NARRATOR: Look at the left side of this marble angel. It’s rough and unfinished surface suggests that it was once attached to a wall so that only the right side was visible. The generalized features and overall lack of great detail suggest that it was placed well above eye level where such details would be nearly impossible to discern. And indeed, this angel once adorned the façade of the Cathedral of Florence, or the Duomo as it is best known today.

The Cathedral was begun by Arnolfo di Cambio and ultimately completed by Filippo Brunelleschi. It is one of the original eight angels that stood in adoration on the second tier of the building, just above the portal, or entrance. The angels were designed in pairs; each pair flanked a larger statue of a martyr saint. The artist Piero di Giovanni Tedesco created this ensemble. Tedesco is the Italian word for German and refers to the sculptor’s German origins. Lisbeth Castelnuovo-Tedesco is a senior research consultant for the Museum:

LISBETH CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: Of the sculptors who were working on this last campaign for the Florence Cathedral façade at the end of the fourteenth century, Piero was the only person brought in from outside the community. He must have had a wonderful reputation as a sculptor in the Milan Cathedral workshops, where he came from Germany, as did many other people to work in Milan; but very few came from outside to work in Florence.