Four Doctors of the Church (St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory)
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Authors
Unknown Lombard artists
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Keyword
Four Doctors , St. Ambrose , St. Augustine , St. Jerome , St. Gregory
Alternative Title
Abstract
These terracotta sculptures depict the four doctors of the early Church: St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory. They are in the Brunelleschian Chiesa di Villa in Castligione Olona and form a part of the Tuscan-influenced rebuilding and redecoration of chapels and the palace by Cardinal Brandi Olona. Other works for the cardinal were created by Tuscan artists, but these sculptures have a stiffness and lack of convincing contrapposto that makes it more likely that they were created by a local Lombard artist, seeking to mimic the Tuscan style. They are made of terracotta, in high relief (attached to the wall in their backs, likely concealing the opening, as terracotta statues need to be hollow for correct firing) and then painted and set against frescoed backdrops of richly brocaded cloth. The saints' clothes were also likely originally richly painted and gilded, but much of that surface treatment has been lost. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Chiesa di Villa, Castiglione Olona
Citation
Carol Pulin, "Early Renaissance Sculpture and Architecture at Castiglione Olona in Northern Italy and the Patronage of a Humanist, Cardinal Branda Castiglione," PhD diss. (Austin: Università of Texas, 1984), 182-3.