All There Is!

More than four hundred years ago, in the great Italian center of the arts, Florence, a block of the purest marble, seventeen feet high, lay on its side gathering dust in the work yard behind the cathedral. The block had originally been quarried at great expense for use in a large statue, by the master sculptor Donatello. But the great artist died, and the job was assigned to his assistant, Agostino de Duccio. The assistant made a mess of the marble, chiseling a great gouge in the middle of the column. The sculptor thought he could make something of it anyway, but he proceeded to only to worsen the damage. He gave up in frustration, but not before his failure had been nicknamed in his dishonor — thereafter known as the “Duccio column.”

A generation of artists was to come and go, each visiting the magnificent block in the work yard and suggesting possible designs that would overcome the terrible flaw. However, the city’s art…