AN ITALIAN TERRACOTTA RELIEF OF GOD CREATING THE ANIMALS

IN THE GOTHIC STYLE, AFTER LORENZO MAITANI

Details
AN ITALIAN TERRACOTTA RELIEF OF GOD CREATING THE ANIMALS
In the Gothic style, after Lorenzo Maitani
With God before the animals including a sheep, a gazelle, a bull, a horse, a lion, a camel and two angels at His right, within a later giltwood frame
16in. x 26in. (42cm. x 66cm.)

Lot Essay

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Pope-Hennessy, Italian Gothic Sculpture, London, 1972, pp. 188-189, fig. 33

The present terracotta is after a section of the series of reliefs depicting episodes of the Creation, from the Book of Genesis, that decorate the northwestern pilaster of the faade of Orvieto Cathedral (Pope-Hennessy, op.cit., pilaster 'A'). These are by general consensus of scholarly opinion attributable to Lorenzo Maitani, who was capomaestro for building and decorating the facade from 1310 until 1330.