LAURANA, Francesco
(b. ca. 1430, Vrana, d. 1502, Avignon)

Alfonso of Aragon in Triumph with his Court (detail)

1452-58
Marble, half life-size
Castel Nuovo, Naples

In Naples, a great part of the finest sculpture of the Quattrocento is Florentine export works by Donatello, Michelozzo, Antonio Rossellino and Benedetto da Maiano. The principal local sculptor is Francesco Laurana. His relief (shown on the picture) on the Triumphal Arch of Alfonso I, executed together with Pietro da Milano, reveals him as charming, competent, and to a considerable extent heir to the tradition of Late Gothic realism.