Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title:
Bearded or Pensive Prophet
Image View:
Overall view (black background added)
Creator:
Donatello (Italian sculptor, ca. 1386-1466)
Location:
repository: Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence, Tuscany, Italy)
Location Note:
Piazza del Duomo 9
GPS:
43.772333 11.256222
Date:
ca. 1418 (creation)
Cultural Context:
Italian
Style Period:
Fifteenth century; Renaissance
Work Type 1:
sculpture (visual work)
Classification:
Sculpture and Installations
Material:
marble
Technique:
carving (processes)
Measurements:
194 cm (height)
Subjects:
human figure; Old Testament and Apocrypha; prophets
Description:
Late in 1415 Donatello began work on the series of Old Testament figures for some niches high on Giotto’s Campanile. (The originals, weathered by centuries of exposure, are now in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and have been replaced with modern copies on the Campanile.) This is one of the earliest of a whole series, the execution of which lasted until the end of the mid-1430s; for the sake of speed, some were carved in collaboration with other sculptors. They were to be seen high above eye-level, so their features and drapery had to be boldly chiseled. Their heads look like portraits. They are clearly indebted to ancient Roman ancestor busts. Despite being confined to a narrow niche, the Bearded Prophet conveys a potential freedom of movement unseen in Donatello's work before. (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordart online.com/)
Collection:
Adjunct Module B: Italian Art
Identifier:
7A1-DB-OD-TP-A01
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Bearded or Pensive Prophet