Saint Mark (Donatello)

Donatello's Saint Mark (1411–1413) is a marble statue that stands approximately 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m) high and is displayed in the museum of the Orsanmichele church, Florence.

Also Donatello's sculpture differs from medieval works in the way that drapery is used, specifically in that St. Mark's figure is revealed by a realistic draping of linen.

(Renaissance Florence, 244) According to Vasari's text The Lives of the Artists, written 140 years after the completion of St. Mark, the linen workers' guild originally rejected the sculpture because it appeared unnatural when set at street level.

This was due to proportion adjustments made for its final resting place in the niche, well above street level.

In the early pages of Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy Michelangelo walks by Donatello's statue of St. Mark and exclaims "Sculpture is the greatest art!"

The copy viewed at street level