CIVITALE, Matteo
(b. 1435, Lucca, d. 1501, Lucca)

Tempietto del Volto Santo : St Sebastian

1482-84
Photo
Cathedral of San Martino, Lucca

The chapel of the Volto Santo is an elaborate octagonal structure that demonstrates Civitali's indebtedness to the architecture of Michelozzo and Brunelleschi. An elegant, semi-nude life-size statue of St Sebastian, set in an external niche, is derived from Antonio Rossellino's St Sebastian (c. 1475; Empoli, Collegiata) and also recalls Perugino's idealized youthful saints of the 1480s and 1490s.