From the earliest times there used to be a church dedicated to St. Michael, which stood within the orto, the garden named after the saint.  The church was, however, removed in the thirteenth century and was replaced by an open loggia, which was used for a corn market and store.  In the following century the open arches of the loggia were built up, again making a church of the building, in which a venerated Madonna, for which Orcagna made the tabernacle, was preserved.  The companies and merchant guilds of Florence undertook to present statues to decorate the external niches of the building.  Besides Donatello, Ghiberti, Verrocchio, Gian Bologna and Nanni di Banco were employed; and there are also some admirable medallions by Luca della Robbia.  Donatello made four statues—­St. Peter, St. Mark, St. Louis and St. George.  He was to have made St. Phillip as well, but the shoemakers who ordered the statue could not afford to pay Donatello’s price and the work was entrusted to Nanni di Banco.  Two only of Donatello’s statues are left at Or San Michele, the St. Louis being now in Santa Croce, while the St. George has been placed in the Bargello.  All these statues were put into niches of which the base is not more than eight feet from the ground, and being intended to be seen at a short distance are carved with greater attention to detail and finish than is the case with the prophets on the Campanile.  St. Peter is probably the earliest in date, having been made, judging from stylistic grounds, between 1407 and 1412.  This statue shows a doubt and hesitation which did not affect Donatello when making the little prophets for the Mandorla door.  The head is commonplace and inexpressive; the pose is dull, and the drapery with its crimped edges ignores the right leg.  There is, however, nothing blameworthy in the statue, but, on the other hand, there is nothing showing promise or deserving praise.  Had it been made by one of the macchinisti of the time it would have lived in decent obscurity without provoking comment.  In fact the statue does not owe its appearance in critical discussions to its own merits, but to the later achievement of the sculptor.  Thus only can one explain Bocchi’s opinion that “living man could not display truer deportment than we find in the St. Peter."[30] One of the figures from the Cathedral facade now in the Louvre, an apostle or doctor of the Church, shows whence Donatello derived his prosy idea, though the St. Peter is treated in a less archaic manner.  The St. Mark is much more successful:  there is conviction as well as vigour and greater skill.  Michael Angelo exclaimed that nobody could disbelieve the Gospel when preached by a saint whose countenance is honesty itself.  The very drapery—­il prudente costume e religioso—­[31] was held to contribute to Michael Angelo’s praise.  The grave and kindly face, devout and holy,[32] together with a certain homeliness of attitude, give the St. Mark a