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

St John on Patmos

1428-43
Polychrome stucco, diameter 215 cm
Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence

In the pendentive roundels the harshness of the scheme is sharpened by a daring experiment in perspective which creates large spaces in which human figures and architectural details take on dramatic effects of light and shade.

The relief showing St John on Patmos has no architectural details. It shows the bleak, extensive landscape into which the evangelist had withdrawn.