b. about 1430 Settignano, Italy, d. 1464 Florence, Italy
sculptor; draftsman
Italian

Born in Settignano, a village outside of Florence, where, according to legend, Michelangelo himself acquired his love of marble, Desiderio da Settignano continued the city's and his family's sculptural tradition. His brothers were stonemasons, his father was a stone carver. In his twelve-year career, Desiderio created sculpture ranging from freestanding statues to crucifixes, but he is best known for portrait busts and elegant reliefs, especially of the Madonna and Child. Having possibly trained and collaborated with Donatello, he took the master's technique of very low relief in a new direction. Though he also worked in wood and stucco, Desiderio had special talent for bringing out the luminosity of marble. Unlike his predecessors, he understood that light sinks into marble crystals, then comes back to the eye, while reflections off nearby surfaces also add radiance. As a result, he seemed to breathe life into his stone subjects, particularly children. In his last works Desiderio renounced polishing: he simply filed the surface, giving the impression of seeing the marble through a light-filled haze. In 1453 Desiderio joined the stone and woodworkers' guild and received his only monumental commission, an important tomb in a church in Florence.