''St. John the Baptist'' (1412–1416) is a bronze statue by

Lorenzo Ghiberti Lorenzo Ghiberti (, , ; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptister ...

located in one of the 14 niches of the

Orsanmichele Orsanmichele (; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word ''orto'') is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Mich ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, Italy. The statue of the Saint was commissioned by the cloth merchant's guild, the ''

Arte di Calimala The Arte di Calimala, the guild of the cloth finishers and merchants in foreign cloth, was one of the greater guilds of Florence, the ''Arti Maggiori'', who arrogated to themselves the civic power of the Republic of Florence during the Late Middle ...

''. The artist's use of unnaturalistic but elegant curves in the hair and drapery of the saint show the influence of the

International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art which began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by th ...

style prevalent in Italy at the time the work was created. The work was successfully cast in a single piece, making it the first bronze statue of its size to be cast in a single piece for at least several hundred years in Italy.

Background

After winning the competition for the doors of the

Baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

in 1402 and completing the commission, Ghiberti was commissioned with three sculptures to fill exterior niches at Orsanmichele. The first of these was St. John the Baptist (1412–1416), followed by St. Matthew (1419–1420) and St. Stephen (1428). The sculpture of ''St. John'' was the only one commissioned by Arte di Calimala, the merchant

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

. The power and influence associated with this guild dictated, at least to some degree, the form which the final work would take. More specifically, in 1406, the Florence City Council passed a decree granting major guilds the power to use bronze, a far more costly material than the traditional stone, for their commissioned projects. After the execution of the bronze Baptistery doors, the construction of which was also overseen by the Calimala guild, the guild was eager to fund another equally impressive project. The completion of this project set off a wave of demand for bronze statuary. This benefited Ghiberti immensely, as both of his later sculptures were commissioned in bronze.

The statue

Ghiberti's ''St. John'' was the largest statue ever cast in Florence up to that point. From its base, it rises 2.55 meters, and sits in an arched Gothic niche. The hollow cast, the thinness of the bronze, and a comparison with his later St. Matthew all indicate that this sculpture was cast in one piece from a

wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...

and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

model. The exceptional detail of the goatskin cloak, the beard and the hair accompany of series of optical corrections. The pronounced cheekbones, the forehead that recedes sharply at the temples, and the slightly furrowed brow that overhangs the deeply inset eyes are examples of this practice that allowed sculptors to construct sited works that would generally be seen from below, rather than from straight ahead.

Legacy

One of Ghiberti's greatest challenges, and ultimately one of his greatest triumphs, with the ''St. John'' was the need to cast as large and as masterful a sculpture in bronze as was routinely produced in stone. Though he had used bronze before (such as on the Baptistery doors), all of his previous work had been on a much smaller scale, and more the work of a craftsman. The constraints on the size of bronze sculpture, teamed with the non-monumental customs of the International Style, presented Ghiberti with the challenge of making a work that both befitted its site and meshed in with the other works at the site.

References

* Krautheimer, Richard. ''Lorenzo Ghiberti.'' Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1970. * Hartt, Frederick and Wilkins, David G. ''History of Italian Renaissance Art.'' Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson Prentice Hall Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari ...

, 2006.
Sculpture, Western
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Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

''. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, accessed 18 November 2007. {{coord, 43, 46, 14.29, N, 11, 15, 18.89, E, source:itwiki_region:IT_type:landmark, display=title Renaissance sculptures

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

Outdoor sculptures in Florence Bronze sculptures in Florence 1416 sculptures

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

Statues in Italy

Background

The statue

Legacy

See also

References