Desiderio arrives in Washington

Despite his short life Desiderio da Settignano turned out to be a very popular artist at his times and many of his works were included by Lorenzo the Magnificent in his masterpieces collection.
Even Leonardo da Vinci looked at his works eagerly trying to learn from the delicacy of his portraits of children and young Florentine women.
Desiderio da Settignano worked in Florence during the 15th century, probably under the guide of the great sculptor Donatello. He became very famous especially when Donatello left Florence for going to Padua and he remained the only great sculptor in the city.
The elegance of his works, but also the extraordinary way of representing the perspective in the sculpture through a gradual lower relief, the so called “stiacciato”, made him one of the most appreciated artists for several years, but his fame was soon forgotten after he died at the age of only 35.
The intensity of the countenances, but also the tenderness of the expressions made his works special and inimitable.
An interesting exhibition was organized last winter in Florence at the Bargello Museum (in front of our school!) in cooperation with the Louvre Museum. Now the same marvellous works by Desiderio da Settignano can be admired at the National Gallery of Art in Washington from July 1st to October 8th 2007.
If you want to know more about the exhibits in Florence, Paris and Washington or if you wish to admire the photo gallery look at here.
P.S.: Needless to say that Desiderio is one of the artists we study in our course of Art History.