Giovanni Francesco Pieri Biography
Giovanni Francesco Pieri (Prato 1699-1773 Naples) began his career as a medalist, modeler and portraitist, but was recognized as the most skilled wax modeller of his time. Born in Prato, he was trained in the workshop of the Florentine sculptor Gioacchino Fortini around 1713-1714, creating small relief figures in polychrome wax, as has been documented by his biographer, Gaburri. In fact, it was common practice for the medalist to make his models in wax. His virtuosic ability won over the last Grand Duke Giangastone de' Medici, who wanted him as administrator of the Medici tapestry factory. After the death of the Grand Duke, he left Florence in 1737 and moved to Naples at the invitation of Charles of Bourbon, who had met Pieri and appreciated his work when he resided in Florence in 1734 as heir to the Grand Duchy. In Naples, Pieri directed the Arazzeria, but he established himself and achieved great success as a wax modeller, managing to merge his virtuosic technical ability with the sagacious Neapolitan spirit in his works. These works, due to their different characteristics, can be divided into four groups. A first nucleus consists of the portraits of the rulers, and can easily be related to his initial activity as a medalist. A second group consists of the translation into wax of famous paintings from the Farnese collections in the possession of the Bourbons in Naples. The third group includes the waxworks and an important number of small paintings depicting scenes of daily life according to the taste that was widespread in the eighteenth century in Italy and Europe towards subjects with popular themes. An inventory of the Palazzo di Portici drawn up around 1800 describes twenty-four framed wax paintings of this type. Finally, they fall into the fourth group of religious wax models.
