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Monument of the Four Moors ("Monumento dei quattro mori") was created by Giovanni Bandini (statue of the Grand Duke, 1595) and Pietro Tacca (statues of the four Moors, 1626). It shows the Grand Duke of Tuscany, wearing the uniform of Grand Master of the knightly Order of Santo Stefano, triumphing above four Turkish (Moorish) prisoners, after building a war fleet for the Order of Santo Stefano to counter attacks from Barbaric pirates.
Tacca had been making studies from Moorish captives as early as 1607. The statues, installed by 1626, are remarkable for their emotional intensity and Michelangelesque composition. He also made bronze trophies (destroyed 1799) for the base of the monument and designed two fountains intended to stand near the Slaves. The fountains, displaying fantastic and grotesque imagery, were cast by 1633 and in 1640 were finally placed in Florence, in the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata.
Three of the four bronze statues of enslaved prisoners chained at the base of the statue of Ferdinando I show physical characteristics representing people of the southern Mediterranean coast while the fourth statue has characteristics of a black African.
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