Half Figure of a Man 1412 - 1428

Curator: There’s something so austere and self-contained about this piece. A sense of inner peace or perhaps, resignation? Editor: Indeed. This is a marble sculpture from the Early Renaissance, titled "Half Figure of a Man" and attributed to Andrea di Guido da Fiesole, crafted sometime between 1412 and 1428. It resides in the collection of the SMK, the Statens Museum for Kunst. Curator: Early Renaissance, yes, but there’s a strong pull back to medieval austerity, wouldn’t you say? Look at the unadorned robe, the simple head covering, the folded hands. It lacks the classical idealization that was already taking hold in Florence at that time. Editor: Precisely! The gesture of folded hands is almost universal, but here it strongly signifies humility and devotion. It connects him to a spiritual lineage of supplication found in earlier devotional objects, albeit now rendered with an emerging Renaissance naturalism. But this piece, although produced in marble which might seem grand, feels like it communicates values upheld by religious orders. Curator: It’s fascinating to consider what statements were being made through this figure. Is he a representation of piety? Or is this the way that powerful entities sought to depict themselves, by cloaking their ambitions in piety. I am thinking that these orders are not exclusively humble in action or interest. Editor: It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? The way power is negotiated through imagery. Marble itself has inherent connotations, a material valued since antiquity, now employed to evoke humility. It seems almost paradoxical. Is this humility or just perceived to be? And if that, how much do we misjudge it? It is all captured here, within the representation of one individual, created over half a millennia ago. Curator: A compelling insight into the power of symbolism and the weight it carries, still, today. Editor: Absolutely, and I find myself wanting to re-examine those hands and find out all about that man.