Jacopo della Quercia

Jacopo della Quercia was born around 1374 in a place called Quercia Grossa, near Siena. His father, Piero d'Angelo, worked as a woodcarver and goldsmith, and gave him his early training. In 1386, because of local political unrest, father and son moved to Lucca.

Della Quercia likely saw the pulpit by Nicola Pisano in Siena’s cathedral and works by Arnolfo di Cambio, both of which influenced him. He probably also studied the large collection of Roman sculptures and sarcophagi in Pisa’s Camposanto. These experiences helped make him a transitional artist: his style moved noticeably from Gothic to Renaissance around the middle of his career, possibly because of contact with Donatello.

His first known work may have been a wooden equestrian statue for the funeral of Azzo Ubaldini, done when he was sixteen. Other early pieces attributed to him include a Man of Sorrows on the Altar of the Sacrament in Lucca Cathedral and a relief on the Tomb of St. Aniello, though these are disputed. In 1401 he entered the competition for the bronze doors of Florence’s Baptistery but lost to Ghiberti; the location of his entry is unknown.

In 1403 he carved a marble Virgin and Child for Ferrara Cathedral. A possible work from his time in Ferrara is a statuette of St. Maurelius; both are now in the Museo del Duomo.

Back in Lucca in 1406, the city’s ruler, Paolo Guinigi, hired him to start work on the tomb of his second wife, Ilaria del Carretto, in Lucca Cathedral. The woman lies on top of the sarcophagus, richly dressed and delicately carved in a Gothic style, with a dog at her feet symbolizing marital fidelity. But the use of nude putti on the sides of the tomb clearly shows the influence of Roman sarcophagi from Pisa’s Camposanto—an early sign of the coming Renaissance.

Fonte Gaia in Siena

In 1406 he was also asked to build a new fountain in Siena’s Piazza del Campo, replacing an older one with a statue of Venus. That pagan statue had been blamed for an outbreak of the Black Plague, so it was destroyed and buried outside the city walls.

The commission shows he was already seen as Siena’s leading sculptor. The rectangular fountain, made of white marble and dedicated to the Virgin, was decorated on three sides with many statues and multiple spouts. Because he took on other jobs at the same time, progress was slow: he started in 1414 and finished only in 1419.