Game of Saccomazzone

Description

The sculptural group of the "Game of the Saccomazzone," a Tuscan game already in disuse in the 18th century, depicts two blindfolded young men with their left hand on a stone, the aim of the game was to hit their opponent with a cloth (Montigiani 2003, p. 199). In 1613 Orazio Mochi was asked by Giulio Parigi to make a copy in pietra serena of one of his bronzes for the Boboli Gardens, depicting two peasants intent on the game of Saccomazzone (Montigiani 2003, p. 199; Capecchi 2008, p. 29; ASF, Scrittoio delle Regie Possessioni, f. 4118). Mochi, however, unaccustomed in the art of "cutting stone," had his commission for the garden taken away by Romolo Ferrucci del Tadda, who made (or completed) the sculptural group around 1620.