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On display

The Miracle of the Irascible Son

Relief
1446-1448 (sculpted), ca. 1884 (cast)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is a nineteenth century electrotype copy of the original bronze original by Donatello. On 23 June 1447, Donatello was contracted for four reliefs depicting Miracles performed by St Anthony of Padua. At this stage three of the reliefs, including the Miracle of the Irascible Son, had already been cast. This relief illustrates the story of a young man who kicked his mother in a fit of temper and was told he deserved to have his leg cut off. In his remorse he did this, but, in response to his mother's prayers, the saint replaced the severed limb, which healed instantly. The original of this relief ispart of the High Altar of the Basilica di Sant'Antonio, Padua.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Miracle of the Irascible Son (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Plaster cast, painted plaster.
Brief description
Plaster cast, painted plaster, after the bronze, partly gilded original relief of The Miracle of the Irascible Son, from the high altar of the Basilica of St Anthony of Padua, Padua, by Donatello in Padua, 1446-8. Cast by Signor Tombola in Venice, in about 1884.
Physical description
Plaster copy of the bronze of the Miracle of the Irascible son, by Donatello, 1446-8, from part of the High Altar of the Basilica di Sant'Antonio, Padua
Dimensions
  • Height: 61.5cm
  • Width: 122cm
Gallery label
(2014)
These casts show reliefs that Donatello made for the basilica in Padua. They illustrate miracles performed by St Anthony, the city's patron saint. In one relief, the saint restores a man's severed limb. In another he wills an ass to kneel. Another relief shows the saint causing a baby to speak and name its father, saving its mother who has been accused of adultery.
Object history
Purchased from Signor Tombola in 1884 for £1 7s 6d
Historical context
On 23 June, 1447, Donatello contracted for four reliefs depicting Miracles performed by St Anthony of Padua. At this stage three of the reliefs, including the Miracle of the Irascible Son, had already been cast. This relief illustrates the story of a young man who kicked his mother in a fit of temper and was told he deserved to have his leg cut off. In his remorse he did this, but, in response to his mother's prayers, the saint replaced the severed limb, which healed instantly.

On 13 April 1446, a donation of 15,000 lire was accepted from a Paduan citizen, Francesco da Tergola, for the construction of the high altar of the Santo. The first payment to Donatello for the new altar occurs in February 1447. Although the altar was temporarily erected for the feast of St Anthony (June 13) 1448, and most of the major figures were cast by 1450, the project was still unfinished when Donatello left Padua in 1454.

The altar originally stood at the end of the choir, close to the ambulatory, but was dismembered in 1579, when officials of the Arca decided to replace it with a larger structure, designed by Girolamo Campagna and Cesare Fianco. Although most of Donatello's sculptures were incorporated into the new altar by 1582, it was not until 1895 that all the surviving components were united in the present fanciful reconstruction by Camillo Boito. The original form of the altar remains controversial, due to the loss of almost all the original architectural elements, except for a pair of volutes (item 8 below).

The surviving components of the original altar are:
Preserved on the altar in the Basilica di Sant'Antonio:
1.Seven bronze figures in the round, comprising, the Virgin and Child enthroned, St Francis (V&A cast no. 1899-56), St Anthony of Padua, St Louis of Toulouse, St Daniel, St Justina, St Prosdocimus.
2.Four bronze reliefs depicting miracles performed by St Anthony of Padua (V&A cast nos. 1884-325 to 328).
3.Four bronze reliefs containing Symbols of the Evangelists.
4.Twelve bronze reliefs of angels (V&A cast nos. 1870-18 and 18 a-k).
5.A bronze relief of the Dead Christ Lamented by Two Angels (V&A cast no. 1884-329).
6.A limestone relief depicting the Entombment.
7.A bronze relief of the Dead Christ with seven angels, by an unidentified Venetian sculptor (V&A cast no 1884-330).

In the Museo Antoniano, Padua:-
8.A pair of volutes, thought to have come from the canopy which once surmounted the altar.

In the Museo Salvatore, Romano, Florence:-
9.Marble reliefs depicting the half-length figures of St Prosdocimus and another saint, possibly two of the four half-length saints seen by Marcantonio Michiel on the back of the altar, in the early 16th century.
Production
Plaster cast copy after fifteenth century original (1446-48)
Subject depicted
Summary
This is a nineteenth century electrotype copy of the original bronze original by Donatello. On 23 June 1447, Donatello was contracted for four reliefs depicting Miracles performed by St Anthony of Padua. At this stage three of the reliefs, including the Miracle of the Irascible Son, had already been cast. This relief illustrates the story of a young man who kicked his mother in a fit of temper and was told he deserved to have his leg cut off. In his remorse he did this, but, in response to his mother's prayers, the saint replaced the severed limb, which healed instantly. The original of this relief ispart of the High Altar of the Basilica di Sant'Antonio, Padua.
Bibliographic reference
Curtis, Penelope, Depth of Field: the place of relief in the time of Donatello, Leeds: Henry Moore Institute, 2004
Collection
Accession number
REPRO.1884-325

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Record createdFebruary 25, 2004
Record URL
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