(b Rome, 1538; d Rome, 26 Oct 1605). Italian sculptor of Spanish descent. Although an accomplished artist, he has been neglected and at times categorically condemned by critics. His few surviving works reveal the influence both of Classical models, to which he was passionately devoted, and of the Florentine manner derived from Michelangelo. He studied with the Florentine Vincenzo de’ Rossi, who was in Rome between 1546 and 1560, and at first worked on restorations and adaptations of antique sculptures. Around 1572 he was listed among the members of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon. His period of greatest creative productivity began in the last years of the pontificate of Pope Gregory XIII. In 1583 he carved the Pope’s coat of arms in the two large marble escutcheons for the Collegio del Gesú, the rich curves of which are meticulously carved in the Florentine style of Bartolomeo Ammanati. In 1587–8 he worked with Pietro Paolo Olivieri to complete an Angel and a low relief of Joshua and his Army for the Acqua Felice fountain, the latter work showing his interest in late Roman reliefs. The two sculptors, together with Domenico Fontana (iii) and Leonardo Sormani, also took part in the restoration (1588–90) of Castor and Pollux in the Monte Cavallo Fountain in Piazza del Quirinale. During this period Vacca also sent a tabernacle (1589) to the church of S Lorenzo in Spello, outside Rome.

• Vacca, Flaminio