Hunter with two beagles

Description

The sculptural group decorates one of the green niches around the Island basin, and was probably part of a group of thirty-two statues once placed along the hedge that bordered the Island square. The groups placed in the niches have mainly popular and playful themes. The sculpture of the "Hunter with two hacks" was made in 1647 by Domenico Pieratti, as the payment made to the sculptor on May 24 would attest. Pieratti received 80 scudi for the making of two statues in bigia stone: the "Hunter with a Bows" and the "Hunter with Two Hunting Sticks" (ASFI, Scrittoio delle Regie Possessioni, f. 4125, c. 21 in Capecchi, 2008, p. 102). The cycle of sculptures with popular themes was completed around 1652 with the "Hunter with a hare on his shoulder" (identified by Gabriele Capecchi in the male figure in rustic clothes preserved in the Casino Guadagni) and with the "Peasant Woman with a sparrowhawk in her fist" ( the sculpture is still in the Boboli Gardens today but lacks its origina reattributes). From Inghirami we know that many of the works surrounding the Island were in a very precarious condition already in the eighteenth century, in fact around 1758 Francesco Jansen performed several restorations on these sculptures. In addition to supplementing the missing parts, Jansen treated the statues with boiled linseed oil as a mild consolidating and protective agent (Inghirami, 1832, p.130)