Desiderio da Settignano (c. 1430-1464)

Italian sculptor. Desiderio was a successful imitator of the shallow-relief carvings (rilievo schiacciato) of Donatello. He was not interested in the darker, dramatic side of Donatello, but excelled in sweeter subjects, such as portraits of women and children. One of his most important commissions was the altar of the sacrament (completed in 1461) in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence.

Few facts are known about this precocious and brilliant, but short-lived sculptor. Born in the stone-quarrying village of Settignano, near Florence, he probably learned to carve from his family and later collaborated closely with Antonio Rossellino. He was strongly influenced by Donatello, but cannot have been trained by him, for the master was in Padua during the relevant decade.

Among his other important works is the Marsuppini monument in the Church of Santa Croce in Florence (c. 1453), which was an elaboration on the theme of the Bruni monument by Bernardo Rossellino.