Tindaro Screpolato

This great face is encountered when walking through the center of the Boboli Gardens to the left of the great Prato dei Castagni (Chestnut Lawn) towards the Museum of Porcelain. Polish-born sculptor Mitoraj named his work after a figure from Greek mythology: Tyndareus, King of the ancient and glorious city of Sparta, husband of Leda, father to Clytemnestra and, according to some versions, the beautiful Helen.

Mitoraj drew extensively from the classical world and characters of the Greek legends, creating a repertoire of figures through which he developed his own unique mythology. Heads, faces, eyes and mouths are developed and returned to the observer as fragments delicately reconstructed by the sculptor, as seen here in Tindaro Screpolato (Cracked). These fragments serve as a strong reminder of the passing of time and our fragility as humans, yet are also a symbol of the enduring nature of classical beauty and the moral and aesthetic values it represented; above all, they are an expression of the sculptor's yearning desire for a world that remains mysterious and distant in its exquisite and grandiose perfection.

The work was donated by the artist to the Uffizi Galleries to mark the important monographic exhibition held in the Boboli Gardens and the National Archaeological Museum in Florence.