Desiderio da Settignano

(c. 1430-1464)

   Italian sculptor from the town of Settignano, a small village near Florence. The dependence of Desiderio's reliefs on techniques introduced by Donatello suggest that he may have trained with the sculptor. In fact, his Virgin and Child (c. 1460) in the Philadelphia Museum is rendered in relievo schiacciato, a Donatello invention. Desiderio's overall style, however, differs from Donatello's in that his figures are more refined and possess a certain sweetness. Owing to this, his approach is usually described as the Sweet Style, which came to dominate the art of the mid-14th century. In 1453, Desiderio was commissioned to create a tomb for the Florentine Chancellor Carlo Marsuppini in the Church of Santa Croce, Florence. Conceived as a pendant to Bernardo Rossellino's tomb of Chancellor Leonardo Bruni, Desiderio included the same elements as Rossellino: the effigy lying on a bier above the sarcophagus, angels supporting a laudatory inscription, classical pilasters, and lunette with an image of the Virgin and Child. Desiderio is best known for his depictions of children. His Head of a Child in the Washington National Gallery (c. 1460) was inspired by ancient Roman portrait busts, as was his Laughing Boy (1453-1463) in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Figures laughing or smiling are in fact characteristic of Desiderio's art. These works exemplify the master's ability to manipulate marble to achieve the proper light and dark effects.