The sculpture of saint George

The sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs is the author of the statue of bronze of Saint George, which goes to the center of the Jubé (on 8,50 meters of altitude), about the Portal Senior. The representation of Catalonia’s patron is the first sculpture of the inside of the Temple. It seems inspired directly in the Saint George de Donatello to Orsanmichele (1416, Florence), one of the models of the first Renaissance. The youngster Donatello, following the ideas of Vasari, represented saint George not on horseback and with a lance, but like a soldier on foot, spiritualized, with the beauty of the youth, the courage of the arms and the war heat: the Christian war youngster in tension. The Saint George de Subirachs keeps the same y verticality the same position of the feet, of the arms and of the shield. Unlike that of Donatello, however, the arm that holds the shield is the right and not the left one. With the language of emptiness so characteristic of Subirachs, the armor shows, as Donatello, a young body and one Hellenic head, which turns towards down to look at the public while he controls the energy.