The Miracle of the Infant

Donatello, Casting Workshop of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (cast maker)
Artist
Donatello
Firenze 1386/1387 – 1466 Firenze

Casting Workshop of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum
(cast maker)
Berlin, 20. század első fele
Dated
1443-1453 (original), 1907 (cast)
Medium
plaster cast
Dimensions
58 × 124 × 10 cm
Inv.no.
Rg.175
Department
Sculptures - Plaster casts
Current Location of the Original Artwork
Italy, Padua, Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua

After leaving Florence in 1443, Donatello had settled in Padua, where he lived and worked until 1453. He created not only the main altar of the Saint Anthony Cathedral but the equestrian statue of Gattamelata as well. The main altar of the Cathedral (1447–1450) was the first Renaissance retable which was made mostly of bronze. The altar is decorated with a bronze Crucifix, six additional statues, four reliefs representing the miracles of Saint Anthony, a series of reliefs playing and singing angels, and another relief depicting the Entombment. The Museum purchased the copies of the four reliefs with the miracles of Saint Anthony and the series with playing and singing angels in 1907. In 1999 and 2005 the plaster cast reliefs of the miracles of Saint Anthony were restored and exhibited in the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen.