Blacksmiths' workshop
Nanni di Banco, Giuseppe Lelli (cast maker)- Artist
-
Nanni di Banco
Firenze 1380/1385 körül – 1421 Firenze
Giuseppe Lelli
(cast maker)
Firenze
- Dated
- 1417–1421 (original), 1907 (cast)
- Classification
- relief, plaster cast
- Medium
- plaster cast
- Dimensions
- 79 × 114 × 22 cm
- Inv.no.
- Rg.154
- Department
- Sculpture
- Current Location of the Original Artwork
- Italy, Florence, Museo di Orsanmichele
The Orsanmichele in Florence, converted into a church from a grain market from the mid-fourteenth century, was a prominent place of quattrocento sculpture thanks to its façade decoration. The guilds commissioned sculptures of their patron saints from the foremost Florentine sculptors to decorate the ground floor niches. Nanni di Banco received several such commissions, including the sculpture of Saint Eligius for the niche of the Arte dei Maniscalchi (guild of blacksmiths). The classical figure standing in contrapposto, the folds of its clothes and dignified facial expression suggest the artist’s knowledge of antique examples. The relief on the sculpture’s plinth evokes a blacksmiths’ workshop.