Early Quattrocento Sculpture in Florence : On the Statues of Or San Michele

Abstract

The history of Italian Quattrocento sculpture was opened by the competition for the 2nd Door of St. Giovanni Batistery, but Ghiberti and Brunelleschi were still in the gothic tradition though they were revolutionary. True Quattrocento began by Donatello's St. Mark for Or San Michele, because Lamberti lost its contract and Donatello not only gained it but also showed a deep understanding of Roman art in it. Lamberti's St. Mark for Fassade of the Cathedral shows striking resembrance in drapery to the Madonna enthroned of Tres belles Heures du Duc de Berry. Common language was talked by Ghiberti, too. In the early 15th Cen., there were various trends ; the international style (c. 1405-1415/6) by Lamberti and Ghiberti, the classicism by Nanni bi Banco, the realism by Donatello (after c. 1409). They vied with one another in making the Patron Saints of guilds for Or San Michele. It is, therefore, a exhibition-hall of the early Quattrocento Sculpture in Florence. In St. Luke, Nanni, I think, made first attempt to combine the statue with the eyes of beholders before the Main Portal. An attempt of this sort was made in a curtain behind Quattro S. Coronati. It gives the visual continuity to the groups and combines the space in Niche with that of beholders' standpoints.