Shepherd playing the bagpipe

Description

Cambiagi (1757) drew news from some manuscript drafts of Cinelli, of a bagpipe player placed around the island fountain, as a pendant to a cymbal player, both believed to be the work of Giovan Battista Caccini, "as large as live." The sculpture, which is to be considered lost, has generated considerable confusion, with the present work, described by Cambiagi himself, "in the wall" of the circle by the island fountain. Stylistically, it does not approach the Roman sculptor's manner: in fact, Soldini and Vascellini considered it to be of "uncertain authorship." The opinion is followed by Gurrieri/Chatfield while it is recognized to Caccini by Caneva on the basis of Cambiagi's reports. Needing special attention, we limit ourselves here to observing the good quality of execution, recalling that a similar figure is found in a small bronze of the Grambolognesque school now in the Bargello National Museum, possibly cast by Antonio Susini (Dhanens, Avery). On gender figures in the Boboli garden, A. Brook at the recent conference 'Boboli 90'