The Prophets Daniel, Solomon, Isaiah, and Habakkuk

Abstract

These four painted wood sculptures of men from Jewish scriptures, thought by Christians to have prophesied the coming of Christ, are depicted as emerging from oculi over the entrance arches to the Chapel of the Last Supper and the Chapel of the Lamentation, on either side of the Santuario della Beata Maria Vergine dei Miracoli in Saronno. The idea of having a bust-length sculpture emerge from a round frame goes back to classical antiquity. In ancient Roman monuments well-known and copied in the Italian Renaissance, images were sculpted on round shields (known as the "imago clipeata"). These models were imated in the Renaissance in such prominent locations as Ghiberti's second set of bronze doors for the Baptistry of Florence. These figures, who peer down from far above, are difficult to examine from the floor, but they seemed to still have heavy nineteenth century repaint when these photographs were taken in 2018. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.