The lecture studies the sculptures of Baccio Bandinelli, an artist whose career was defined by his obsession with and rivalry against Michelangelo. His Hercules and Cacus in Piazza della Signoria is dissected not only as a work of Mannerist muscularity but as a potent symbol of Medici authority imposed upon the rebellious city. The session re-evaluates his legacy, often maligned by Vasari, as a brilliant courtier and draftsman.