Cruttwell, Maud: Verrocchio (London: Duckworth and Co., 1904)

CHAPTER XII
THE GROUP OF OR S. MICHELE AND THE
SILVER RELIEF
Although the bronze group of Or S. Michele was not com-
pleted till 1483, the composition dates from sixteen years
earlier, and the work belongs rather to the transitional
period of Verrocchio’s development than to the full perfec-
tion of the Silver Relief and the Colleoni Statue. In spite
of a suggestion of hardness and rigidity in the features
and gesture of the Christ, the work as a whole represents
his complete emancipation from the early severity, and
its dramaticism and originality of treatment, especially
in the figure of S. Thomas, marks an epoch in Florentine
art. In order to form a correct estimate of the merits of
this—the most popular and best known of Verrocchio’s
sculptures—the long years between commencement and
finish must be taken into consideration, as well as certain
restrictions of space which have hampered his liberty in the
composition.
The development of the Church of Or. S. Michele from
an open loggia in which the corn market was held, to one
of the most elaborately decorated buildings in existence, is
too well known to need repetition. It is enough to recall
to the reader that in 1355, when the open arches were filled