Domenico Pieratti, “Gladiator”, Villa di Castello, 1635
Domenico Pieratti. born in Florence, worked with his older brother Giovan Battista. Both were students at the workshop of the sculptor Chiarissimo Fancelli.
Pieratti’s most labor intensive work was the decoration of the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. The rebuilding of the palace and garden of the grand-ducal residence was undertaken by architect Giulio Parigi, who had gathered for his artisan group a number of sculptors and architects among which the Chiarissimo Fancelli and the two Pieratti brothers.
Among Domenico Pieratti’s best works are the two fonts supported by marble angels in the Chieti Church of Santi Michele e Gaetano in Piazza Antinori. In the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella is his marble crucifix from the House of the Medici; it was transferred here by the Grand Duke Gian Gastone de ‘Medici in 1731.