Manuscript note on fly-leaf: " Given to the Library of Yale College ... by Thomas Whately ... and transmitted to the said Library by J. Ingersoll ... London, Jan. 12, 1765."
Francesco Laurana was born in Vrana, close to Zadar around 1430. His name comes from his birthplace “de lo Vrana” which became Latinized into Laurana. Laurana was schooled and trained in Zadar, Sibenik and Dubrovnik in Imperial Roman and Gothic traditions, but he soon found his own style. He worked in Naples, Sicily and Provence. In one of his first assignments in Naples he worked on the Triumphal Arch of Alphonse of Aragon (1453-1458). From 1448-1467 Laurana was at the court of King Rene in Provence, where he created medals for the court. Laurana is famous for his sculpted busts of young women. Here is presented a detail from the Calvary sculpted for the chapel of Celestins in Avignon between 1478-1481. Forgotten for several centuries, he is held today in very high regard by art historians. “Laurana’s highly original handling of technical and representational problems, his variability of style, his preference for the subjective and the irrational rather that objective and rational- even his secretiveness have all combined to rescue Laurana’s private language from the limbo of dead tongues.” (From the introduction by the Ruth Wedgwood Kennedy)
