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

Raising of Drusiana

1428-43
Polychrome stucco, diameter 215 cm
Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence

In the pendentive roundels the harshness of the scheme is sharpened by a daring experiment in perspective which creates large spaces in which human figures and architectural details take on dramatic effects of light and shade.

The Raising of Drusiana is the only broadly symmetrical composition, and her figure is also picked out with colour in the centre of the composition. In accordance with the Golden Legend, the moment portrayed is the one when St John, by virtue of his prayer, is able to raise Drusiana from the dead.




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