Renaissance Sculpture
15th and 16th centuries: from Donatello and Ghiberti to Michelangelo, Italian sculpture redefines the human figure. 140 works documented in this section.
15th c.
Crucifix
Description: Painted wood, height cm 160. This work, of about 1415, concludes the sculptural career of the artist, who then devoted himself to architecture.
Read the entry
15th c.
David
Description: Marble, height cm 191. Commissioned from the artist by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore in 1408. It was then moved to Palazzo Vecchio in 1416 and partially reworked.
Read the entry
15th c.
David
Description: Bronze, height cm 126, created between 1472 and 1475 for the De' Medici.
Read the entry
15th c.
St. George
Description: Marble, height cm 209. Executed about 1417, commissioned by the Arte dei Corazzai for an outer niche of Orsanmichele.
Read the entry
15th c.
Judith and Holofernes
Description: Bronze, height cm 180. Executed between 1445 and 1460. The work was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici to celebrate Medici power and later became a civic emblem, the symbol of the Republic overthrowing tyrants.
Read the entry
15th c.
Gattamelata
Description: Bronze, detail of the bust of the condottiere Erasmo da Narni, known as Gattamelata.
Read the entry
15th c.
Gattamelata
Description: Bronze, height about cm 340. Commissioned by the heirs of the condottiere, who died in 1443 in the service of the Venetian Republic.
Read the entry
15th c.
Bust of a Young Warrior
Description: Terracotta, height cm 50. Datable shortly after 1470.
Read the entry
15th c.
Funerary Monument of Leonardo Bruni
Description: Marble, detail of the head of the deceased. Executed in 1450. Leonardo Bruni had been chancellor of the Florentine Republic and author of the “Historie Fiorentine”. The recumbent deceased holds in his hands a copy of the book he wrote.
Read the entry
15th c.
Jeremiah
Description: Marble, height cm 191. One of the Prophets executed between 1423 and 1425 for Giotto's Campanile, commissioned by the Arte della Lana.
Read the entry
15th c.
Tomb of Pope Sixtus IV
Description: Bronze, detail of the Pope's head. The tomb was commissioned from Pollaiolo by the nephew of the deceased in 1493. Together with the funerary monument to Innocent III, this is the last great project carried out by the artist in Rome.
Read the entry
17th c.
Dancing Putto
Description: Marble, detail of the cantoria originally placed in the Duomo, dismantled in 1668 and reassembled in the museum after 1883.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Beheading of the Baptist
Description: Silver, height cm 29, detail of the relief on the right side of the St. John altar, executed between 1477 and 1490.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Journey of St. Sigismund
Description: Marble, height cm 27. Detail of a relief from Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, about 1454.
Read the entry
15th c.
Dialectic
Description: Bronze, height about cm 40. Detail of the tomb of Sixtus IV, executed in 1493.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Resurrection of Christ
Description: Polychrome terracotta, height cm 133, from Villa Medicea in Careggi.
Read the entry
15th c.
Hercules and Antaeus
Description: Bronze, height cm 45. Commissioned by the Medici from the artist, who also treated the mythological theme of the Labours of Hercules in painting.
Read the entry
15th c.
Bust of Eleonora of Aragon
Description: Marble, height cm 50. Executed towards the end of the 15th century during the artist's third stay in Naples.
Read the entry
15th c.
Bust of Eleonora of Aragon
Description: Marble, height cm 50. Executed towards the end of the 15th century during the artist's third stay in Naples.
Read the entry
15th c.
Lady with a Bunch of Flowers
Description: Marble, height cm 60. Executed about 1478, a Medici commission.
Read the entry
16th c.
Guidarello Guidarelli
Description: Marble. Tomb slab executed in 1515-1525, depicting the Ravenna knight who died in 1501.
Read the entry
16th c.
Half-Length Busts of a Married Couple
Description: Marble relief, height cm 47, inspired by Roman funerary portraits.
Read the entry
15th c.
Pietà
Description: Polychrome terracotta, detail. After 1485. Part of the group of six weeping figures arranged around the body of Christ taken down from the Cross, as in a sacred play.
Read the entry
15th c.
Tomb of Ludovico il Moro and Beatrice d'Este
Description: Marble, detail of the tomb that was in Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, it was carved between 1497 and 1499.
Read the entry
15th c.
Pietà
Description: Marble, detail of the faces of Christ and the Madonna, total height cm 174. Executed in Rome between 1497 and 1499 for the ambassador of Charles VIII to Pope Alexander VI.
Read the entry
16th c.
Madonna of the Stairs
Description: Marble bas-relief, height cm 55,5. The work belongs to the last decade of the 15th century, when the young Michelangelo was serving his apprenticeship at the Medici Academy, practising the study of anatomy and of ancient statuary.
Read the entry
15th c.
Battle of the Centaurs
Description: Marble relief, cm 84,5 x 90,5. Executed in 1491-1492. It represents a battle of centaurs: a classical theme revisited by Michelangelo with violent expressive force.
Read the entry
16th c.
David
Description: Marble, height cm 420. The work, executed in 1501-1504, the young Michelangelo's first civic commission, was intended to stand in front of the Palazzo della Signoria and become the symbol of the Florentine Republic.
Read the entry
16th c.
The Prisoner - Atlas
Description: Marble, height cm 277. Allegorical figure executed about 1530-1536, intended for the tomb of Julius II.
Read the entry
16th c.
The Awakening Slave
Description: Marble, height cm 267. Allegorical figure designed for the Tomb of Julius II and executed between 1530 and 1563.
Read the entry
16th c.
The Dying Slave
Description: Marble, height cm 229. The work carved in 1513-1514, is part of the second plan for the tomb of Pope Julius II.
Read the entry
16th c.
Saint Matthew
Description: Marble, height cm 271. It is the only one executed of the twelve Apostles planned for Florence Cathedral, made between 1504 and 1506.
Read the entry
16th c.
Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici
Description: Marble, height about cm 600. Executed between 1526 and 1534. In the niche is the statue of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, who died in 1516; on the sarcophagus are the allegorical figures of Day and Night.
Read the entry
16th c.
Tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici
Description: Marble, height about cm 250, detail of the statue of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, who died in 1519, and of the allegorical figures of Dusk and Dawn. Executed about 1525.
Read the entry
16th c.
Victory
Description: Marble group, height cm 261, intended for the Tomb of Julius II, executed about 1532-1534.
Read the entry
16th c.
Madonna and Child
Description: Marble, height cm 125. Work executed in 1534, shortly after Sansovino, sculptor and architect who had moved from Rome to Venice in 1527, had become “Proto delle Procuratie Vecchie”.
Read the entry
16th c.
Madonna and Child
Description: Polychrome stucco and papier-mâché, height cm 60. Probably executed in Venice, where the artist moved after the Sack of Rome in 1527.
Read the entry
16th c.
Bust of Cosimo I de' Medici
Description: Bronze, detail, height cm 110. Commissioned by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 1545-1548.
Read the entry
16th c.
Pietà
Description: Marble group, height cm 226, executed in 1550-1556 with several interruptions; it was intended for the altar of the sculptor's funerary chapel.
Read the entry
16th c.
Rondanini Pietà
Description: Marble, height cm 195. Begun in 1553 and soon interrupted, this is Michelangelo's last work, carved during the last year of his life, 1564.
Read the entry
15th c.
Pulpit
Description: Marble, bronze and mosaic. Executed between 1433 and 1439. A work by Donatello, who made the panels with the dance of the putti, and by the architect Michelozzo Michelozzi.
Read the entry
15th c.
Abraham and Isaac
Description: Marble, height cm 188. Executed in 1421. Group carved for the Campanile of the Duomo in collaboration with Nanni di Bartolo, known as il Rosso.
Read the entry
15th c.
Judith and Holofernes
Description: Bronze, detail of the head of Holofernes. Executed between 1455 and 1460.
Read the entry
15th c.
Bartolomeo Colleoni
Description: Bronze, height about cm 360. The equestrian monument was commissioned from Verrocchio by the Venetian Republic; he began the model in Florence in 1481. He moved to Venice in 1485 to complete it, but died while he was finishing it.
Read the entry
15th c.
Piero de' Medici
Description: Marble, detail, executed in 1460. This is the first portrait bust of the Renaissance. These mortuary portraits were taken from casts made of the faces of the dead in order to perpetuate their features.
Read the entry
15th c.
Putto Playing Music
Description: Marble, detail of the Cantoria. The artist executed the Cantoria for the Duomo in 1432-1435, in competition with Donatello's.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Feast of Herod
Description: Gilded bronze, height cm 60. The panel was executed for the baptismal font of the Baptistery of Siena between 1423 and 1427.
Read the entry
15th c.
Funerary Monument to Bartolomeo Aragazzi
Description: Marble, detail, 1427-1437. The monument develops the one the artist had already made together with Donatello for the Antipope John XXIII.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Miracle of the Repentant Son
Description: Bronze, height cm 57, detail of the altar of the Santo. Donatello worked on the statues and reliefs of the altar with his collaborators between 1446 and 1450.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Descent from the Cross
Description: Bronze, detail of the first pulpit, height about cm 75. The two pulpits were commissioned by Cosimo the Elder around 1461 and made with the help of several assistants, including Bertoldo and Bartolomeo Bellano.
Read the entry
15th c.
Resurrection
Description: Bronze, detail from the relief on the Second Pulpit, height about cm 60 about 1461.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Ascension
Description: Bronze, detail of the second pulpit, height cm 65. Datable to 1461.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Birth of the Baptist
Description: Silver, detail of the relief on the left side of the St. John altar, executed between 1477 and 1480. Pollaiolo had begun as a goldsmith and often returned to this activity during his life.
Read the entry
15th c.
Funerary Monument of Leonardo Bruni
Marble, height about cm 610. Executed in 1450. The monument is rich in classical elements, both as a whole, framed by an arch supported by pilasters, and in its details: the slab on which the deceased lies is supported by eagles, the cartouche by two winged Victories.
Read the entry
15th c.
Funerary Monument of Carlo Marsuppini
Description: Marble, height about cm 650. Carlo Marsuppini was chancellor of the florentine Republic between 1455 and 1458.
Read the entry
15th c.
Tomb of the Cardinal of Portugal
Description: Marble, height about cm 400. Executed in 1461-1466. The tomb was built for the remains of Jacopo di Lusitania, nephew of King Alfonso VI. The chapel was built by Manetti, one of Brunelleschi's spiritual heirs.
Read the entry
15th c.
Funerary Monument of Pope Innocent VIII
Bronze, height about cm 400, 1492-1498. The image of the deceased is shown twice: dead, lying with eyes closed, and alive, seated in the act of blessing.
Read the entry
15th c.
Sarcophagus of Giovanni and Piero de' Medici
Marble, bronze and stone, height cm 540. The monument, dated 1470-1472, consists of a sarcophagus with bevelled corners embellished with reliefs, framed by an arch with plant and heraldic motifs.
Read the entry
15th c.
Eros
Description: Bronze, height cm 90. This work was executed for Isabella d'Este, who came to Mantua from Ferrara in 1490 to marry Francesco Gonzaga.
Read the entry
15th c.
Funerary Monument of Carlo Marsuppini: a putto
Marble, height cm 50, detail. The two putti holding the coat of arms, which echo the Hellenistic character of Donatello's small bronzes, are placed at the base of the sarcophagus.
Read the entry
15th c.
Tomb of the Cardinal of Portugal: a putto.
Description: Marble, detail height about cm 25.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Brazen Serpent
Bronze, height cm 62, detail. The work is one of the ten biblical reliefs executed between 1484 and 1488 for the choir of the Basilica of Sant'Antonio.
Read the entry
15th c.
Obedience
Description: Marble, height cm 130. The relief, of about 1457-1461, is on the façade of the Oratorio di San Bernardino.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Funeral of St. Francis
Marble, detail of the pulpit, height cm 70. Executed between 1475 and 1480.
Read the entry
15th c.
Pietà
Marble, detail of the Tabernacle of the Sacrament, height cm 70. Executed about 1461.
Read the entry
16th c.
Bellerophon
Bronze, height cm 33. Michelangelo Buonarroti's first master, Bertoldo became curator of the collections of antiquities of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Read the entry
15th c.
San Pietro
Marble, fragment of the tomb of the Cardinal of Cusa, height cm 104. The artist, who reveals his Lombard cultural origins, was soon active in Rome, about 1470, where, working in the Vatican, he represented the currents of northern sculpture.
Read the entry
15th c.
Adam
Description: Marble, detail, total height of the work about cm 205. The statues of Adam and Eve, executed in the last decade of the century, were to adorn the Arco Foscari in the Palazzo Ducale.
Read the entry
15th c.
Madonna and Child
Description: Bronze. Detail of the altar of the Santo, height about cm 150. Executed in 1448. The sculptures are set within an architectural structure also designed by Donatello.
Read the entry
15th c.
Madonna
Description: Polychrome wood, height about cm 90, about 1467. Of Paduan origin, the artist was active in Ferrara, first as assistant to Baroncelli, then from 1467 as a decorator at the Palazzo di Schifanoia.
Read the entry
15th c.
San Marco
Description: Marble, detail of Arca di San Domenico. Height, about 50 cm, 1469-1473.
Read the entry
16th c.
Crucifixion
Wood, detail, height about cm 160. The artist began his career in Varallo, where he was engaged on large fresco cycles, some of which he complemented with sculptures. This group dates from between 1507 and 1513.
Read the entry
15th c.
Christ Mocked
Description: Marble, height cm 115, detail of the relief forming part of the lower register of the Certosa façade, representing stories from the Old and New Testaments.
Read the entry
15th c.
Tomb of Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Description: Marble, detail. Trained in Rome, Gian Cristoforo was active in Lombardy and then in Ferrara and Pavia from 1490. Gian Galeazzo Visconti was the founder of the Certosa.
Read the entry
16th c.
Il Bambaja Gaston de Foix
Description: Marble, detail. The funerary monument erected between 1515 and 1523.
Read the entry
15th c.
The Foundation of the Certosa di Pavia
Description: Marble, detail of ornamental bas-relief façade about 1494-1497.
Read the entry
15th c.
Crucifix
Bronze, detail of the figure of Saint Francis, height about cm 40, about 1448. -
Read the entry
15th c.
Crucifix
Polychrome wood, height cm 135, datable to 1494. Made for the church of Santo Spirito.
Read the entry
15th c.
Bacchus
Description: Marble, height cm 195, this work was carved in Rome, in 1496, for the collector Jacopo Galli.
Read the entry
16th c.
Fountain of Orion
Marble, detail. Executed with Domenico Vanello between 1547 and 1553 to an iconographic programme by Francesco Maurolico.
Read the entry