when working in bronze such precautions would be less necessary.  It is quite true that in the larger figures there is a marked restraint in this respect, while in his bas-reliefs, where the danger was less, the tendency to raise the arms above the head is often exaggerated.  But too much stress should not be laid upon this explanation:  it is hard to believe that Donatello would have let so crucial a matter be governed by such a consideration.  Speaking generally, Donatello was neither more nor less restrictive than his Florentine contemporaries, and it was only at a later period that the isolated statue received perfect freedom, such as that in the Cellini Perseus, or the Mercury by Gian Bologna, or Bernini’s work in marble.

[Footnote 58:  In the Berlin Gallery.]

[Footnote 59:  Berlin Museum.]

[Footnote 60:  All three in Bargello.]

[Footnote 61:  See p. 185.]

* * * * *

[Illustration:  Alinari

SAN GIOVANNINO

PALAZZO MARTELLI, FLORENCE]

[Illustration:  Alinari

ST. JOHN BAPTIST, MARBLE

BARGELLO]

[Sidenote:  Early Figures of St. John.]

Another important statue in the Martelli palace is that of St. John the Baptist.  Besides being the earliest patron of Florence, St. John was the titular saint of every Baptistery in the land.  This accounts for the frequency with which we find his statues and scenes from his life, particularly in Tuscany.  With Donatello he was to some extent a speciality, and we can almost trace the sculptor’s evolution in his presentment of the Baptist, beginning with the chivalrous figure on the Campanile and ending with the haggard ascetic of Venice.  We have St. John as a child in the Bargello, as a boy in Rome, as a stripling in the Martelli palace.  On the bell-tower he is grown up, in the Frari he is growing older, and at Siena he is shown as old as Biblical history would permit.  The St. John in the Casa Martelli, oltra tutti singolare,[62] was so highly prized that it was made an heirloom, with penalties for such members of the family who disposed of it.  This St. John is a link between the Giovannino and the mature prophet.  He is, as it were, dazed, and sets forth upon his errand with open-mouthed wonder.  He has a strain of melancholy, and seems rather weakly and hesitating.  But there is no attempt after emaciation.  The limbs are well made, and as sturdy as one would expect, in view of the unformed lines of the model:  the hands also are good.  As regards the face, one notices that the nose and mouth are rather crooked, and that the eyes diverge:  not, indeed, that these defects are really displeasing, since they are what one sometimes finds in living youth.  Another Baptist which has hitherto escaped attention is the small marble figure, about four feet high,