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(soft piano music)
Man: We're on the second of Or San Michlele,
and we're looking at one of the most famous
sculptures that used to be on one of the exterior
niches. It has been brought inside to keep it safe.
This is Nanni di Banco's, The Four Crowned Mytryrs.
These are four ancient Roman sculptures, who are
asked by the Roman Emperor, Diocletian, to create
a sculpture of a pagan God. They refused,
and were put to death. The moment that Nanni di Banco
has chosen to get picked is the moment when
their coming to the realization that this will be their fate.
Lady: This is commission by the stone masons skilled.
Each skilled had a niche on the outside of the
Or San Michlele, and chose a sculpture to represent
their patron saints. This is unusual in that we
have four figures instead of a single figure in the niche.
The figures who are human in their interactions.
Man: Almost as if there's a negation going on
between them, and as if their thinking deeply
about the consequences of the decision that their
in the process of making. Then it is a deeply human experience.
Lady: Instead of having these single thoughtful
figures like the Donatello Saint Mark. We have
figures who are looking at each other gesturing.
Man: Look at the vividness of the interaction.
As the man on the right is speaking, his mouth
is open. There's that wonderful dark shadow ``
in that really deep carving, and all of them are paying
attention. Not necessarily focused on him visually,
we can see them listen in the most engaged way.
This is an extraordinary expression of what stone
can do. And this was of course for the stone
masons themselves. This guild is showing the
nobility of their profession that stone can get
to the heart of what it means to be human,
and in a noble way to live up to ones belief.
Lady: Being a sculpture in the early 15th century
in Florence, looking back at the ancient Greek
and Roman sculptures, it's in sculpture that we
see the revival to take place. Artist like Donatello
and Nanni di Banco, and then later on soon Masacio.
We'll see that looking back to ancient Greek and
Roman culture. This looks so ancient Roman to me.
The faces look like figures from ancient Roman
Republican statues. Their wearing these Roman
togas. Several of them stand in contrapposto
epically, this one second from the left, where
we can really see his knee pressing through the
drapery and a sense of his hips and really a body.
Man: There's kind of a empathy that I feel for
these figures that is intensified, because it
is these four men. Think about Florence in the
15th century, which was really thinking about
its sense of community. They took decisions
together. Whether or not they were going to act
we ask to the [Milanese 02:48] for example.
This notion of doing things together, and doing
things for the group was absolutely central to
the specific nature of this city.
Lady: With Donatello Saint Mark, you have the
dignity of the individual which was a very important
part of humanism. Here you have the importance
of the relationships. The importance of the group
in Nanni di Bancos Four Crowned Saints.
(soft piano music)