The works of Mino da Fiesole

SERIES: Messi in luce (Brought to Light). Paintings and Sculptures from Palazzo Venezia
SPEAKER: Francesco Caglioti
DATE: Thursday 29 September, 6 p.m.
PLACE: Sala del Refettorio

The sculptor Mino da Fiesole (1429-1484) enjoyed extraordinary success during his lifetime and then during the 19th century, when his name served, no less than that of Donatello, as the driving force behind the rediscovery of Renaissance sculpture. Today his fame has been diminished, but he remains a singular example of a virtuoso of marble carving, with a highly personal style, working for elite commissions and active in many centres. The monumental complex of Palazzo Venezia preserves three significant testimonies of his work: the narrative reliefs of the ark of St. Jerome originally set up in Santa Maria Maggiore; the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Mark's Basilica (created in collaboration with Giovanni Dalmata) and the bust of Pope Paul II, which has struggled to find its true author for five and a half centuries.

Professor of Medieval Art History at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, his main research and publications concern the art of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Italy, with a special focus on monumental sculpture (among his numerous publications the volume “Donatello e i Medici. Storia del David e della Giuditta”, 2000). He was a member of the Scientific Direction and sole responsible for the Art section of the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani from 2011 until its completion (2021). In 2019 he curated the exhibition “Verrocchio, Leonardo's Master” for Palazzo Strozzi, the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence (with Andrea De Marchi), and in 2022 the exhibition “Donatello, the Renaissance” in the same two venues.