Sculpture and Subject
Joost Joustra
Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise and Michelangelo’s David have many things in common besides their elevated status the canon Western art, paradigms early ‘High’ Renaissance respectively, each provides subject two recent monographs by Amy Bloch John Paoletti that, like chosen protagonists, share a number themes. About half century apart completion, both were commissioned to occupy position immediate vicinity Florence’s cathedral. The part city’s public sphere viewed daily – latter sculpture ultimately being placed on Piazza della Signoria until originals moved Museo dell’Opera del Duomo Accademia, replaced copies. Sculpted leading artists who left literary legacy that reflects artistic production, present an Old Testament subject, with young King Israel even appearing ninth ten bronze panels, midst decapitating Philistine giant Goliath. In disparate ways, these works explore possibilities depicting human body subject.
Oxford Art Journal