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Baccio was sent off to Loreto to help Andrea Sansovino with one of the large reliefs for the marble revetment of the Santa Casa inside the Loreto basilica; he made several preparatory sketches and began carving the Birth of the Virgin between 1517 and 1519 (in situ), but abandoned work about half way through (the panel was eventually finished, 1530-33, by Raffaello da Montelupo). It is a rather arid and static rendering of the scene, perhaps reflecting a lack of enthusiasm for the remote Loretan commission that was shared by other Florentine sculptors.
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