The Birth of the Baptist

Executed between 1477 and 1478, this relief is on the left side of the altar of St. John. Pollajolo composes his scene according to exact rules of perspective, so as to obtain an effect of spatial depth of a naturalistic kind, more Ghibertian than Donatellesque in derivation. Gothic eurhythmy is here replaced by the ever composed animation of a scene taken from life, in a virtuoso display of descriptive skill. As Chiarini notes, "the particular sense of luministic instability serves Pollajolo to accentuate the natural tone of the scene". In the second half of the 15th century, works such as this signified a fresh rediscovery of a subtly melodic rhythm of life itself, on a musical thread that answered to the subtlest suggestions of a certain refined and esoteric humanism. Later, a purely chronicling curiosity would prevail instead, but without the crystalline effectiveness of Pollajolo's synthesis.