St. Nicholas of Tolentino
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Authors
Francesco di Valdambrino
Date
Type
image
Language
Keyword
St. Nicholas of Tolentino
Alternative Title
Abstract
This painted wood sculpture is currently housed in the Museo di Villa Guinigi in Lucca. Francesco di Valdambrino, the Sienese specialist in wood sculpture, made the work in 1407, as demonstrated by a document discovered in 1981. (Previously, scholars had assumed that this was the work of a later sculptor.) The vivid naturalism of the face, both in carving and in the original polychromy with its five-o'clock shadow, and swaying pose (curving when viewed from the front and the side) serve to animate this relatively recent Italian saint -- he had died a centrury before and was not yet cannonized when this sculpture was made. The amplitude of the folds, cascading to the floor, serve to anchor and monumentalize the figure. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Museo di Villa Guinigi, Lucca; Santa Maria Corteorlandini, Lucca
Citation
Clara Baracchini, ed., Scultura lignea: Lucca 1200-1425 (Florence: Studio Per Edizioni Scelte, 1995), 178, 180; Mariagiulia Burresi, ed., Nel secolo di Lorenzo: Restauri di opere d'arte del Quattrocento (Pisa: Pacini, 1993), 38-41, cat. 6.