Mellini's last recorded commission, that for his own simple floor tomb and a magnificent marble pulpit over it in Santa Croce, Florence, is Benedetto's masterpiece. Completed by 19 May 1485, when Pietro Mellini made his final will and testament, the full-scale work was preceded by several models, three of which are preserved (London, V&A). A terracotta model for a relief of the Dream of Innocent III (Berlin, Bodemus) was also prepared, but the scene was abandoned in the final project. A model of the entire pulpit that was in the artist's studio at his death has not survived. The pulpit is cleverly attached to one of the piers in the nave of the church, through which Benedetto excavated a staircase. The five relief scenes from the Life of St Francis are powerfully clear and dramatic narratives illustrated with a kind of clear-eyed verism that is usually reserved for painting. The reliefs are separated by Corinthian colonettes, framed by finely carved classicizing mouldings, while below, closer to eye-level, th
work_description_source
Mellini's last recorded commission, that for his own simple floor tomb and a magnificent marble pulpit over it in Santa Croce, Florence, is Benedetto's masterpiece. Completed by 19 May 1485, when Pietro Mellini made his final will and testament, the full-scale work was preceded by several models, three of which are preserved (London, V&A). A terracotta model for a relief of the Dream of Innocent III (Berlin, Bodemus) was also prepared, but the scene was abandoned in the final project. A model of the entire pulpit that was in the artist's studio at his death has not survived. The pulpit is cleverly attached to one of the piers in the nave of the church, through which Benedetto excavated a staircase. The five relief scenes from the Life of St Francis are powerfully clear and dramatic narratives illustrated with a kind of clear-eyed verism that is usually reserved for painting. The reliefs are separated by Corinthian colonettes, framed by finely carved classicizing mouldings, while below, closer to eye-level, th
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