DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO

There exists a number of heads of boys attributed to Desiderio and his circle, but the exact subject of these works is not known. This bust of an infant, without any attributes to identify him as a religious figure, may have been created as a portrait of an actual child.

There exists a number of heads of boys attributed to Desiderio and his circle, but the exact subject of these works is not known. This bust of an infant, without any attributes to identify him as a religious figure, may have been created as a portrait of an actual child.

This small head is from the Andrew W. Mellon Collection.

Only three large-scale, free-standing figures can be connected with the sculptor. The Martelli Youthful St John the Baptist (Florence, Bargello), notable for the extreme shallowness of its carving and delicacy of expression, was once attributed to Donatello, but it can be given to Desiderio on stylistic grounds and on the strength of a documented connection between Desiderio and the Martelli family. The polychromed wooden statue of St Mary Magdalene (Florence, Santa Trìnita) was, according to Vasari, started by Desiderio and finished by Benedetto da Maiano; it also shows the influence of Donatello, as does a wooden crucifix from the convent at Bosco ai Frati, also formerly given to Donatello but now attributed to Desiderio. These works have been dated to Desiderio’s early period, but instead seem to be the products of his last years, that is during the 1460s, when both he and Donatello were working on different projects in San Lorenzo.

Of the busts of children created in the fifteenth-century, some seem to be portraits but others definitely represent the young Christ or St John. There are at least three marble busts of Desiderio. The famous Laughing Boy has a casual quality, with a modulation of light and movement. The portrayal of the boy, his tongue up against the roof of his mouth in spontaneous laughter, captures the essence of childhood. The sculpture cannot represent Christ or St John.

Like the best artists of his generation, Desiderio rediscovered children as a central subject for sacred and profane sculpture by way of Donatello. The Laughing Boy stands out from all contemporary busts for its profound sense of mirth, which makes it almost a character study, anticipating Leonardo da Vinci and the three centuries of art that followed him.

Only three large-scale, free-standing figures can be connected with the sculptor. The Martelli Youthful St John the Baptist (Florence, Bargello), notable for the extreme shallowness of its carving and delicacy of expression, was once attributed to Donatello, but it can be given to Desiderio on stylistic grounds and on the strength of a documented connection between Desiderio and the Martelli family. The polychromed wooden statue of St Mary Magdalene (Florence, Santa Trìnita) was, according to Vasari, started by Desiderio and finished by Benedetto da Maiano; it also shows the influence of Donatello, as does a wooden crucifix from the convent at Bosco ai Frati, also formerly given to Donatello but now attributed to Desiderio. These works have been dated to Desiderio’s early period, but instead seem to be the products of his last years, that is during the 1460s, when both he and Donatello were working on different projects in San Lorenzo.

Only three large-scale, free-standing figures can be connected with the sculptor. The Martelli Youthful St John the Baptist (Florence, Bargello), notable for the extreme shallowness of its carving and delicacy of expression, was once attributed to Donatello, but it can be given to Desiderio on stylistic grounds and on the strength of a documented connection between Desiderio and the Martelli family. The polychromed wooden statue of St Mary Magdalene (Florence, Santa Trìnita) was, according to Vasari, started by Desiderio and finished by Benedetto da Maiano; it also shows the influence of Donatello, as does a wooden crucifix from the convent at Bosco ai Frati, also formerly given to Donatello but now attributed to Desiderio. These works have been dated to Desiderio’s early period, but instead seem to be the products of his last years, that is during the 1460s, when both he and Donatello were working on different projects in San Lorenzo.

Desiderio was one of Donatello’s most gifted pupils. During his brief career he carved marble with astonishing subtlety and is still known for his busts of youths, often dressed as the young St John the Baptist. His last work was the painted wooden statue of St. Mary Magdalene, left unfinished and completed by Benedetto da Maiano after Desiderio’s death in 1464.

In this relief, the boy Christ is clearly distinguished by the cross in his halo, the youthful Baptist by the animal skin. The spontaneous vivacity of their interaction is captured by Desiderio and the happy expressions reveal a delight in their relationship that would provide an appropriate model for children.

The sitter of this bust is probably Marietta Strozzi, daughter of Lorenzo Strozzi who died in 1451. She was one of the most beautiful young girl in the patrician circles of Florence.

This bust can be considered the most important surviving example of female portraiture in Florentine sculpture prior to Verrocchio. The bust is a masterpiece of delicate sensibility, perfectly developed in the definition of volumes and the sense of vibration that marks the surfaces. Devoid of extravagant ornaments on her dress or in her hair, the girl entrusts all her charm to the freshness of her complexion, the vivacity implicit in her slowly turning pose, and the spontaneous expression of her perfect face.

Formerly the bust was attributed to Antonio Rossellino.

In Desiderio’s later reliefs he employed an increasingly sophisticated relievo schiacciato technique. St Jerome in the Wilderness, exhibiting the influence of Donatello both in technique and in the dramatic presentation of the subject, is his only extant narrative composition.

Desiderio’s mastery of relief sculpture is apparent in this pictorially rich image, with its complicated space in which figures move in different planes, all suggested by the subtlest manipulations of the marble surface.

Clearly Desiderio had learned much from the low-relief techniques of Donatello. The sculptor invented a rocky, wilderness landscape with a cloud-streaked sky and tall, pointed cypress trees receding into the distance among the cliffs. In the foreground, St Jerome kneels in penitential prayer before a crucifix. He wears only a few crumpled wisps of drapery, and his gaunt face tells of fervent, ascetic devotion. On the right, in particularly fine low relief, suggesting he is some distance in the background, a terrified boy flees from the lions that emerge from the rocks on the left behind the cross.

According to legend, Jerome tamed a lion by removing a thorn from its paw, and the lion therefore often appears as his attribute in art. The lions here, clearly no threat to the saint, suggest his harmonious relationship with nature, achieved through solitary meditation, prayer, and penance.

The tabernacle in the centre of Desiderio’s Altar of the Sacrament in San Lorenzo is the outstanding decorative achievement of the fifteenth century. It forms part of a complex which include two statuettes of candle-bearing angels, a lunette with two angels and a standing figure of the Christ Child, and an antependium relief of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ. The cornice is supported by fluted columns, whose roundity is suggested by slight deformation at the sides.

It is possible that not all the elements of the tabernacle were installed simultaneously. The tabernacle’s original location and configuration are unknown: it has been moved at least three times since its initial installation and its present arrangement is unlikely to be as it was originally.

The sacrament tabernacle is the central work of Desiderio’s later career. A document refers to its installation in 1461, but a letter written to Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, in February 1462 explains that the sculptor was ‘occupied and will be for a long time on a certain work in San Lorenzo’, which implies that it was not finished. The tabernacle’s original location and configuration are unknown: it has been moved at least three times since its initial installation and its present arrangement is unlikely to be as it was originally. Probably the tabernacle and its architectonic surround were positioned first and the free-standing elements were added later. The attribution to Desiderio of some of the sculptural elements has been questioned. Albertini (1510) said that the Blessing Christ Child that crowns the altar was replaced by a copy by Baccio da Montelupo before 1500.

The picture shows the lunette with two angels and a standing figure of the Christ Child. Albertini (1510) said that the Blessing Christ Child that crowns the altar was replaced by a copy by Baccio da Montelupo before 1500.

Attempts have been made to identify Desiderio’s original figure with a Christ Child (attributed to Michele Marini in the Museum of Art, Cleveland), and the figure in situ has been given to Baccio da Montelupo. A more likely suggestion is that a faithful copy of the San Lorenzo Christ Child (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris) is Baccio’s version, and that the Christ Child in San Lorenzo is Desiderio’s work.

The half-length relief of the Lamentation over Christ forming the lower half of the tabernacle, with the outlines of the figures deeply undercut, is stylistically distinct from the sculptor’s other late work and has led to the suggestion that it is not by Desiderio at all, although iconographically it is appropriate for an altar dedicated to the sacrament.

The picture shows one of the candle-bearing angels.

The picture shows one of the candle-bearing angels.

In the Altar of the Sacrament (Tabernacle) the figures take on the fragility and elegance of a picture by Filippino Lippi. This style is dominant in Florence until the last quarter of the 15th century.

Problematic works attributed to Desiderio include the group of small heads that may represent the Christ Child or the Infant St John, or may possibly be portraits of children. Of the three most frequently discussed - the Mellon Christ Child, the Kress bust (both National Gallery of Art, Washington) and the Laughing Boy (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) - the Vienna bust seems most likely to be autograph.

The picture shows the small head from the Samuel H. Kress Collection.

The tomb of Carlo Marsuppini is placed in the nave of Santa Croce, across from Bernardo Rossellino’s tomb of Leonardo Bruni. Bruni was Marsuppini’s predecessor as Chancellor and both men were noted humanists.

Desiderio’s tomb deliberately echoes that of Rossellino in both design and ornament. Both tombs are framed by an arch and have the effigy of the dead man placed on an elaborate bier over an inscribed sarcophagus, both have a relief of the Virgin and Child in a lunette above the effigy and youthful angels carrying garlands above the gable. The effigy of Marsuppini is more steeply tilted on the bier, making the portrait more visible, and the free-standing, shield-bearing putti who flank the base of the arch are not present in the Bruni tomb; they act as intermediaries between the observers’ space and that of the monument, as do the youths with their striding poses on the entablature, whose garlands fall outside the confines of the architectural framework. Similarly, in the tondo of the Virgin and Child, the haloes and drapery break beyond the carved frame. Desiderio used softer forms in the sphinxes at the base and in the acanthus leaf that serves as a keystone of the arch.

Compared with the Bruni tomb, decoration takes precedence over architectural structure.

Carlo Marsuppini (died 1453) was Leonardo Bruni’s successor as Chancellor and his tomb was installed opposite as if in competition with Bruni’s monument. It was designed by Desiderio who had probably assisted Rossellino on the Bruni monument. Here, emphasis has been placed on profuse ornament and figures as opposed to architecture. Every element is more copious in the later work, including the longer, more laudatory epitaph. Although some of the outward humanist trappings of Bruni’s are repeated, the effect is very different. Grandeur and monumentality are sacrificed for richness and elegance. Desiderio’s technique defies the marble and resembles wax, glowing like illuminated alabaster.

The youths with their striding poses on the entablature act as intermediaries between the observers’ space and that of the monument. The garlands fall outside the confines of the architectural framework; similarly, in the tondo of the Virgin and Child, the haloes and drapery break beyond the carved frame.

The youths with their striding poses on the entablature act as intermediaries between the observers’ space and that of the monument.

The youths with their striding poses on the entablature act as intermediaries between the observers’ space and that of the monument.

At the base of the pilasters, standing as if in our space, are putti holding shields with the Marsuppini arms.

The free-standing, shield-bearing putti who flank the base of the arch are not present in the Bruni tomb; they act as intermediaries between the observers’ space and that of the monument

Desiderio da Settignano employed the “schiacciato” relief (flattened relief) approach that Donatello invented, but his language was more refined and less connected with classical antiquity.

Several works have been attributed to Desiderio on the grounds of their similarity to the Marsuppini tomb. The marble relief of the Virgin and Child, known as the Foulc Madonna in Philadelphia, originally from the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, Florence, is close to the tondo of the Virgin and Child on the tomb. The low relief is, in terms of composition and expressive power, one of Desiderio’s best works.

Several works have been attributed to Desiderio on the grounds of their similarity to the Marsuppini tomb. The marble relief of the Virgin and Child, known as the Foulc Madonna in Philadelphia, originally from the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, Florence, is close to the tondo of the Virgin and Child on the tomb. The low relief is, in terms of composition and expressive power, one of Desiderio’s best works.

Only three large-scale, free-standing figures can be connected with the sculptor. The Martelli Youthful St John the Baptist (Florence, Bargello), notable for the extreme shallowness of its carving and delicacy of expression, was once attributed to Donatello, but it can be given to Desiderio on stylistic grounds and on the strength of a documented connection between Desiderio and the Martelli family. The polychromed wooden statue of St Mary Magdalene (Florence, Santa Trìnita) was, according to Vasari, started by Desiderio and finished by Benedetto da Maiano; it also shows the influence of Donatello, as does a wooden crucifix from the convent at Bosco ai Frati, also formerly given to Donatello but now attributed to Desiderio. These works have been dated to Desiderio’s early period, but instead seem to be the products of his last years, that is during the 1460s, when both he and Donatello were working on different projects in San Lorenzo.

The free-standing marble statue of St John the Baptist, the so-called Martelli Baptist, has been persistently ascribed to Donatello, but its handling and conception are not consistent with Donatello’s style. In the hands and head the plastic contrast are minimized, while the hair is represented by surface drawing in somewhat greater depth but with the same rhytmical character as in Desiderio’s late reliefs.