Sculpture #2 - Free-standing Figures

Chapter 2 - The Free-standing Figure & Its Legacy

Royal Portals at Chartres Cathedral

 

West, or Royal Portal (12th century)
Central tympanum of the Royal portal.
Christ seated on a throne, surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists;
a winged man for St. Matthew,
a lion for St. Mark;
a bull for St. Luke;
and an eagle for St. John.

Chartres Cathedral
- aka the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres
- French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres
A Roman Catholic church in Chartres, France

David (in contrapposto / 旋動姿勢)

David
- Bernini (1598–1680, Italian)
- marble (170 cm) 1623-24
- Galleria Borghese (Rome)

Between 1618 and 1625 Bernini was commissioned to undertake various sculptural work for the villa of one of his patrons, Cardinal Scipione Borghese.

David
- Michelangelo (1475–1564, Italian)
- marble (517 × 199 cm) 1501–1504
- Galleria dell'Accademia (Florence)

David
- Donatello (c.1386–1466, Italian)
- bronze (158 cm) 1440s
- Museo Nazionale del Bargello (Florence)

Penitent Magdalene  
A wooden (white poplar) sculpture of Mary Magdalene

Penitent Magdalene
- Donatello (c.1386–1466, Italian)
- wood (188 cm) 1453–1455
- Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)

Saint Francis Borgia  

Saint Francis Borgia (1510–1572, Spainish)
- carved by Juan Martínez Montañés (1568–1649, Spanish)
- painted by Francisco Pacheco (1564–1644, Spanish)
- wood (174 x 68 x 51 cm) c.1624
- Church of the Anunciación (Seville University)

This portrait is an imagen de vestir, a life-size mannequin dressed in real fabric (stiffened with glue); only the visible parts of the body, namely the head and hands, were carved. The work was commissioned by the Jesuits in Seville to mark Borgia's beatification in 1624. The figure would have originally held a real skull in its left hand.

Source: Wikipedia

Reference: Learning to Look at Sculpture (Mary Acton)