Sankt Johannes Baptist

This is one of the works in which Donatello’s imprint is most present, so much so that for a long time it was attributed to the Master. Indeed, the very subtle gradation of the transitions between planes, the incisive drawing-out of every linear element and outline, and the finish, in the sense of an extreme refinement of the sensitivity of the modelling, which are characteristic of Desiderio’s personal language, are carried over in this most refined bas-relief into a serene naturalness of physical and psychological characterisation that reveals the lesson of Donatello.