Preface and Acknowledgments

I first became interested in Giambologna's reliefs in 1974, in a graduate seminar at Rutgers University given by Virginia Bush. Of all the Florentine sixteenth-century reliefs I studied at that time, Giambologna's seemed to me the most striking, though they were, as I later discovered, surprisingly little known. Eventually my research focused on a cycle of reliefs that was part of the Grimaldi Chapel, a significant monument of Giambologna's later years. This book continues and develops my study of this monument. In several talks on the Grimaldi reliefs, I have had the opportunity to expand my thoughts, to probe the political and religious context out of which the works came, and to understand more fully Giambologna's brilliant exposition of narrative in this Passion cycle. This little-plumbed side of Giambologna's art has been so compelling that I continue to be absorbed in it and hope that this book will bring it more of the attention it deserves.

The staffs of libraries and archives gave me invaluable assistance: the Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti; the Kunsthistorisches Institut and the Archivio di Stato in Florence; the Marquand Library, Princeton University; the New York Public Library; the Frick Collection; the Institute of Fine Arts Library, New York University; the Avery Library, Columbia University; the Spear Library, Princeton Theological Seminary; the Burke Library, Union Theological Seminary, New York; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; and the Civica Biblioteca Berio, Archivio di Stato, and Archivio Storico di Comune in Genoa.

Countless friends and colleagues have generously helped—especially Pamela Askew, William Barcham, Olga Berendsen, Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, Phyllis Caroff, Gino Corti, James Draper, Nicolas DeMarco, Carol and Roberta Flechner, Mary Ann Graeve Frantz, Constance Greiff, Brian Henry, Monica Hirsch, Katherine Krupp, Susan Kuretsky, Mary Lang, Sarah Blake McHam, Leatrice Mendelsohn, Derek Pearsall, Elizabeth and Vittorio Romani, Pamela Sheingorn, Catherine Stecchini, the late James Stubblebine, and Stephen Zwirn.

For help in procuring photographs I would like to thank Mirta Barbeschi, Karen Edis-Barzman, JoAnne Bernstein, Piero Boccardo, Franco Boggero, Ida Maria Botto, Michael Bury, Roberto Ciardi, Janet Cox-Rearick, the late Gian Vittorio Dillon, Maria Galassi, Louise Gibbons, Marcia Hall, Sante Lanzi, Ornella Francisci Osti, Antonio Quattrone, Jack Spalding, Laura Tagliaferro, Richard Tuttle, and David Wilkins.

My readers, Malcolm Campbell, George Gorse, and Sheila ffolliott, have given the kind of encouragement, constructive criticism, and valuable suggestions I had hoped for but never expected. They played an important part in improving the book.

The Fine Arts Editor of the University of California Press, Deborah Kirshman, gave me encouragement and constructive criticism, as I completed the manuscript for this book. Her assistant, Kimberly Darwin, helped me with endless details. Stephanie Fay edited the manuscript with a keen eye, patience, and unflagging care. And Nola Burger created a sensitive and lively design.

Finally, I thank my children, David and Elizabeth, who helped me keep my ultimate goal in sight through their gentle prodding.