Statuette of a prophet, Florence 1300 / 1325

This magnificent marble statuette from Florence, dated to the first half of the 14th century, belongs to a group of followers of the Tuscan sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio.
The work shows a man standing on a sculpted base. His head is broad and round. His short hair shows traces of braids in its locks. His face, somewhat effaced due to natural erosion, shows lively eyes, a flat nose and a half-open mouth. His head is turned slightly to the right.
He is wearing loose-fitting clothes with heavy folds. His right hand is holding his coat. In his left hand, he holds a rolled-up scroll, identifying him as a prophet.
His sculpted knees are visible under the thick fabric, breaking the formal rigidity of the sculpture. His feet are clad in open sandals.
There are two sculpted holes: one in the back of the statue, the other at the base, between the two feet.
The hole at the base of the sculpture was used to hold it in place, while the hole at the back was used to hang the sculpture from the back to prevent it from falling or toppling over.
The formal and stylistic characteristics of this work bear many similarities to six other statuettes on display at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence. These six statuettes, which date from the first quarter of the 14th century and were made by followers of Arnolfo di Cambio, were originally placed in the doorways of the main door of the Gothic façade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.
There are a number of similarities between the statues preserved in Florence and that of our Prophet that need to be discussed.
Firstly, the dimensions and body proportions of the figures are identical. Then there is the width of the head, the sloping shoulders, the heavy folds in the drapery, the short legs, the elongated fingers and the open sandals. In some of them, there is an attempt at contrapposto through the protruding knee, and lastly, there is a sculpted shaft running from the base to the statue, acting as a support. Although this shaft is not found on the statue of the prophet, its trace is clearly present in the hole between his feet.
The style of these statuettes is to some extent similar to the sculptures of Arnolfo di Cambio. This sculptor and architect, who was born in Colle di Val d'Elsa in 1245 and died in Florence in 1302/1310, was one of the most ingenious representatives of Italian Gothic. A pupil of Nicola Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio left to work in Rome from 1270 onwards, for the court of Charles of Anjou, for whom he created sculpted portraits, as well as a number of major projects such as the Mausoleum of Cardinal de Braye, the two ciboria in St Paul's Basilica Outside the Walls and the Funerary Monument for Boniface VIII. When he arrived in Florence in the last years of the 13th century, he undertook the construction of the façade of the new cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. He created an impressive statuary decoration dedicated to the Virgin, which can be admired today in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.
The iconographic programme for the façade included several sculpted groups retracing the stages of Mary's life. The three tympanums feature the Virgin of the Nativity (1296-1300), the Majesty (1300-1305), also known as the Madonna of the Glass Eyes, and the Dormitio Virginis (1300-1310), to which are added the figures of Saint Reparata, Saint Zenobius, angels, apostles, prophets, etc. The style of Arnolfo di Cambio's figures for the cathedral façade is sometimes marked by an early classicism, mainly visible in the drapery of the statues (e.g. Saint Reparata).
However, the project for the cathedral's Gothic façade did not go beyond the portals, as it was interrupted in 1587 by Francis I, then dismantled to be replaced by a Renaissance-style façade.
The statues on the Gothic façade, created by Arnolfo di Cambio, are of great historical and artistic importance. While some of these figures are highly innovative, such as the almost classicist drapery of Saint Reparata or the Greco-Roman evocations in The Madonna of the Glass Eyes, others underline the sculptor's mastery of the Gothic style, particularly in the realism of Saint Zenobius, which is comparable to the works of Giotto.
The work presented here bears some resemblance to the work of Arnolfo di Cambio, but the similarities are not sufficiently developed to establish a clear link with the sculptor. The statuette is closer to the work of di Cambio's followers, the decorators of the façade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.