Agostino di Duccio (1418 – ) was an early
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
sculptor.
Born in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, he worked in
Prato
Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 ...
with
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Florence, he studied classical sculpture and used this to develop a complete Renaissance st ...
and
Michelozzo
Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi (1396 – 7 October 1472) was an Italian architect and sculptor. Considered one of the great pioneers of architecture during the Renaissance, Michelozzo was a favored Medici architect who was extensively em ...
, who influenced him greatly. In 1441, he was accused of stealing precious materials from a Florentine monastery and was banished from his native city as a result. The following year he continued the work on the altar of S. Geminiano for the
Cathedral of Modena, a work noticeable for the influence of Michelozzo.
In 1446, he studied late
Gothic sculpture
Gothic sculpture was a sculpture style that flourished in Europe during the Middle Ages, from about mid-12th century to the 16th century,The chronology of the period varies significantly according to the source consulted evolving from Romanesque s ...
in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
and met
Matteo de' Pasti, a fellow sculptor who called on him to execute the sculptural decoration of the
Tempio Malatestiano
The Tempio Malatestiano ( it, Malatesta Temple) is the unfinished cathedral church of Rimini, Italy. Officially named for St. Francis, it takes the popular name from Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who commissioned its reconstruction by the fa ...
in
Rimini
Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...
, where he stayed from 1449 to 1457. The decorations were supposed to be a sort of mediaeval encyclopedia, with reliefs of zodiacal and other allegorical and mythological figures.
Between 1457 and 1462 he created the marble façade of the church of S. Bernardino at
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part ...
and the following years until 1470 he created many works especially in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, such as a ''Madonna d'Auvillers'' for
Piero di Cosimo de' Medici
Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (the Gouty), (Italian: ''Piero "il Gottoso"'') (1416 – 2 December 1469) was the ''de facto'' ruler of Florence from 1464 to 1469, during the Italian Renaissance.
Biography
Piero was the son of Cosimo de' Medi ...
, now found at the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...
.
In 1464, the overseers of the
Duomo
''Duomo'' (, ) is an Italian term for a church with the features of, or having been built to serve as, a cathedral, whether or not it currently plays this role. Monza Cathedral, for example, has never been a diocesan seat and is by definition n ...
cathedral in Florence ('Operai') commissioned Agostino to carve a marble statue of David (from the Old Testament, and a symbol of Florence), about 3.5 m tall, to stand high up on its eastern end. This was intended to be formed in the Roman fashion from several blocks, but in 1465 Agostino travelled to
Carrara
Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mot ...
to source his marble and acquired a huge block from the Fantiscritti quarries. Described as nine braccia (over 5 metres) long, of moderate quality ('bianco ordinario') and ‘rather shallow’, its original maximum dimensions are otherwise unknown, but from the resulting statue the block must have been almost 2.0m wide and 1.1m deep, so must have been over 20 tons in weight. After a troubled sea and river passage to Florence, Agostino began to work on the block, roughing it out, but in December 1466, Agostino lost the commission, possibly relinquished on the death of Donatello. The block, now known as ''il gigante'' (the giant), was further roughed out and ‘spoiled’ in 1476–7 by
Rossellino, and then sat for 24 years being ''cotto'' (‘cooked’ by the weather) in the Duomo yard, until
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...
won a new commission to carve a
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, completed in 1504.
In 1473 he designed the outer facade of the Porta di
San Pietro in the city walls of Perugia, in a style influenced by
Leone Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...
. Other works are at
Amelia and at the
National Gallery of Umbria at Perugia.
He died in about 1481 in Perugia.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agostino di Duccio
1418 births
1481 deaths
Sculptors from Florence
Renaissance sculptors
15th-century Italian sculptors
Italian male sculptors