Nanni di Banco (Giovanni di Antonio di Banco), a Florentine sculptor, is among the first masters to reject the formulas of the late Gothic style and instead seek inspiration in ancient classical art.
His major work, the heroic marble group of the Quattro Santi Coronati, or “Four Crowned Saints,” executed in 1411-14 at Orsanmichele in Florence, displays a new Roman-inspired grandeur and monumentality in its powerful, life-size statues.