ABSTRACT
Carving, Modelling and Agostino it surface juxtaposition.1 At any rate, compare this surface transition with the deep shadow around the shoulder and arm of the angel on the left of the Donatello relief. There are no such gross and plastic shadows in Agostino's carving. His placing of a shoulder against a cheek behind, similar contours without a shadow between, remind one of Piero della Francesca's yet greater juxtapositions of similar tones, unaided by the actual changes of surface that facilitate this feat in carving. Piero delighted to display his extreme virtuosity in the employment of tone by using a practically identical colour for something portrayed far behind, juxtaposed to something portrayed well in the foreground. So complete his skill and so essential is it to his conception of painting, so completely is that conception realized, that with a fair amount of intelligence one might look at his Flagellation at Urbino every day for a year, without noticing in the picture a very astounding instance of that feat.
