Simone Ferrucci
Simone Ferrucci (1437-1493), also Francesco di Simone Ferrucci, was an Italian sculptor, influenced by Andrea del Verrocchio and Desiderio da Settignano, and therefore, in some respects, similar to the contemporary and fellow citizen Mino da Fiesole.
Ferrucci was born in Fiesole into a family of artists, and was probably trained by his father, Simone di Nanni Ferrucci. He was also first cousin to Andrea Ferrucci. He was also influenced by Desiderio da Settignano and Andrea del Verrocchio In 1463 he joined the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e di Legname, the Florentine sculptors’ wood and stone workers guild, and established a workshop in Florence in 1466. The art historian Vasari named him among the pupils of Andrea del Verrocchio who he most likely worked with in the 1470s. Ferrucci primarily produced religious-themed sculptures for commissions.
Belonging to a family of Fiesolani stonecutters. Since 1461 he was in Bologna, engaged, with a secondary role, in the San Petronio shipyard. Returning to Florence he worked at the Badia fiesolana for architectural decorations. In 1467 we find it in Forlì for the Sepulcher of Barbara Manfredi, wife of the city lord, Pino III Ordelaffi. The next career was almost that of a traveling teacher, active in Florence, but with numerous commissions also from Romagna, Umbria and Marche, where there are numerous works.
Records indicate that by 1470 Ferrucci was married and owned a house in Florence. He lived and worked in Florence until his death in 1493.
He left 3 male sons, all sculptors, among them Sebastian who carved the monument of Pius III in St. Peter in the Vatican. At his death he was buried in the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence.
Works:
Sepulcher of Barbara Manfredi (1466), kept in the Abbey of San Mercuriale, in Forlì
Bust of Pine III of Ordelaffi, Lord of Forlì in the 15th century, kept in the Forlì Civic Picture Gallery
Sepulcher Tartagni, in the Church of S. Domenico, in Bologna
Madonna with Child, kept in the National Museum of the Bargello, in Florence
Baptismal Source, preserved in the Pieve di Santa Maria a Peretola (1446)
Madonna with Child and Angels, circa 1475, kept at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum.