chromatic revision of any imbalances with lime and natural earth pigments.
Protection surface treatment to be assessed beforehand and provided when the restoration has been completed.
