Carrara 5 May - 19 August 2007
PIETRO TACCA. CARRARA, TUSCANY, THE GREAT EUROPEAN COURTS
International Centre for the Plastic Arts, former convent of San Francesco

Within the framework of the 12thInternational Sculpture Biennial, the town of Carrara has chosen to pay homage to one of its most important artists, Pietro Tacca, an outstanding figure in the artistic panorama of the first half of the seventeenth century, by organising the first major retrospective exhibition ever devoted to the sculptor. The new areas of the ancient convent of San Francesco will host the display of about thirty works (drawings, crucifixes, paintings and bronzes originating from public and private collections in Italy and abroad), not only by Pietro Tacca himself but also by other contemporary artists, thus making it possible to reconstruct the cultural context in which he lived and delineate the creative activity of his milieu. The display itinerary does not follow a traditional chronological order, but rather a critical approach divided into three sections. The first section is devoted to Giambologna, the undisputed master of the artist, the Medici, who were among his major commissioners, and the “symbolic” works for which the sculptor is famous throughout the world: the Four Moors, for the monument to Ferdinando I in Livorno, and in Florence the popular Porcellino in the Mercato Nuovo and the twin fountains of Piazza Santissima Annunziata. The second section focuses on the large-scale projects of the celebratory monuments, documented by preparatory drawings or elements taken from the finished works (small bronzes and paintings), both by Tacca himself and by other great artists such as Stefano della Bella, Ludovico Cigoli and Susini. Finally, the third section illustrates Pietro Tacca’s production in the sphere of religious art, offering a selection of his finest crucifixes and remarkable liturgical furnishings. These two latter sections, in particular, are designed to highlight the distancing from the habitual subjects of Giambologna, thus distinguishing the pupil from the master who for so long overshadowed his fame. In this way Tacca’s powerful personality is brought to the fore: a major interpreter of new and urgent changes in the society of his time, at both political and religious level, who deserves to be numbered among the most eminent protagonists of the history of European art.

Under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic

With the sponsorship of
The Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities

Promoters and organisers
Carrara Town Council
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Carrara
Cassa di Risparmio di Carrara S.p.A.

With the participation of
The European Commission
The European Regional Development Fund
The Ministry of Economy and Finance
The Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport
Urban Italy
Urban City of Carrara
Tuscan Regional Authority
TRA ART, regional network for contemporary art
Massa-Carrara Provincial Authority
Apt Massa Carrara
Coop Unicoop
Tirreno
CAT S.p.a.
Apt Pisa

Concept and scientific curation
Franca Falletti