Matteo Civitale is the Renaissance artist I chose to research. I found two pictures of his working interesting on the World Gallery of Art website. I will describe a bit of his life then go on to talk about the piece I found most interesting.
There is not much on record about his early years. I was able to find that he was born in Luca in 1435. His death is to be around 1501. There was information that Matteo worked in Florence with Antonio Rossellino in the late 1460’s. I did find a video that advise Civitale was a surgeon up to the age of 40, which is when he started sculpting. There was nothing profound about his death. No details except he died in October of 1501. I am not sure if he was sick or died of natural causes. He died being known as one of the great Tuscan sculptors.
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The Chapel of San Giovanni Battista was built in 1484
Pieces of his work are still in Florence today. His work is not only sculptures as in statues, but also buildings. The Palazzo Pretorio is located in Luca, this is one of his most famous buildings.
The piece I chose to describe is the Virgin Adoring the Child. This open form was created around 1480. It is a sculpture of the mother kneeling down looking at the child as the child is also kneeling looking up at the mother. Both seem to be praying.
I am not sure what the sculpture is made of. Perhaps clay and was fired in an oven. Looks like the piece was then painted and glazed. Whatever the product it is a long lasting substance.
The saturation of this piece is phenomenal for the time period I feel. The colors are very vivid. They are not all grey or black not bleak at all.
Each curve of the sculpture is very detailed. There are multiple pieces to this however the shapes come to form one piece of