Altare del Santo
Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua

Donatello Marble and Bronze Altar - 1447-50    1895 Configuration

    The group called the Altare del Santo, which Donatello executed about
1447-50, composed altogether of twenty-nine pieces of sculpture. Seven
free-standing bronze statues (Madonna Enthroned with Child, St Francis, St
Anthony, St Daniel, St Justina, St Louis, St Prosdocimo), four bas-reliefs
in bronze with the miracles of St Anthony (Miracle of the Ass, Miracle of
the New-born Child, Miracle of the Repentant Son, Miracle of the
Avaricious Man's Heart); four bas-reliefs in bronze with the symbols of
the Evangelists, another bas-relief of the Dead Christ supported by two
putti, twelve reliefs with Musician Angels, and finally a relief in Nanto
stone depicting the Entombment.
    Unfortunately today we can have no idea of the true architectural
arrangement of all this material. In fact at the end of the 16th century
Donatello's altar was taken to pieces to make way for another by Gerolamo
Campagna and Cesare Franco, which included Donatello's Crucifix. Finally
in 1895 the present altar was designed as a reconstruction of Donatello's
altar, though it is an arbitrary one only, and the introduction of the
bronze Crucifix is a falsification in 19th-century taste. Modern critics
have repeatedly sought to arrive at a reconstruction which most closely
resembles Donatello's ideal, and perhaps the most plausible is the one
which corresponds to the description, however incomplete, provided by
Marc'Antonio Michiel at the beginning of the 16th century.
    Michiel wrote: "In the church of the Saint above the high altar, the four
bronze figures entirely in the round, grouped around Our Lady, Our Lady
herself, and beneath the aforesaid figures, in the predella, two bronze
narrative bas-reliefs in front and two behind. And the four Evangelists at
the corners, two in front and two behind of bronze and in bas-relief, but
in half length, and behind the altar beneath the predella the dead Christ
with other figures around and two figures to the right and two to the
left, also in bas-relief but in marble, by the hand of Donatello."
    This sculptural group, rich with polychrome effects due to the use of
coloured marbles, of gold, silver and bronze decorations, must have
offered a remarkably brilliant spectacle. The statues of the Church of St
Anthony mark another step in the artist's evolution, and it is obvious
that the freestanding treatment of the figures allowed an even wider use
of expressive effects. In the Miracles series Donatello adopted flattened
relief on a roughened surface which served to break up the light and
diffuse it, thus achieving a luminous atmosphere in which the incorporeal
images appear to float. Never until now had architecture played such a
prominent part in narrative relief scenes. In the Miracles it is the
rhythm of the architecture that unites the jostling crowd and is felt to
be the chief protagonist. The centre-piece of the altar is the group of
the Madonna and Child. The Madonna is represented as an arcane priestess
rising from between the faces of two smiling sphinxes at the base of her
throne. It is probable that for this unusual representation of the Virgin,
so oriental in feeling, neither seated nor standing but caught in the
moment of rising, Donatello was inspired by some Byzantine icon or even a
piece of Etruscan statuary.

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