The Sources of Donatello's Pulpits in San Lorenzo - Revival and Freedom of Choice in the Early Renaissance

Sep 10, 2026

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The article examines Donatello’s bronze pulpits for the church of San Lorenzo in Florence as major works that embody a scholarly paradox: they are central monuments of the artist’s final years, yet their commissioning and execution remain poorly documented. With no surviving commission record, the study addresses stylistic anomalies, questions of attribution, and the guiding principles behind Donatello’s selection of formal and iconographical elements, proposing a systematic preliminary approach to the pulpits’ sources and design logic.

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The Sources of Donatello’s Pulpits in San Lorenzo

Revival and Freedom of Choice in the Early Renaissance

® # The Sources of Donatello's Pulpits in San Lorenzo:Revival and Freedom of Choice in the EarlyRenaissance Author(s):Irving Lavin Source:The Art Bulletin,Vol.41,No.1(Mar.,1959),pp.19-38 Published by:College Art Association Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/3047811 Accessed:10/09/200814:10 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use,available athttp://www jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms jsp.JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides,in part,that unlessyou have obtained prior permission,you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles,and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal,non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work.Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=caa. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship.We work with thescholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon,and to build a common research platform thatpromotes the discovery and use of these resources.For more information about JSTOR,please contact support@jstor.org. IRVING LAVIN *The author wishes to record his gratitude to ProfessorsKarl Lehmann and H.W.Janson,who guided the initial stagesof this investigation at the Institute of Fine Arts,New YorkUniversity.Professors Erwin Panofsky,Martin Weinberger,and Ulrich Middeldorf were kind enough to read variousdrafts of the manuscript,offering important criticisms andsuggestions.Several improvements accrued from stimulatingconversations with Messrs.Clarence Kennedy,James Hodgson,and Albert Meisel.Without the support and encouragement ofDr.W.W.S.Cook the research would never have beenundertaken. 1.For a complete summary of information concerning thePulpits,see now the definitive catalogue of Donatello's oeuvreby H.W.Janson,The Sculpture of Donatello,Princeton,1957,II,pp.209ff.(hereinafter referred to as Janson);also H.Kauffmann,Donatello,Berlin,I935,pP.177f.;M.Semrau,Donatellos Kanzeln in San Lorenzo(Italienische Forschungenzur Kunstgeschichte II),Breslau,1891.The pulpits are mostcommonly dated ca.1460-1466(see Janson,pp.214-215,butalso note 4 below). 2.This,however,was not their original position;see below,p.23 and note 29. 3.Vasari,Le vite...,ed.G.Milanesi,Florence,1878-1885,II,pp.416,425;VII,pp.I41-142;Vespasiano da Bisticci,Life of Cosimo de'Medici,ed.A.Mai,Spicilegium romanum,Rome,I839-1844,I,p.341(Milanesi,ed.cit.,II,p.42I n.I); # THE SOURCES OF DONATELLO’S PULPITSIN SAN LORENZO REVIVAL AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN THEEARLY RENAISSANCE* THE bronze pulpits executed by Donatello for the church of San Lorenzo in Florenceconfront the investigator with something of a paradox.2 They stand today on either sideof Brunelleschi's nave in the last bay toward the crossing.²The one on the left side(facing the altar,see text fig.)contains six scenes of Christ's earthly Passion,from the Agonyin the Garden through the Entombment(Fig.I);that on the right contains five of the post-Passion miracles,from the Marys at the Tomb through the Pentecost,and in addition theMartyrdom of St.Lawrence(Fig.2). The pulpits have been recognized almost universally as key monuments of the master's finalyears;and yet possibly less is known about them than about any other of his major works.To begin with,not a single document relating to their commission or execution has survived.Vasari and others relate that,ordered by Cosimo de'Medici,they were left unfinished whenDonatello died(I466),and had to be completed by workshop assistants.The pulpits do in factpresent a number of stylistic anomalies that create delicate problems of attribution—problemswhich,owing to i

FAQs

What problem do the pulpits present to researchers according to the article?

They create a paradox: they are recognized as key works of Donatello’s final years, but less is known about them than about other major works because no document on the commission or execution survives.

Why are attribution questions involved with these pulpits?

The pulpits show stylistic anomalies that create delicate problems of attribution, and insufficient evidence may prevent fully resolving them.

What approach does the paper propose to understand the pulpits’ design?

It aims to define systematically, at least in general terms, the kinds of material Donatello used in designing the pulpits, and to determine whether a reasonable principle governed his selections of elements.

Sep 10, 2026

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