Saint George (Donatello)

Scholars generally date the statue of St. George's completion to 1417 as there is evidence of a marble purchase for the statue's base dating to around 1416. While the statue was first stationed on the northern side of Orsanmichele Church, it went through a niche change in 1700 when it was moved to the niche occupied by the Madonna of the Rose on the southern side for better protection from the sun. A stone thrown at the sculpture in 1858 broke its nose, which was eventually replaced by Aristodemo Costoli before seeking a new safe haven for the statue. Following this event, an 1860 proposal arose, calling for the statue to be moved to the Galleria delle Statue of the Uffizi with a bronze replica to be put in its place, however this plan was disregarded until 1892. == Description ==

Saint George is sculpted as a young, brave, determined and strong man in armor. He is not standing in contrapposto, although his right leg is turned to the same angle as his shield, visibly his weight is on both legs as he balances on the balls of his feet. Even though he is fully clothed, there is still the sense of a muscular body underneath. A primary challenge that Donatello faced in his creation of this statue was showcasing the bodily movements under the armor. To resolve this, he decided to allude to them through the statue's pose and expressed St. George's emotion in his face and the use of his hands. Scholars have made many assumptions regarding missing pieces of the statue, such as the hole in the fist of his right hand that suggests that St. George once held a common metal sword as a marble sword would have been difficult to carve. On his head are four different drill marks, one in front of his left ear, one directly in the middle of his face just under his hairline, and two more found in his hair on either side of his head. These drill marks on his head indicate that he most likely wore some kind of helmet rather than a halo because they aren't all on one plane. Scholars look to measurements showing that the statue of St. George is 15 to 20 cm shorter than other marble statues in the Orsanmichele Church to prove that this reduction was meant to leave space for a helmet. Two other drill holes are also found on St. George's left thigh suggesting that he might have carried a sheath for his sword on his left hip. St. George's eyes are looking upward, but scholars have argued that his face expresses a range of emotions from anxiety to alertness. His eyebrows are knit together and there are wrinkles on his forehead. == Relief ==

Under the statue is a stone relief in which Donatello first used a method known as rilievo schiacciato, a form involving very shallow cuts into the surface. A notable feature of Donatello's relief work is his implementation of the predella, a feature uncommonly found in sculpture. The predella has been celebrated by scholars for its use of prontezza, alertness or preparedness, which inspired future use during the Renaissance Period. Scholars believe that the military equipment found in the relief is copied from that of the physical statue, meaning that the relief was most likely created one to two years after. Found in this relief are a woman observing St. George slaying the dragon in the middle, a cave on the left, a colonnade on the right, and a background consisting of swaying trees and rolling hills. The closest objects are carved in relatively high relief, whereas the cave, the colonnade and the background trees and hills are carved in low relief. With the use of this relief method, weathering over time has created some difficulty in making out subtle carvings. ==References==