IN JUNE 1469 Lorenzo de' Medici celebrated his marriage to Clarice Orsini at the Medici Palace on the Via Larga. The nuptial banquet was considered modest, though in fact two hundred guests attended and fifty dishes were served, each announced by trumpeters. The guests of honour, some seventy or eighty, were seated at tables in the courtyard around Donatello's bronze statue of David (Fig. 1). This mute witness of the scene cannot describe the wedding feast, any more than he can enlighten us regarding his own obscure origins, his unidentified patron, or his controversial significance. The statue's iconography, indeed its very subject, has been questioned by Alessandro Parronchi, Laurie Schneider, John Pope-Hennessy and others, while suggested dates for its creation have ranged from the
1420s through the 1460s. Until now the passing reference to the statue in the description of Lorenzo's nuptials, three years after the artist's death in 1466, has been the
earliest evidence regarding Donatello's bronze David. The new information presented here sheds light on the statue's history prior to 1469.

. The new information presented here sheds light on the statue's history prior to 1469.

ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO's, Christ and St Thomas from the Mercanzia niche at Orsanmichele, Florence (currently under restoration) is widely acclaimed as one of the master- pieces of Florentine renaissance sculpture (Figs.8 and 9). But, despite the praise it has elicited since the day of its unveiling, it has received little serious scholarly investi- gation. As a result, the aesthetic character of the monument has been imprecisely analysed and its iconography, patronage and political context have gone wholly uninves- tigated. Indeed, even the summary of the archival docu- mentation now widely repeated in print is incomplete and misleading. It is the purpose of this article to publish some recently discovered documents for the Christ and St Thomas, and to explicate their significance for the sculpture's history and iconography.

, and to explicate their significance for the sculpture's history and iconography.

THE NINE YEARS during which, according to Giorgio Vasari, Andrea Sansovino worked at the court of the king of Portugal still constitute the most obscure episode in the life and work of this important Florentine sculptor. Not until the second, 1568, edition of his Vite does Vasari provide slightly more information on Sansovino's activities in Portugal; this was evidently prompted by the discovery since the first edition of 1550, of two of the artist's sketch- books. The first came into his own possession; the second he was able to see at the house of Andrea's heirs in Monte San Savino, though it apparently later found its way into the hands of Sansovino's pupil Girolamo Lombardo. These two sketch-books appear to have contained drawings and designs for architectural projects, sculptures, and even paintings, possibly also including relevant dates and notes, so that the nine years mentioned by Vasari may be a reliable indication of the length of Sansovino's stay in Portugal. Since Sansovino is officially listed as being back in Florence at the beginning of 1502, he would have embarked on his journey at the latest in about 1492 or 1493.

does Vasari provide slightly more information on Sansovino's activities in Portugal; this was evidently prompted by the discovery since the first edition of 1550, of two of the artist's sketch- books. The first came into his own possession; the second he was able to see at the house of Andrea's heirs in Monte San Savino, though it apparently later found its way into the hands of Sansovino's pupil Girolamo Lombardo. These two sketch-books appear to have contained drawings and designs for architectural projects, sculptures, and even paintings, possibly also including relevant dates and notes, so that the nine years mentioned by Vasari may be a reliable indication of the length of Sansovino's stay in Portugal. Since Sansovino is officially listed as being back in Florence at the beginning of 1502, he would have embarked on his journey at the latest in about 1492 or 1493.

A LARGE, handsome black chalk modello for a figural com- position, in the British Museum since 1974, is there attributed to Agnolo Bronzino (Fig. 15). Its subject has never . .' been precisely identified, nor has it been connected to a specific commission or its attribution to Bronzino documented. I would argue, however, that the subject, destination, and draughtsman can all be determined.

THE Florentine sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni died precisely five centuries ago last year, in late December 1491, less than four months before his patron, Lorenzo de' Medici, with whom he lived for the last part of his life. It is a nice coincidence, there- fore, now to be able to add to the very sparse documentation concerning Bertoldo's career an unpublished reference to his death, and to Lorenzo's devotion to him. On 29th December 1491, ser Bartolommeo Zeffi, the chancellor (or notary) of the Florentine Opera del Duomo, wrote one of his regular and newsy letters reporting on events at home to his distinguished friend Piero di Iacopo Guicciardini, Sea Consul at Pisa, in the private archive of whose family it can still be found. 'Our magnificent Lorenzo is somewhat bothered by his damned gout, which is why my business is not going forward', Zeffi wrote, continuing at once: 'Bertoldo the sculptor, who lived with him, has died at Poggio [a Caiano] of quinsy, much to the said Lorenzo's sorrow because he loved him as much as any of his familiars'.