Statue of Giovanni delle Bande Nere

The Monument to Giovanni delle Bande Nere is an Italian Renaissance sculpture in marble, by Baccio Bandinelli and his workshop, now in Piazza San Lorenzo in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The work took from 1540 to after 1560 to carve, and the base and statue, though always meant to be together, were only so placed in 1850. The statue was originally commissioned by Cosimo I de Medici in 1540 to commemorate his father, Giovanni delle Bande Nere (1498–1526), the successful condottiero from the Medici family. The sculptor was Baccio Bandinelli. The statue however was controversial from the start: it was debated whether a depiction of an armed soldier should serve as a monument in a church, however even if it was not displayed in a church, it was debated if it was appropriate for a warrior like Giovanni, who had marched against foes most of his life, to be immortalized while sitting down.

Text from Wikipedia (en), article "Monument to Giovanni delle Bande Nere, Florence", by Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; shortened and cleaned