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Albrecht Durer, Head of a Stag, c. 1503

Hans Holbein the Younger, 

Resting Lamb and Head of a Lamb, c. 1523

The golden fleece is present with Settignano's work. Golden for the thinking of Christ and Saint John and we feel the blessing of Donatello and God with the workshop of Donatello being where Settignano's main work feels like it was accomplished. There were several other students working for him but Settignano feels like the most prodigious. The heart is after all a metaphor for the garden of earthly delights or God. Christ is represented as a stag or deer, too but is also associated with the lamb of God.

Jan van Eyck, St. Barbara, c. 1437

Pisanello, Vision of St. Eustace, c. 1436-1438,

National Gallery, London

Page 27

Bernini

Rome feels far more influenced by political struggles and the Roman copies of Greek sculptures tend to predominate the museums. Also there are great church monuments and sculptures by sculptors like Michelangelo and Bernini both of whom had a more architectural understanding and this was part of their occupation as well. Beautiful examples of Bernini sculptures are housed in the Galleria Borghese museum, in the Santa Maria della Vittoria, Cornaro Chapel and San Francisco a Ripa. A great example of Michelangelo sculpture is in San Pietro in Vincoli. The Vatican also have some wonderful offerings such as Laocoon in the Museo Pio-Clementino. Other sculptures include Santa Cecilia, 1599-1600, by Stefano Maderno but all have a completely different ascension message to God. The design of the sheep fleece of Settignano is of a very well designed style and looks almost like a dress. One feels like he was tending his fleece amongst the hills of Tuscany. And further down there would have been fruit orchards with offerings of peaches and apricots. These trees laden with fruit would have been the source of the inspiration of the embroideries of Squarcione. The inspiration of the paintings of this workshop. And further down we had Bologna and an industry of silk and cloth merchants before there were any libraries. These were later used for research of many of the sciences of the 1600's.

Settignano

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Desiderio da Settignano, Baby Jesus Blessing 

(Gesu bambino benedicente), c. 1450-1464

Desiderio da Settignano and Donatello, 

Martelli Saint John, ca. 1440-1457

Settignano appears to have reached the pinnacle of sculptured heights through this one sculpture alone. Others were in appreciation of this sculpture but even though they were of a very high standing this was the achievement that took Settignano closest to God. You feel that there were different influences in this part of Italy than others of this time and given the closeness of Germany and France, one would expect different influences than those down the south of Italy that were inhabited by the Greeks and the Spanish. Settignano appears to be of a different nature to other artists in Florence during this period of Italian Renaissance. The refinement of his nature appears to be influenced by Gothic Northern sculptures rather than anything else. And given his short life span the sculptures have a refinement beyond anything on the same short ascension to God.

Desiderio da Settignano and Donatello, 

Martelli Saint John, ca. 1440-1457

Desiderio da Settignano, Portrait of a Child, c. 1455-1460

Page 25

Carlo Crivelli

Carlo Crivelli, Saint George Slaying the Dragon, c. 1470

Carlo Crivelli

Others artists of the Squarcione workshop in Padua such as Carlo Crivelli, employed a far more stylized technique. One is reminded of the fruit laden embroideries of the house of Este and a nature theme that seemed influenced by thinking about Saint Anthony and his journey to God through the heart. The heart being a metaphor for Gods love and the fruits of the earth being part of Gods divine, heavenly domain. Donatello attributed to this theme in his Basilica of Saint Anthony or a high altar for his tomb. Again God is received by the journey of the saints and the garden of the heart is often obtained by a deep contemplation of the spiritual self. This feels like it was an ascension message often profoundly reflected upon and one is taken to God through a flower, a piece of fruit or a whole divine garden, to the heart. Through nature equalling God, one feels transcended to the heavenly sphere and all that is nature, including human form is reflected in the clouds, the sky and the stars, then reflected back again via God in nature.

Cosme Tura

Cosme Tura, Madonna with the Child Enthroned, 

ca. 1470, National Gallery, London

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Francesco Laurana, Saint Cyricus, ca. 1470-1480,

J. Paul Getty Museum

Francesco Laurana, Isabella of Aragon, ca. 1488,

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

With sculpting in stone the spacing between God, the universe, the cosmos and the planetary sphere are something that is representative in the description of the human form. Settignano and Donatello worked in such a way as to express the feeling of God in their hearts via their love of purpose and their understanding of the sublime being. The form that Saint John takes, not only physically in a sculpted ascension, is I feel, not something that has an equivalent elsewhere. Other divine offerings that were being contributed during a similar time were Saint Cyricus, ca. 1470-1480 and Isabella of Aragon, ca. 1488 by Francesco Laurana, these are exquisite in themselves but also have a completely different approach and message. One feels the purpose of sculpture during Italian Renaissance was a very direct response for a need to communicate a deeper feeling of the love of God that had previously been attributed with. Our relationship to our body in space is often something we take for granted but when we have to contemplate a divine purpose, a different equation is made. We see this in an artist like Cosme Tura who painted paintings of almost sculptured forms and we feel the relationship to God in these works. The works are highly emotional and you feel the artist communicating the emotional turmoil of his relationship to God through almost physically challenged forms expressing a highly charged emotional expression. You feel like there are strong Austro-Germanic connections and one is reminded of Grunewald and the spindly fingers of his crucifixion figures as well as his overly sized feet and the mass of thorns on his head, similar to a sacred headdress or a very bushy, thorn tree. We are also reminded of German wooden sculpture from Barvaria. 

Cosme Tura, Pieta, c. 1460

Matthias Grunewald, Large Crucifixion, 

c. 1523-1525, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe

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Annibale Carracci, The Temptation of St. Anthony Abbot (detail), 

c. 1597-1598, National Gallery, London

Annibale Carracci, The Penitent Magdalen in a Landscape (detail), 

c. 1598, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Annibale Carracci, The Penitent Magdalen in a Landscape, 

c. 1598, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

When our spirit ascends to heaven, you feel like we disintegrate into particles to communicate with God and our soul either descends back to earth to gain more earthly knowledge or on the last journey changes into particle dust that stays with Gods divine angels for eternity. With stone the particles can easily depart into matter through years of their time on earth and become dark matter. So, when we think about the bodies relationship to earth, we start our ascension with one particle that divides and keeps dividing into what we know as the human form. These days sculpture can be made from a large number of materials that were previously only used for something else, for example, canvas was only ever used for painting and paint may have been applied to the outer surface of polychromed wooden sculptures but rarely painted directly onto the surface of any other medium. So, often the more recent sculpture has a narrower longevity. With contemporary sculptures the material is often not as important as the ideas given to you by God. Anything at all can be considered for the materials and often artists look back to former decades being influenced by previous artists work. Concepts too, are far reaching in intellectual capacity, you do not have to be stuck in a rut any longer or deal with the ideas of a small place and you get the feeling that because of the freedom of thought that developed over the centuries, artists, thinkers, writers and philosophers have often wanted to gather in one place to further their understanding but some people are better off thinking alone or in isolation with God. The idea of a vacuum is interesting, along with the concept that particles could float around in one. One wonders how common thoughts come into being. Are we influenced by something beyond our comprehension, in the cosmos or universe or are we only here to make a further equation for God. Stone on the other hand has a longer life than many man-made substances of today. However, even the softest stone would have a time when it disintegrated into particles beyond its natural form. 

Louise Bourgeois, Topiary, 2005

Page 22

Caravaggio, Sleeping Cupid, c. 1608, 

Galleria Palantina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

One is reminded of the Shepherd On the Rock equation of the valley and the mountain or Christ ascending up the mountain and a vision of a message from God and the valley being underneath the earth. Saint John also reminds us of Saint Anthony Abbot who feels like a cross between Saint Anthony and Saint John or the founder of monotheism. We feel him walking around the mountains with a flock of sheep and dreaming of pastoral scenes and then descending to the bottom of the mountains for a divine blessing. You can imagine a very green valley set amongst rocky plains with the darkened shadows of the afternoon sun. The further up the mountain we go the more we find God. When mountains are high enough to be covered with snow, you feel the colours of the rainbow at sunset are communicating Gods divine angels. Mountain ranges seem to travel towards the infinite and the valley is where we descend from the mountain and equals the earthly equation of heaven. The earths surface is where hell exists and mainly with the wrong temperature for the climate your body is prepared for and also when the heart does not find the spiritual belief God has tried to ascend you to. Heaven appears to exist below earth as well for those with a deeper understanding of dark matter or that previously Earth was a star. One wonders with the death of the sun, how long the stars of the solar system will shine for and you feel like starlight permeates from the earths inner core. The plant life on earth appears to resonate Gods divine realm or echo patterns of the stars, the cosmos and the universe. The cycle of the moon, the planets and the stars ascend us to a communication with God via our infinite understanding of reality. Being a human race with many and varied purposes, one feels only through a connection to a divine realm will we find the knowledge of the planet that is necessary to ascend us to heaven.

Annibale Carracci, The Temptation of St. Anthony Abbot, c. 1597-1598,

National Gallery, London