Bandinelli, Baccio (1488–1560)

Florentine sculptor. He often worked on a large scale, his career largely dedicated to trying to equal the sculpture of Michelangelo. His Hercules and Cacus (1534), for example, which stands in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, was specifically intended to rival Michelangelo's David.

He was born in Florence and after training under his father, a goldsmith, worked with Rustici, the sculptural associate of Leonardo da Vinci. He later worked on a series of commissions from the Medici family, both in Florence and Rome, and as court sculptor to Duke Cosimo I he was a rival of Cellini.

Among his works are Laocoon (1525, Uffizi, Florence), imitating the classical statue, and his Prophets (1555), low reliefs in the choir of Florence Cathedral. He also produced portraits, bronze statuettes, paintings, and drawings, most of which are in Florence.