DONATELLO
(b. ca. 1386, Firenze, d. 1466, Firenze)

Prophet (left of the Porta della Mandorla)

1406-08
Marble, height 128 cm
Duomo, Florence

From 1406 to 1408 Donatello was working with Nanni di Banco in the workshop of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, where for the Porta della Mandorla - one of the north doors of the Cathedral - he executed the so-called Profetini, two small statues of Prophets placed above Nanni's large bas-relief of the Assumption. Not all modern critics recognized these as the unmistakable work of Donatello, and in fact the two statues, although equally imbued with Gothic feeling, reflect different types of artistic experience: the first figure (to the left of the doorway) shows more unmistakably the influence of Ghiberti's Gothic style, while the second (to the right), even in its arched rhythm, is closer to the classical dignity of Nanni di Banco or of the young Luca della Robbia.




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