Marble statue of Matthew the Evangelist, sculpted by Bernardo Ciuffagni between 1410 and 1415 for the original facade of the Cathedral, where it stood in a niche near the central portal. In 1405 two sculptors were dispatched to the marble quarries in Carrara to hew out the blocks destined to become the great statues of the Evangelists for the facade. But war with Milan marooned the hewn blocks in Pisa, they did not arrive in Florence until 1407. Niccolò Lamberti, Donatello and Nanni di Banco were commissioned to realize three of the Evangelists. Initially the task of sculpting the fourth, St Matthew, was to go to the artist who did the best job. However in 1410 St Matthew was assigned to Bernardo Ciuffagni, because of the slow progress being made on the first three statues.