Home	Jacopo della Quercia: The Life of Jacopo della Quercia, Sienese Sculptor [c.1374-1438]
	Jacopo was in fact the son of Master Piero di Filippo from La Quercia, a place in the Sienese countryside, and he was the first sculptor after Andrea Pisano, Orcagna, and the others discussed above, who, by working at sculpture with greater care and diligence, began to show that it was possible to come even closer to Nature, and he was also the first to give to other sculptors the courage and hope that they would be able, in some ways, to equal Nature. The first of his works worthy of notice was done by him in Siena, when he was nineteen years old, under the following circumstances. When the Sienese fielded an army against the Florentines under the command of the two captains Gian Tedesco, the nephew of Saccone da Pietramala, and Giovanni d'Azzo Ubaldini, Giovanni d'Azzo became ill in the field, and after he was taken back to Siena, he died. The Sienese were greatly sorrowed by his death, and as a result, for his burial services, which were very grand, they had a wooden structure built in the form of a pyramid upon which they placed an equestrian statue of Giovanni himself which was larger than life and sculpted with great judgement and inventiveness by Jacopo's own hand; in the course of his work, Jacopo discovered something which had never before been done--a way of constructing the framework for the horse and the figure of the rider out of pieces of wood and flat planks nailed together, tied up with straw and tow, then bound together very tightly with ropes, and finally covered with a layer of day mixed with a cement composed of linen cloth, paste, and glue. This method was and still is the best actual means, among all the others available, for constructing such things, because, with such structures, although they appear heavy, they nevertheless turn out to be light once they are completed and dried, and when painted white, they resemble marble and are very pleasing to the eye, much as was this work by Jacopo. In addition, statues executed in this fashion with the same combination of materials do not develop cracks, as they would if they were made only with pure clay. And today the models for sculpture are produced in this way with the greatest possible convenience for the artists, who, by means of such models, always have an example in front of them as well as the proper measurements for the sculpture they are creating. Thus, they should be under no small obligation to Jacopo, who was, as people claim, the inventor of the method. After this statue, Jacopo also created in Siena two lime-wood panels, carving upon them figures, beards, and hair with such patience that they were a marvel to behold. And after these panels, which were placed in the Duomo, he completed some marble prophets of moderate size which stand upon the façade of the same Duomo. He would have continued to work upon this project if the plague, famine, and civil discord among the Sienese had not started too many riots and finally driven out Orlando Malavolti, through whose favour Jacopo was honourably employed in his native city. Jacopo therefore left Siena, and through the efforts of several friends, he went to Lucca and to Paolo Guinigi, who was the city's ruler, and for Guinigi's wife, who had died recently, he built a tomb in the Church of San Martino. On its base, Jacopo executed some marble putti holding up a garland, who are so beautifully finished they seem to be of flesh and blood, while on the sarcophagus placed on top of the base, he created, with infinite care, the image of Paolo Guinigi's wife who was buried inside, and at her feet, in the same stone, he carved a dog in full relief, representing the fidelity she had shown her husband. After Paolo left Lucca, or, rather, was driven out, in the year 1429, the city was freed, and the sarcophagus was removed from this location and almost completely ruined, because of the hatred the people of Lucca felt toward the memory of the Guinigi. Yet, the reverence which they felt for the beauty of the figure and for its many decorations restrained them and caused them shortly thereafter to place the sarcophagus and the figure with great care before the entrance into the sacristy, where they now stand, and the Guinigi Chapel became the property of the community. Meanwhile, Jacopo had learned that in Florence, the Arte della Calimala wished to have executed in bronze one of the doors of the temple of San Giovanni, where Andrea Pisano had completed the first, as we said earlier.* Jacopo went to Florence to introduce himself, taking fully into consideration the fact that this commission was to be given to the artist who would prove his worth and his talent by fashioning a single one of these narrative scenes in bronze. Hence, after Jacopo came to Florence, he not only made the model but completely finished and polished a very wellconceived narrative scene, which pleased everyone so much that if his competitors had not been the most excellent Donatello and Filippo Brunelleschi, who in truth surpassed Jacopo with their own models, he would have been selected to undertake that very important work. But since the affair turned out otherwise, Jacopo went to Bologna where, with the support of Giovanni Bentivoglio, the trustees of the Works Department of San Petronio gave him the project of constructing the main door of that church, which he then proceeded to decorate in the German manner to avoid changing the style in which the building had already been started; he filled the empty spaces between the pillars supporting the cornice and the arch with lovingly worked narrative scenes in the space of the twelve years he spent on this project, and he himself created all the foliage and decoration on this same door with the greatest possible care and study. On the pillars which support the architrave, cornice, and arch, there are five scenes per pillar and five scenes on the architrave, making a total of fifteen scenes. In all of them he carved in bas-relief scenes from the Old Testament--that is, from God's creation of man down to the Flood and Noah's Ark--making a tremendous improvement in the art of sculpture, since from antiquity until the present, no artisans had ever existed who had produced anything in bas-relief, with the result that this method of sculpture had been completely lost rather than merely misplaced. Upon the arch of this door he carved three life-size marble figures all in full relief, namely, a very beautiful Madonna with the Child in Her arms, Saint Petronius, and another saint, all well arranged in beautiful poses. As a result, the people of Bologna, who thought it impossible to create a work 'in marble equal to, much less better than, the one executed by Agostino and Agnolo of Siena in the old style for the high altar of San Francesco in their city, discovered they were mistaken when they saw this work, which was far more beautiful. After this, as Jacopo had been requested to return to Lucca, he went there most willingly, and in San Frediano, for Federigo di Maestro Trenta del Veglia, he carved upon a marble panel a Virgin with Her son in Her arms, Saint Sebastian, Saint Lucy, Saint Jerome, and Saint Sigismund with good style, grace, and composition, and below upon the predella in half relief, under each saint, he placed scenes from his or her life, which were very lovely and pleasing, since Jacopo had used great skill in making the figures recede on various planes and in reducing in size those which were furthest away. In this way, he greatly encouraged others to acquire grace and beauty for their own works with new methods, carving in bas-relief upon two large tombstones lifelike portraits of Federigo, the donor of the work, and his wife. On these stones are these words: 'Jacopo Master Sculptor of Siena created this work in 1422.' When Jacopo then came to Florence, the trustees of the Works Department of Santa Maria del Fiore, on the basis of the good reports they had received about him, gave him the project of making a marble frontispiece which is over the door of that church leading towards the Nunziata; and there he represented in a mandorla the Virgin who is being carried towards Heaven by a choir of angels, who are playing and singing with the most beautiful movements and in the most beautiful poses, so that it looked as if there were motion and boldness in their flight, something that had never been seen up to that time. Similarly, the Virgin is clothed with so much grace and modesty that She could not be depicted any better, since the folds of the draperies are beautiful and soft, and it looks as if the borders of Her garments, which conform to the body of the figure, disclose even as they cover every turn of the limbs. Under this Madonna there is a Saint Thomas receiving Her girdle. In short, all this work was completed by Jacopo in four years at that higher level of perfection he had attained, for besides his natural desire to do well, the rivalry with Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, some of whose highly praised works had already appeared, spurred him on even more to complete what he was undertaking. The results were so excellent that even today this work is regarded by modern artists as something most rare. On the other side of the Virgin, facing Saint Thomas, Jacopo carved a bear climbing up a pear tree. Just as many things were said at that time about this whimsical creation, so we could add some others, but I will remain silent in order to leave everyone free to think or believe whatever he pleases about this invention. After this, since Jacopo wished to see his native city again, he went back to Siena, and after he had arrived there, he seized the opportunity, following his intention, of leaving behind something that would honour his memory. And since the Signoria of Siena had determined to construct an extremely rich ornament in marble for the water which Agnolo and Agostino of Siena had brought into the piazza in the year 1343, they comissioned Jacopo to undertake this work for the price of two thousand, two hundred gold scudi, whereupon he created a model and had the marble brought in, set to work, and finished sculpting it to the great satisfaction of his fellow citizens, who no longer called him Jacopo della Quercia but, from then on, always Jacopo della Fonte.* In the centre of this work he carved the Virgin Mary in glory, the special protectress of the city, somewhat larger than the other figures and with a graceful and original style. Then around Her he carved the Seven Theological Virtues, whose delicate and pleasing heads he created with beautiful expressions and certain techniques, showing that he had begun to discover good style. Overcoming the difficulties of the art and bestowing grace upon the marble, he abandoned the old style which until that time had been employed by sculptors, who created their figures as a whole and without the slightest grace, in contrast to Jacopo who created his figures with a softness and a fleshlike quality and finished his marble with patience and delicacy. In addition, he carved a number of narrative scenes from the Old Testament--namely, the creation of our first parents and the eating of the forbidden apple--where in the figure of the woman we can see a facial expression so beautiful, as well as a grace and pose that is so reverent towards Adam as she hands him the apple, that it does not appear possible for him to refuse her. Besides this, the rest of the work is filled with extremely beautiful inventions and embellished with the most beautiful little children and other decorations of lions and wolves, which were emblems of the city; and all of it was executed by Jacopo with loving attention, skill, and judgement in the space of twelve years. Also by his hand are three very beautiful bronze narrative scenes in half relief from the life of Saint John the Baptist, which are placed around the Baptistery of San Giovanni below the Duomo, as well as some other bronze figures an armslength high and also in full relief, placed between the above-mentioned scenes, which are truly beautiful and worthy of praise. Because of the excellence of these works, as well as the goodness and orderliness of his life, Jacopo deserved to be made a knight by the Signoria, and not long afterwards, a trustee of the Works Department of the Duomo. He performed his duties so well that the building was never managed any better before or since, even though he lived only three years after he received the office, and he made many useful and valuable repairs. And even if Jacopo was only a sculptor, he nevertheless designed reasonably well, as is shown by some of his drawings which are contained in our book and appear to have come from the hand of a miniaturist rather than that of a sculptor. And I received his portrait, which can be seen above, from Master Domenico Beccafumi, the Sienese painter, who recounted to me many details about the talent, goodness, and kindness of Jacopo who, worn out by his labours and continuous work, died at last at the age of sixty-four and was mourned and honourably buried in his native city of Siena not only by his friends and relatives but also by the whole city. And to tell the truth, he was most fortunate that his great skill was recognized in his native city, for it rarely occurs that men of ability are universally loved and honoured in their native lands....