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Marble high relief sculpture of a standing figure in profile with long hair dressed in robes, looking upward.

The young figure takes a step forward on their left foot with the right foot behind standing on bare toes, facing right. The face is young with blank eyes that look upward to the right, and parted lips. The figure’s left hand clutches some of the draped robes at the waist. The right arm, faces the viewer, is bent at the elbow and raised up, though the right hand is missing from the wrist. The long hair is wavy and falls to the shoulders. The figure is carved from off-white marble and stands on a flat marble surface.

Gallery Text

One of the grandest building projects in early Renaissance Florence was the construction of a new cathedral in 1296. It was a civic as much as a religious undertaking, and the monument captured the ambition and spirit of the city. The building and its impressive marble facade were designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, Florence’s most celebrated sculptor and architect at that time. Although work progressed quickly, Arnolfo died with barely a third of the facade realized.

A sixteenth-century drawing indicates that this sculpture, essentially a high relief, was placed above the main entrance of the cathedral, flanking a large statue of the Virgin and Child that was at the center of the tympanum. The skillful handling of the marble, the deeply undercut drapery, and brilliant drill work, especially in the angel’s hair, reveal the close observation of, and renewed interest in, ancient sculpture that was an essential underpinning of the Renaissance. This marble is the only sculpture from the original facade that exists outside Europe.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1957.57.A
People
Arnolfo di Cambio, Italian (1232 - 1302)
Title
Censing Angel
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
figurine, sculpture
Date
c. 1294-1302
Culture
Italian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/57616

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2460, East Arcade
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Marble
Dimensions
115.6 x 25.5 x 50.5 cm (45 1/2 x 10 1/16 x 19 7/8 in.)
310 lb.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Paolo Paolini, (Rome?), sold; to [Leopoldo Aretini, Florence] sold; to Arthur Kingsley Porter, February 5, 1921, Cambridge, MA, by descent; to Lucy Wallace Porter, 1933; gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1957.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mrs. Arthur Kingsley Porter in memory of her husband
Accession Year
1957
Object Number
1957.57.A
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Pietro Toesca, "Marmi della scuola di Nicola Pisano", Rassegna d'Arte (1917), IV, pp. 93-6. p. 96, fig. 5
  • George Vitzthum and W. F. Volbach, Die Malerei und Plastik des Mittelalters in Italien (Wildpark-Potsdam, 1924), pp. 159-60, fig.121
  • Raimond Van Marle, "L'Annonciation dans la Sculpture monumentale de Pise et de Sienne", Revue de l'art ancien et moderne (1934), LXV, pp. 11-26. p. 121
  • Hagen Keller, "Der Bildhauer Arnolfo di Cambio und seine Werkstatt", Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen (1935), LVI, pp. 22-43, 35-38. p. 38, n. 1
  • Georg Swarzenski, "The Arts of the Middle Ages", Art News (1940), XXXVIII, p. 12
  • Martin Weinberger, "The First Facade of the Cathedral of Florence", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes (1940-1941), 4, pp. 67-79; p. 69, fig. 14b
  • Arts of the Middle Ages, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, MA, 1940), no. 156, repr. in b/w as pl. XXII
  • Piera Bettini, "Tre sconosciute sculture arnolfiane", Rivista d'arte (1950), XXVI, pp. 185-192; p. 187, fig. 2
  • Felton Lewis Gibbons, "Arnolfo di Cambio Censing Angel", Fogg Art Museum Annual Report 1955-1957 (1956-1957), pp.18-24. cover (detail of head), p. 19
  • Stefano Bottari, "Arnolfo di Cambio", Dizionario biografico degli italiani (Rome, 1962), IV, pp. 289-290. p. 290
  • Angiola Maria Romanini, Arnolfo di Cambio e lo "stil novo" del gotico italiano (Milan, 1969), pp. 108, 138 n. 144
  • John Pope-Hennessy, Italian Gothic Sculpture (London, 1970), p. 183
  • "Gothic Sculpture in American Collections: The Checklist: I: The New England Museums", GESTA, ed. Dorothy W. Gillerman (1980), vol. XIX, no. 2, no. 66, repr.
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 143, p. 126, repr.
  • Anita F. Moskowitz, "Censing Angel", Gothic Sculpture in America: The New England Museums, ed. Dorothy W. Gillerman (New York - London, 1989), I, pp. 168-69
  • Anita F. Moskowitz, Gothic Sculpture in America, I: The New England Museums, ed. Dorothy W. Gillerman, Garland Publishing, Inc. (New York, 1989), no. 134 pp. 168-169, repr.
  • Karen Christian, "Arnolfo di Cambio's sculptural project for the Duomo facade in Florence. A study in style and context" (1990), pp. 14, 164-65, 220 fig. 20
  • Anita F. Moskowitz, "A Neglected Tuscan Figure in the Medieval Collection", The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art (1994), 81, p. 369, 370 fig. 11
  • Enrica Neri Lusanna, "La decorazione e le sculture arnolfiane dell'antica facciata", La cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore a Firenze (Florence, 1995), II, pp. 31-72. pp. 39-40, figs. 39 and 40
  • Joachim Poeschke, Die Skulptur des Mittlealters in Italien, Hirmer (Munich, Germany, 1998-2000), vol. 2, p. 100, repr. in b/w as abb. 28
  • Anita F. Moskowitz, Italian Gothic Sculpture c. 1250 - c. 1400, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, U.K., 2001), pp. 64-66, p. 65, fig. 80, repr. in b/w
  • Mario Scalini, L'arte a Firenze nell'età di Dante (Florence, 2004), p. 129, n. 37
  • Enrica Neri Lusanna, "'Venustius et honorabilius templum'", Arnolfo alle origini del rinascimento fiorentino (Florence, 2005), pp. 201-223. pp. 205, 206, 210 fig. 15, 211 fig. 19
  • Stephan Wolohojian, Arnolfo alle origini del rinascimento fiorentino, exh. cat., ed. Enrica Neri Lusanna (Florence, 2005), pp. 254-255; ill. as cat. no. 2.13
  • Max Seidel, "Arnolfo e il suo rapporto con Nicola Pisano", Arnolfo di Cambio e la sua epoca. Costruire, scolpire, dipingere, decorare, ed. Vittorio Franchetti Pardo (Rome, 2006), pp. 57-64. pp. 58 fig. 3, 59, 60 fig. 7 (detail), 61
  • Margaret Haines, David Friedman, and Julian Gardner, ed., Arnolfo's Moment: Acts of an International Conference, Florence, Villa I Tatti, May 26-27, 2005, Leo S. Olschki (Florence, 2009), p. 44, repr. in color as plate IX and in b/w p. 21 as fig. 21

Exhibition History

  • Arts of the Middle Ages, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 02/17/1940 - 03/24/1940
  • Arnolfo alle origini del rinascimento fiorentino, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence, 12/21/2005 - 04/21/2006
  • Re-View: S422-423 Western Art of the Middle Ages & Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/16/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 2460 East Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu