Nanni di banco biography sample

Nanni d’Antonio di Banco was a man who inherited a competent patrimony, and was by no means of inferior condition; yet, delighting in sculpture, he not only thought no shame of acquiring and exercising that art, but even considered himself to gain no small increase of honour thereby; and made such progress in his vocation that his name will never be forgotten, but celebrated all the more, in proportion as it shall be known that he devoted himself to this noble art, not from necessity, but from a true love to the calling.

Nanni was a disciple of Donato,^[1] but I have placed him before that master, because he died many years previous to the period of Donato’s death. He was a man of a somewhat dull and sluggish nature, but modest withal, mild of disposition, and gentle of manner.

The marble statue of St. Philip, which