EQUESTRIAN MONUMENTS TO THE FARNESE

Undoubted masterpiece of the Baroque statuary art, the two equestrian monuments located in Piazza Cavalli (its name derives from them), were made by the Tuscan sculptor Francesco Mochi from Montevarchi (1580 – 1654). On the right theres Ranuccio Farnese (1620) wearing a roman costume and holding a sceptre;on the sides of the base two bas-reliefs represent Peace and Good Rule. On the left there’s Alessandro Farnese (1625), Ranuccio’s father, wrapped in a mantle tossed by the wind, on horseback of a wild horse. At the sides of the base, decorated by two cherubs holding a coat of arms, two bas-reliefs represent episodes of the war fought by Alessandro in the Flanders