Giambologna’s works in bronze are in various styles. Since it can be proved he worked in a variety of styles it is therefore imperative that opinion on the monkeys given on style alone should be delayed until all the evidence is studied. For example Giambologna’s bronze Mercury in the Museo Civico, Bologna, which is rather stocky and muscular, is unlike his later more graceful and sophisticated models of Mercury, yet both are by the same hand. In his bronze Bacchus for Lattantio Cortesi made before 1562,in Borgo San Jacopo near the Ponte Vecchio, we see the human form in a natural style, larger than life, the left hand holding grapes and vine leaves fashioned with great skill but left in a surprisingly rough state, hardly worked up at all. 

The Bacchus was only identified in 1928 by the scholar Friedrich Kriegbaum. The preceding fountain to the Samson and a Philistine is the famous Neptune Fountain in Bologna (1564-1566) in the Piazza di S Petronio with the figures all related, Neptune and Sirens, Boys and Dolphins, shells and masks all well adjusted to each other’s point of view. In perfect harmony, that satisfying state of completeness and order in the relations of things to each other. There is a set of four boys holding dolphins arranged in two pairs, two poses alternating at each corner and a supporting set of four identical sirens or mermaids astride dolphins.

The Florentine painter and historian, Vasari, described the fountain, in particular the Neptune, as most beautiful and a statue studied and wrought to perfection. The head of Neptune is left in a rough state but as it was so high it would not matter, it would appear a perfect finish seen from the ground

The two Boys Fishing in the Bargello (1560-61) from the Casino San Marco are of great skill and we see in the raised arms that familiar feature of many of Giambologna’s other works in bronze. The finish, especially the limbs, with hammering. The boys are life-like, their mannerist twisting poses can be admired from many positions and there are drawings of them set up as fountain figures.

In contrast to carefully wrought and finished fountain figures are the famous birds in the Bargello attributed to Giambologna with a provenance from the Villa Medici at Castello (13). The birds are exceedingly life-like, but are not all executed with the same amount of care, the finish on some being fairly rough. The handling of the texture of the feathers of each bird is different and there is undoubtedly an unevenness of quality in their facture which has led scholars to not unreasonably question whether some or all were even made by Giambologna. Perhaps the unusual Bargello birds are the work of an artist in a hurry, not careful works of art made to impress. Old photographs of some of the Bargello birds in situ in the grotto at Castello show them to be high up among the mosaics of shells and coloured stones inlaid in the ceiling, obviating the need for a high finish.

If not for a grotto were some of the birds made as decoys? (15) They are portable and could have been placed outside on special occasions as there were several hunting and fowling enclosures centred around the Giardino de Laborinto at Castello. Hunting was a spectator sport followed by a banquet. If decoys it might explain the roughness of facture. Perhaps the abilities of Giambologna as an animal artist were harnessed to make life-like decoy birds and at a distance of over 400 years we are safe to speculate. The appearance of the birds may have been dictated by the purpose for which they were made.

This was even noted by Baldinucci in the 17^th century who said of the statue of Samson and a Philistine that Giambologna had succeeded in avoiding a certain mannerism which many of his sculptures have and as a result made it much more natural and lifelike. Were the missing monkeys made in a similar naturalistic and lifelike manner to match the Samson and a Philistine? It is worth pointing out Baldinucci’s insight and powers of observation in recognising Giambologna’s ability to vary his style.

Giambologna may have been influenced by the great Benvenuto Cellini, who also fashioned life-like animals. In a letter to the philosopher and historian, Benedetto Varchi in 1547, Cellini said for sculpture there should be eight views all of them of equal quality. The sculptor, like the painter, starts from a single view but as he moves around his sculpture difficulties begin. He will be required to modify the initial view in order to improve the subsidiary views which may otherwise be ugly and must work towards a compromise that the statue from every point of view is as little defective as possible.

Cellini confirmed this view in his Treatise on Sculpture 1568 and was still concerned with the same problem and increased the number of views from eight to forty. Back in 1564 in the squabbles over the proposed tomb of Michelangelo, Cellini had suggested the sculptor had to provide 100 views or more and we can check to see if the two monkeys reflect any of his ideas. Cellini had great casting skills and it is not unreasonable that Giambologna would have sought his advice (17).