tands St. Matthew, set there by the Bankers
and carved by Ghiberti, and cast in 1422 by Michelozzo. On the north,
Donatello's statue of St. George used to fill the first niche, somewhat
shallower than the rest owing to a staircase inside the church, but it
was removed to the Bargello for fear of the weather: the beautiful
relief, also by Donatello, below the copy, is still in its place, under
the St. George of the Armourers. The four statues in the next niche were
placed there by the Guilds of Sculptors, Masons, Smiths, and
Bricklayers; they are the work of Nanni di Banco. Further, is the St.
Philip of the Shoemakers, again by Nanni di Banco, and the St. Peter of
the Butchers, by Donatello. On the east stands St. Luke, placed there by
the Notaries, and carved by Giovanni da Bologna; the great bronze group
of Christ and St. Thomas, the gift of the Magistrato della Mercanzia,
the governor of all the guilds; and the St. John Baptist, the gift of
the Calimala, and the work of Ghiberti: this last was the first statue
placed here--in 1414.

Nanni di Banco, that delightful sculptor of the Madonna della Cintola of
the Duomo, has thus four works here at Or San Michele--the S. Lo, the
group on the north side, the St. Philip, and the St. James. The St.
Philip, and the group which represents the four masons who, being
Christians, refused to build a Pagan temple, and were martyred long and
long ago, have little merit; and though the S. Lo has a certain force,
and the relief below it a wonderful simplicity, they lack altogether the
charm of the Madonna della Cintola.

Ghiberti has three works here--the St. Stephen, the St. Matthew, and the
St. John Baptist, the only sculptures of the kind he ever produced. Full
of energy though the St. Stephen may be, it has about it a sort of
divine modesty that lends it a charm altogether beyond anything we may
find in the St. John Baptist, a figure full of character, nevertheless.
It is, however, in the St. Matthew that we see Ghiberti at his best
perhaps, in a figure for once full of strength, and altogether splendid.

Donatello, too, had three figures here beside the relief beneath the St.
George. The St. Peter on the north side is probably the earliest work
done for Or San Michele, and is certainly the poorest. The St. Mark on
the south side is, however, a fine example of his earlier manner, with
a certain largeness, strength, and liberty about it a frankness, too, in
expression so that he ha