DONATELLO
(b. ca. 1386, Firenze, d. 1466, Firenze)

Miracle of the Ass (detail)

1447-50
Bronze
Basilica di Sant'Antonio, Padua

On all four panels of the life of St Anthony, the main events are unfolding in the centre and are focused within a hustle and bustle which increases outwards toward the edges of the scene. It would seem that the principles of central perspective used to structure the background architecture have never been more consistently harmonized with the narrative scene unfolding, as if on a stage, in the foreground.