Das Taufbecken von Siena / The Baptismal Font from Siena
€25.00*
Item number:
ZA-008
Object information "Das Taufbecken von Siena / The Baptismal Font from Siena"
The font in the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Siena is one of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. It was made between 1416 and 1434 by six sculptors, including Donatello. His Putto, once part of the baptismal font, had already been missing for centuries when, in 1902, it was acquired by Wilhelm Bode, then Director of the Berlin Skulpturensammlung. It was also Bode who, 25 years earlier, had initiated the moulding of more than 150 Renaissance sculptures in Italy. Since then the Skulpturesammlung disposes over a major collection of plaster casts, albeit one that is now largely forgotten. The original moulds and models, in contrast, have been in constant use in the Gipsformerei, the plaster casting workshop that forms part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
With a photographic essay by Fabian Fröhlich and texts by Aurelia Badde, Eckart Marchand, Ricardo Mendonça, Neville Rowley and Veronika Tocha, this book is an encompassing hommage to the plaster model of the baptismal font which it introduces and contextualises as a historical object. It retraces the discoveries of the restoration process, outlines the mould taking in Italy and reconstructs the history of reproductions made from these moulds. The position of Donatello’s Putto in the history of art and of Berlin’s collection is explored, and the contribution of plaster casts traced back to the times of Donatello.