10. THE HIGH ALTAR
10.0 Introduction
What we see is not the original structure made by Donatello, but the last of several remakes over the centuries, specifically the one made by Camillo Boito in 1895 by gathering together all of Donatello’s bronzes that previous rearrangements had scattered throughout the Basilica. All 30 bronze pieces cast by Donatello for the interior of the Basilica between 1443 and 1453 are preserved here. On the altar, on either side of the Virgin, we find 6 statues representing three Franciscan and three Paduan saints. From left: St. Ludwig of Anjou, St. Justine, St. Francis, St. Anthony, St. Daniel, and St. Prosdocimo.
Portrayed as men and not as saints, theirs is an inner holiness; they belong to another dimension and it is no accident that they are cast in bronze, the dark material of the world of mystery, the material of the eternal.
10.1 The Miracle of the reattached foot
10.2 The Miracle of the miser
10.3 The Miracle of the infant
who speaks
10.4 The Miracle of the mule
10.5 The tetramorph with the 4 symbols of the Evalgelists
10.6 Procession with Angel Musicians and singers
10.7 The deposition
10.1 The Miracle of the reattached foot
10.2 The Miracle of the miser
10.3 The Miracle of the miser who speaks
10.4 The Miracle of the mule
10.5 The tetramorph with the 4 symbols
of the Evalgelists
10.6 Procession with Angel Musicians
and singers
10.7 The deposition
